Page 1015 - Leverage News Today

Rachel maddow this week. >> i think he would be surprised to learn that i dont believe my cousins would exert that -- exercise that kind of loyalty toward him because his relationship with them and their relationship with him is entirely transactional. and conditional. >> how willing do you think they would be to cooperate like you did? >> in terms of the children, eric and ivanka and don? >> the adult children, correct. >> shes right, its transactional. hes an accountant. its totally different....

Matter. with the prediction michael cohen just made, what do you make of what came down today? >> i think that michael cohen is absolutely right. the prosecutors here are looking for something bigger than this. what people dont talk about, these charges are against the trump organization, which donald trump ran as president, branded with his name, and they are not minor charges. they allege about a million dollars in taxes not being paid. its like a million dollar heist, and the justice departme...

Turn over in 45 days and he will start to make decisions, whether there are any motions he can file, or whether he wants to try to work out a guilty plea short of cooperation, or if he wants to cooperation. if he knew what he was facing, and he chose not to, i dont think the handcuffs today or tonight when he goes to sleep, knowing that hes been arrested, i dont think thats going to change his calculus. what might change his calculus if there are additional witnesses and charges that will ratche...

Michael cohen just made, what do you think it comes down to? >> i think michael cohen is absolutely right. the prosecutors here are looking for something bigger than just. this once we left and people dont talk about in the discord, these charges are against the trump organization where donald trump run as the president, brandon and his name. they are not minor charges. they allege about 1 million dollars in taxes not being. paid its like 1 million dollar highs. the justice department does do a ...

Weisselberg. what is it like when you are the focus of the feds? what is going to happen in his life? >> no offense taken. i get it. nobody wants the feds at their door. allen weissen berg, his life will change dramatically. it is important to look at what he is charged with and what the possible penalties are. and we talk about the maximum statutory penalty. but thats really the way cases are sentenced, assuming a conviction. we have to look at the sentencing guidelines under new york state law...

Crimes charged beyond the tax fraud we already know about? we dont know yet, but i will be looking to see are there any surprise charges there. are we going to see money laundering charges, are we going to see state level racketeering charges, is there any element of obstruction of justice, witness tampering, document tampering, anything like that beyond the tax fraud. the more different charges they bring the more leverage they will have to try to pressure allen weisselberg to cooperate, to put...

Obviously mr. weisselberg did not do it before he was charged. some do it after they are charged and etch a few, and i have had it happen in my own cases, they will co-op after they are convicted, so there are more off-ramps for him. the greater the leverage and the more charges against someone, the more likely they are to cooperate, and not everyone does, and by the way, let me be clear about what flipping is. normally, when we use that term, there is no precise definition, but we mean somebody...

Because we are all going talking about it. what does all this mean? >> we are whiting to see the indictment, steph. we need to see how much leverage prosecutors in manhattan are able to muster against weisselberg. he has not pled guilty up to this point or agreed to cooperate with them. that means hes waiting to see what they have to show him today. it may be that hes going to maintain that hes innocent and able to prove it. maybe hes willing to take whatever time is involved in this case in ord...

Manchin? i say to him that by the way, senator manchin, there are 221 of us in the same position in the house and another 49 in the senate who are just like you. every one of us basically has the leverage to kill or succeed in passing a resolution. and, so, the attention thats paid to him, i understand. but every one of us is in the same position. and that makes, you know -- on an every day basis, getting democrats together is herding cats, and this is herding all the cats and making sure that e...

Is is the leverage there to make allen weisselberg flip? it exists and it exists in a very big way. >> youve been down this road with the trump organizations and charities? >> yeah. i mean, the kicker here is youve got -- they wouldnt have elevated this to a criminal probe and done the grand jury. it was the ags office elevating the criminal probe and joining the das office and together doing the grand jury. this was a very public step. people still dont realize how significant that was in the f...