Did Trump Admit to Tax Fraud Charges During Saturday Rally? CNN’s Brianna Keilar Argues He Did
CNN’s Brianna Keilar suggested that former President Donald Trump admitted to the tax fraud charges against his company, particularly his CFO Allen Weiselberg, during a Saturday night political rally in Sarasota, Florida.
With a chyron that blared “TRUMP APPEARS TO ADMIT FACTS OF CASE AGAINST HIS COMPANY, CFO,” the producers of New Day ran footage of the former president arguing ignorance of the U.S. tax code while dismissing the charges against the Trump Org and its CFO.
“They go after good, hard-working people for not paying taxes on a company car,” Trump said. “Come on. You didn’t pay tax on the car. Or a company apartment. You used an apartment because you need an apartment because you have to travel too far where your house is. Didn’t pay tax. Or education for your grandchildren,” he continued, mocking the allegations. ” I don’t even know. Do you have to — does anybody know the answer to that stuff?”
Trump’s ignorance of complex tax laws lies in direct conflict with Trump’s boasting of complex tax laws in a 2016 Tweet that bragged, “I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them.”
Following the clip, Keilar noted that Trump appeared to “acknowledge the merits of the case against the Trump organization and its Chief Financial Officer while denying those things are actually crimes,” before running a montage of other times that “Trump and his associates seemingly admitted wrongdoing,” while cameras were rolling. A montage of those instances was then run for viewers to see.
Keilar then introduced J.W. Barrett, a professor of law and accounting at Scalia law school and former member of former president trump’s transition team, who was asked to opine on Trump suggested admission of guilt.
“Well, he does have an awkward habit of not only making awkward admissions,” Barrett conceded before providing a nuanced answer. “This one could go either way. This is probably a clip that Cy Vance will play to a jury in a future prosecution, maybe even in the one against Mr. Weisselberg; I don’t know. It could go either way.”
“He could claim that he was ignorant; he was demonstrating ignorance of what is or what is not tax-deductible with respect to fringe benefits,” Barrett added. “It’s not as clear-cut an admission it might first seem on a listen especially given the high bar a prosecutor would have to bring a tax fraud case directly against Trump.”
Watch above via CNN.
