Trump trial Day 5 highlights: Ex-Trump executive says Allen Weisselberg asked for help in committing tax fraud

The court is adjourned. Monday is Columbus Day, meaning the next day of the trial will be Tuesday.

It also appears that the defense does not plan to cross-examine McConney, so the AG will put Weisselberg on the stand Tuesday morning.

Amer goes in for the kill, asking whether Weisselberg asked McConney on more than one occasion to assist him in committing tax fraud, McConney says yes.

McConney also admitted he was directed by Weisselberg to process a payroll check to Weisselberg’s wife, who was not an employee, so she could qualify for Social Security benefits.

But he says he did not know it was illegal, prompting Amer — who is ready — to show McConney his trial testimony from the Weisselberg/Trump Org. criminal trial last year, in which he acknowledged he knew it was not lawful.

McConney said he kept engaging in this illegal conduct because Weisselberg was his boss and if he refused, he would probably have lost his job. And with that, we are not only breaking for the day, but also McConney’s questioning is finished in dramatic fashion.

On valuations of Mar-a-Lago, backup data in 2011 and 2012 said the property could be sold as a private residence for $426.5 million and $531.9 million, respectively.

McConney confirmed that until around the 2016--2017 time frame, he understood the premise of the valuation to be that it could be sold as a private residence, but he also knew Trump’s purchase was subject to a deed with “some rules.”

But he denied that he knew the details of the deed with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, saying he never saw the document and therefore was not aware that Trump had deeded away the right to use the property for any purpose other than as a social club.

The statements of financial conditions included that at least through 2016 and 2017, the “goodwill attached to the Trump name has significant value that has not been reflected in the preparation of this financial statement.”

McConney, however, has conceded that the golf course valuations routinely included a “brand premium” of 30% and later 50%, beginning in 2013.

The state attorney general's office was quick to counter Trump's request to an appeals court for a stay of the trial and the judge's order on dissolving various Trump companies, arguing they're "unlikely to prevail on the merits of their appeal" — but also signaled it won't try to shut down Trump's businesses in the near future.

In a letter to the state Appellate Division, a lawyer for the AG's office said staying the trial would be disruptive and would "severely undermine the fair and orderly administration of justice, both in this action and in other actions against defendant Donald J. Trump that are pending in other federal and state courts."

James' office also noted that the Appellate Division denied another Trump request for a stay "just eight days ago."

"Defendants are now rehashing the same arguments that this Court already rejected," and "are not entitled to a second bite of the apple," the letter said.

Trump's filing to the appeals court also sought an immediate stay of Engoron's decision canceling some of the Trump entities' business certificates and dissolving various LLCs, calling the move "corporate death sentences."

The AG's letter noted those cancellations involve a lengthy process, and regardless, the AG "has been and continues to be willing to discuss with defendants a stay of enforcement of portions of the injunctive relief pending completion of trial and entry of final judgment."

"There should be no resort to the emergency powers of this Court when the parties have not even had an opportunity to determine if they can reach an agreement," the letter said. "And an agreement that stays certain of the injunctive relief while proceeding to final judgment would permit the fair and orderly resolution of this action by both avoiding the chaos of upending an ongoing trial and permitting this Court to review all aspects of this significant matter in a single appellate proceeding on a full record following final judgment."

There is a trumpeter outside playing loudly and continuously and it is quite disruptive to the proceedings. Amer, the lawyer for James' office, commented on it and Engoron responded that there's not much they can do.

The sounds sometimes play as exclamation marks during the lull in testimony.

We are beginning to discuss a particularly egregious example of fraudulent valuations. At one point, Trump’s Seven Springs estate reflected a plan to build seven mansions on the property valued at $23 million each.

McConney confirmed that in 2012, he understood Eric Trump was involved with the development of the Westchester, New York, property and that he assumed, but was never told, that all necessary approvals had been obtained to build the seven homes. But he said he also understood the concept of the time value of money and that discounts should be applied to arrive at a present value if money is going to be paid in the future.

The $161 million for the seven planned homes, which was baked into the Seven Springs valuation, was never discounted for the years it would take to build them, the cost of marketing and building them, etc.

Instead, McConney treated the profit of $23 million per home as if it were immediately realizable in 2012.

In 2013 and 2014, the valuation for the seven homes was done exactly the same way. He also wrote in his spreadsheets that the valuations were based on telephone calls in each of 2013 and 2014 with Eric Trump, who confirmed he should continue to value the planned homes at Seven Springs in the same way.

Those homes were never built, as Andrew Amer of the AG’s office is working up to. By 2015, the Trump Organization instead donated the rights to the land through a “conservation easement,” which would ensure the land would not be developed — and also gave the Trump Org. the right to a tax deduction.

As McConney continues to be asked about how he valued specific Trump properties and what information he may have excluded from his accountants’ view, there is more room than usual at the defense table. That’s because, in addition to Trump’s absence, his principal lawyer Chris Kise is not here either.

