New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman appeared on CNN Thursday to talk about the multiple legal problems facing former President Donald Trump, and she said that Trump should be particularly worried about efforts to flip longtime Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
Reacting to reports that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is zeroing in on getting Weisselberg to potentially cooperate in its criminal investigation of Trump, Haberman explained why he's such an important figure to the president's financial dealings.
"[Weisselberg] knows where every secret is buried financially, and some not financial," she explained. "And he was somebody who, in the Southern District of New York, when the federal prosecutors were going after Michael Cohen... Weisselberg was given limited immunity in order to testify against Cohen."
CNN host John Berman then asked Haberman "what would it take" Weisselberg to "turn" on Trump and cooperate as a witness in the Manhattan DA's investigation.
"I think it would take a lot, a presentation of very serious charges," she said. "I think it would take a presentation of charges not just against him, but against his sons, who they have also been asking at least one witness some questions about."
Watch the video below.
In an unprecedented move House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is demanding Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg testify before Congress over his expected indictment of Donald Trump. Bragg, officially the New York County District Attorney, is an elected official whose office was created under the New York State Constitution and does not answer to Congress.
Professor of law and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance quickly blasted Jordan's move, saying: "what jurisdiction does Congress have over a DA elected by Manhattanites? Sure, Jordan will talk about fed'l funding, but this is a purely political attack on local gov't."
Earlier Monday, reacting to Speaker Kevin McCarthy's remarks, Vance said: "It's not up to House Republicans to review Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's conduct. It's up to Manhattan voters. If Trump is indicted, a jury will decide whether there's sufficient evidence to convict. The GOP continues to undercut our democratic institutions to serve Trump."
Jordan's letter, he writes to Bragg: "In light of the serious consequences of your actions, we expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision," according to a Fox Corp. article. The website also says it was signed by two other Republicans: House Oversight Committee Chair Jim Comer and House Committee on Administration Chair Brian Steil. None have any oversight authority on the Office of the Manhattan District Attorney.
"Jordan warned Bragg that if news reports of a possible Trump indictment are accurate, Bragg’s actions 'will erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the court of the 2024 presidential election,'" Fox adds.
"The legal theory underlying your reported prosecution appears to be tenuous and untested," Jordan wrote. He also attacked former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who has testified extensively in the case before the grand jury.
Just before leaving office Trump awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
According to former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson who testified publicly and privately before the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Jordan discussed pardons with the White House for Republican Members of Congress, although she says he did not ask for one himself. Jordan also defied a subpoena from the January 6 Select Committee.
In a Monday morning interview with Fox Corp.'s Harris Faulkner, Jordan falsely describes Trump's hush money payment to adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels as "some alleged bookkeeping error." The expected charges have neither been voted on by the grand jury nor announced.
"Charges in NY are expected to involve false business records created to conceal Trump’s payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels but there are possible charges involving manipulating property values for tax, loan & insurance advantages," Vance also said Monday.
Watch video of Jordan discussing the letter and see the letter itself below or at this link:
"The View" co-host Ana Navarro called out Donald Trump for using the threat of violence to try to wriggle out of criminal charges.
The former president called for supporters to "take our country back" in a Truth Social post about his possible arrest, and Navarro said Trump was essentially using extortion tactics to avoid an indictment in the Stormy Daniels hush money case under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office.
"This is clearly against the law, if they can prove it," Navarro said. "It really bothers me, though, to hear Trump and his minions talk about, trying to extort the American legal system, trying to extort the American people, threaten them, be thugs about it, and say, 'If you arrest me there's going to be protests, if you arrest me there's going to be bedlam,' and people kind of echo this message and say, 'You shouldn't arrest him because it's going to embolden his supporters, it's all a political prosecution.'"
"No, what would be political is to not prosecute somebody who has committed a crime, who has been indicted," she added, "just because he's a former president. That's not what we do in this country."
READ MORE: 'Ron wants him locked up': MAGA faithful rage as DeSantis won't interfere in Trump extradition
Watch the video below or at this link.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said his office would not block the extradition of Donald Trump to New York and even took a shot at the former president for making hush money payments to an adult film star.
While DeSantis did also accuse Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of running a politicized investigation into the former president, many hardcore Trump supporters were enraged that he repeated the allegations being leveled against the former president when he said, "I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over an alleged affair."
"Basically Ron DeSantis is trying to call President Trump a liar over the news that President Trump may be indicted and arrested," fumed MAGA influencer and failed GOP congressional candidate Laura Loomer. "He also kept repeating the word 'porn star' in an effort to mock President Trump."
Juanita Broderick, a Trump supporter who in the past accused former President Bill Clinton of raping her, called DeSantis' remarks on Trump "too little... too late."
RELATED: Right-wing broadcaster calls for Barack Obama and others to be executed if Trump is arrested
Trump supporter Alex Bruesewitz, meanwhile, accused DeSantis of essentially being in cahoots with Democrats in arresting the former president.
"The Biden regime is trying to lock up their number one political opponent, that’s an issue that matters to all sane Americans!" he charged. "Sadly, Ron wants Trump locked up just as much as the Dems do."
Grace Chong, the CFO of Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, simple wrote an angry all-caps response to DeSantis' statement: "WTF IS THIS."
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