Donald Trump's two sons tried to distance themselves from documents that purportedly overvalued various Trump Organization properties, but that's not likely to help the family escape culpability, a former prosecutor said on Saturday.
Catherine Christian, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, appeared on MSNBC's Ayman and was asked about the legal tactic on display by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Host Ayman Mohyeldin asked Christian how likely the "blame the accountants" technique was to work.
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"It's a losing strategy, first of all," she replied. "Accountants prepare financial statements and tax returns based on the information that their clients give them. If the clients give them false information, their tax returns and the financial statements will be false."
She added:
"So to say i don't know it's my accountants, is just not going to be — it's not a defense that's going to work. Not with this judge and not with the appellate in court. And the A.G.'s attorneys were very prepared for the answers of Don and Eric with document after document and document. Surprising that they were not prepared, that anything they say, there's going to be a financial statement with their signature on it. There's gonna be an email that's gonna have someone talking about a discussion they had with Eric or Don about it. Their testimony was not helpful in any way for their case. Not for them, not for the father, not for the Trump Organization."