Trump's legal team this morning filed a stay request to the state Appellate Division, seeking a halt of the trial and dismissal of summary judgment. Kise, who was Florida’s solicitor general, is a well-regarded appellate advocate.

The former president is seeking a stay of the fraud trial and Engoron's fraud ruling where he canceled Trump's New York business licenses, calling the ruling a "grave miscarriage of justice."

"The far-reaching implications of its unprecedented directives are of staggering consequence to Appellants," Trump's lawyers said in a court filing to the state Appellate Division, the state's second-highest court.

The filing focuses mostly on the state Supreme Court judge's decision in his summary judgment ruling a week before the trial to cancel Trump and the other defendants' business certificates and dissolve their New York LLCs because of persistent fraud. Trump's attorneys called the move "corporate death sentences," in their filing. They said that Engoron did not have that sweeping authority and the draconian penalty against numerous companies is one the AG's office hadn't even asked for.

"Supreme Court’s order directs that all affected entities must be dissolved by a receiver. This is forfeiture and a taking, all without any authority or jurisdiction," the filing says, arguing an immediate stay is necessary because it leaves the Trumps and their business associates "unable to engage in lawful business enterprises, upon which hundreds of non-party individuals depend for their livelihoods."

It also contends a stay of the trial is needed because the judge misapplied an earlier Appellate Division ruling on statute of limitations issues that they contend would greatly limit the AG's case.

A "stay of trial is necessary to avoid Supreme Court proceeding further on dismissed claims, to avoid an avalanche of compounding errors, and to afford Appellants any semblance of process, let alone the due process guaranteed to any litigant regardless of status or social standing," the filing said. 

Engoron has given both sides in the case until the end of the month to suggest potential receivers to oversee the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.

After he left the White House, former President Donald Trump allegedly shared sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with an Australian billionaire who is a member of his Mar-a-Lago club, according to a pair of reports published on Thursday.

Trump shared the information with Anthony Pratt during an April 2021 conversation at the Palm Beach, Fla., golf club, according to ABC News, which first reported the development, citing sources familiar with the matter. The New York Times also confirmed the former president shared the information with Pratt, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The revelation was reported to special counsel Jack Smith’s office, which charged Trump this year with mishandling classified documents, and prosecutors and FBI agents have twice interviewed Pratt this year about the discussion, ABC reported.

Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in response to questions about the report, “President Trump did nothing wrong, has always insisted on truth and transparency, and acted in a proper manner, according to the law.”

NBC News has also reached out to Pratt’s company for comment.

Read the full story here.

McConney is discussing the Trump Organization's relationship with Vornado, the real estate company. Trump lawyer Alina Habba objects to the questioning, which she says is leading.

Andrew Amer, a lawyer for the attorney general's office, calls McConney a hostile witness. Habba says he is not a hostile witness and Engoron wryly says, "he is the defendant." The objection is overruled.

Engoron has called the trial to order, and McConney is on the stand. McConney is also a defendant in the case and is about to be examined about the Trump Organization’s relationship with another real estate company, Vornado.

McConney will be back on the stand today followed by Allen Weisselberg on Tuesday after a holiday break Monday. After that, we'll hear from Nick Haigh, a risk manager with Deutsche Bank who has been traveling overseas, and possibly more from Weisselberg.

Then comes Patrick Birney of the Trump Organization, and possibly Michael Cohen by the end of next week.

It is Day 5 of the Trump civil fraud trial here in New York. To give you an idea of the ebb and flow of this trial, on Monday there were dozens of cameras and reporters outside the court awaiting Trump and the opening of his trial. Today, there was no one outside the court and just a few reporters inside.

James arrived at the courthouse shortly before 9:30 a.m. ET. James, who has attended the trial every day this week, told NBC News that she will not necessarily attend every day going forward, but felt it was important to be there for the first week.

She said she would also be in court for the testimonies of Allen Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

Trump’s lawyers said they plan to take action today against Judge Arthur Engoron's summary judgment last week.

They said they plan to file a stay pending appeal before the First Department of the Appellate Division. In court yesterday, they refused to reveal the scope of the requested stay.

Engoron's ruling found that Trump and his companies had committed repeated fraud, and canceled business certificates for LLCs “controlled or beneficially owned” by Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and two Trump Organization executives.

Donald Bender, Trump's longtime accountant, took the stand for his third day of testimony and was questioned by defense attorneys about the culpability of Trump's adult children regarding allegedly inflated financial statements.

Lawyers for the New York Attorney General's Office questioned Jeff McConney, a former Trump Organization executive, about the value of Trump’s Manhattan triplex, which Engoron ruled last week had been fraudulently inflated.

Trump wasn't in court yesterday after attending the first three days of the trial. He flew back to Florida on Wednesday afternoon.