Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner thinks jurors in the New York hush money trial will want to know where Donald Trump's CFO Allen Weisselberg — who was jailed Wednesday — is during the proceedings.
Weisselberg was jailed on New York's Rikers Island again after he pleaded guilty to perjury after having lied under oath in his former boss' fraud trial.
Read Also: Weisselberg may have perjured himself a second time — and Michael Cohen wants answers
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"This was actually a strategic move by the Manhattan district attorney's office to neutralize Allen Weisselberg," Kirschner said on MSNBC.
"Remember, there was a time when we heard on an endless loop that covert audio recording that Michael Cohen made discussing the hush money payment scheme with Donald Trump, and what did Michael Cohen say? Oh, I've talked to Allen Weisselberg about how to set this whole thing up."
Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who was involved in making hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, gave Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a recording of a conversation he had with Trump where they were discussing the arrangements with Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal.
“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen says in the recording, likely referring to American Media, Inc. leader David Pecker. AMI is the parent company of the National Enquirer, which paid McDougal to write if she didn't go public with her story about Trump.
"So, I'm all over that. And I spoke to Allen about it when it comes time for the financing, which will be —" Cohen says before Trump cuts him off.
"What financing?" Trump asked.
"We'll have to pay him something," explained Cohen.
"Pay with cash," Trump says.
"No, no, no, no. I got this," Cohen explains.
Calling it the "2016 election interference case, the hush money case, falsifying business records case," Kirschner told MSNBC Wednesday that when the jurors hear that conversation, they'll have a lot of questions.
"The minute the jurors hear that audio recording, they will all be thinking to themselves, 'Oh, where's Allen Weisselberg? Let's see if he corroborates or contradicts what Michael Cohen said on that audio recording,'" anticipated Kirschner.
"Well, the prosecutors have neutralized Allen Weisselberg because he's not going to testify for the prosecution because he is now a convicted perjurer."
He said that if Trump attempts to call him to corroborate his story, it won't work out in his favor.
"How credible will his testimony be now that he is not only convicted as part of a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud in the first degree, that was the Trump Organization prosecution?" asked Kushner.
"But now he is a twice-convicted felon, having lied in essence to at least in part help Donald Trump. He's damaged goods. He has now been neutralized. There will be a lot of talk about them, but I think it is unlikely we will see him as a witness."
See the full comments in the video below or the link here.
The second jurors hear Cohen’s recording they’ll ask 'Where is Allen Weisselberg': expert www.youtube.com
