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What Trump Org CFO Weisselberg's Guilty Plea In Fraud Case Means For Donald Trump - YouTube
Channel: MSNBC
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here was just one of the charges
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the judge mr weisselberg it is alleged
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that you together with the trump
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corporation engaged in a scheme
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constituting a systematic ongoing course
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of conduct with intent to defraud more
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than one person and to obtain property
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from more than one person by false and
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fraudulent pretenses representations and
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promises
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and so obtain property with a value in
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excess of one thousand dollars from one
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or more such persons specifically the
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united states internal revenue service
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the new york state department of
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taxation and finance and the new york
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city department of finance is that true
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the defendant
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yes your honor
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donald trump's longest serving employee
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allen weisselberg walked into a new york
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courtroom today and pleaded guilty again
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and again and again to committing fraud
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together with the trump corporation the
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judge literally used the phrase together
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with the trump corporation over and over
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today while reading the charges against
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alan weiselberg
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weisselberg ended up pleading guilty to
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15 felonies 15
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all relating to fraud and tax evasion
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that occurred at the former president's
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business he set to serve anywhere
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between 100 days and five months in
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prison at new york's notorious jail on
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rikers island
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a lot of the media attention on this
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case is focused on the fact that alan
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weiselberg did not agree to testify
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against trump himself as part of his
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plea agreement with the government
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but weisselberg did agree to testify
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against the trump organization and that
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is important because it means that
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prosecutors will get to ask alan
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weiselberg about the crimes he committed
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at the trump organization they will be
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able to ask him under oath who are the
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others involved in the criminal
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conspiracy that weisselberg has just
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pleaded guilty to taking part in
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and we do know that there are only a
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handful of people who could have been
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involved in that conspiracy because
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countless reports over the past few
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years have revealed that the trump
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organization isn't a place
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where decisions are made without sign
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off from someone with the last name
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trump and craig thank you for joining me
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thank you
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so let's just first start with the sort
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of thing everybody's trying to parse
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today which is how meaningful is the
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difference between testifying against
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the trump organization and testifying
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against trump it seems to be meaningful
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enough that this is like the whole thing
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allen weisselberg's deal is predicated
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pretty meaningful but people are saying
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well how can he do that and not testify
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against trump you know donald trump i've
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covered him for a number of years his
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finances he he up until the time he was
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in the white house he was still signing
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every check like he is so intertwined
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that how can testifying against the
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trump organization not be testifying
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against donald trump
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we're not really going to know how that
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goes until october if it does go to
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trial and it doesn't settle i imagine
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what it's going to go is donald yeah
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donald trump was all for these perks and
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you know said take a car and you can
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have one for your wife these are some of
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the things that alan weiselberg was
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accused and pleaded in court today about
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doing
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but did donald trump know is the
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question maybe donald trump said do this
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and assumed
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that the taxes were going to be paid on
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them because all of these things are
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fine to get for employees but the
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problem is is when they're not reported
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to the irs as compensation so i think
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that if i'm imagining how that's going
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to go it's going to it's going to be a
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case of he didn't know and there's no
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paper trail that probably shows that he
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did know i mean it would seem that would
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seem to be the suggestion by the mere
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fact that alan weisselberg accepted this
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deal or created this deal it seems hard
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to believe but in order to bring a case
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against donald trump you have to show
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the criminal intent and if he's not
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willing to testify and say the boss knew
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then he is going to say you know it's
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kind of an i alone did it and there may
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be a few other people that he mentions
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but he's going to say i was responsible
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and it was my fault and then that's
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going to hit the trump organization
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pretty hard if it goes to trial and a
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jury is going to hear that
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but that's that's sort of where i kind
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of see it coming down if it goes if it
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goes to trial in october what of the
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trump organization i mean how secure is
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its financial position at this point can
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it weather this next chapter
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well it's hard to say i mean they have
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they
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from what we've seen in their taxes and
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that was up until 2008 most of their
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businesses do not make money and they've
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had some hard years since then they've
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had covet and january 6 a number of
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businesses walked away from them one of
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donald trump's big money makers heading
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into the white house was these one-off
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licensing deals where he would get a
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couple million here and there to put his
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name on a hotel all those things
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you know have hurt them and in addition
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we've seen them sell
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some at least one really big asset which
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is one of his crown jewels the old post
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office i don't think people do that
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unless they need money and he did that
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so we don't quite know exactly how much
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cash they are sitting on but these
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things hurt you know he he's potentially
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in new york state looking at a civil
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fine that could be substantial you know
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in tens tens of millions it could go up
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into the high close to 100 we don't know
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that fine whatever he's facing there
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whether he goes to trial if he is hit
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with a fine that's not tax deductible
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he's looking at us you know when you go
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to court in the in the criminal case
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they're not going to put an individual
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in jail because it's a corporation
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that's going to be another fine it could
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be substantial he's going to start
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writing some potentially big checks if
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these things you know don't go his way
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and he's in the habit of having other
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people check write checks for him right
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like the rnc is paying all of his legal
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bills now it's time that donald trump
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may in fact have to pony up himself yeah
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and you're gonna i think see you know
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you could see additional headlines where
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potentially more assets are sold as this
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continues to go not just the fines are
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adding up but the businesses you know
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historically
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they just they're not making money and
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he's got a few things that make money
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and that help them that helps them out
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but you know this is this is not sort of
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a great news headline for
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for them
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you know you reported back in 2020 about
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uh trump's audits i mean he was always
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saying i can't release my tax returns
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because i'm under awe is he still under
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audit
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he was under audit um we don't know if
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he still is but that audit is very
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serious and if it goes against him we
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don't know the outcome if there has been
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one that's a potentially another hundred
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million plus dollars that he's going to
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have to to repay the irs it's there's a
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lot of things brewing in the background
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financially that are problematic and you
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see you pop up he doesn't talk about his
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businesses very often occasionally it
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pops up for example he hosted the live
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golf tournament very controversial
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i'm sure that brought in a lot of money
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so there are things coming in they're
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one off that you see he's out there and
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he's you know some money is coming in
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but um but there's a lot of storm clouds
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out there for his finances well and if
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he's convicted of anything on the other
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legal fronts then all of his lenders can
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call in their debts too we don't know
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the covenants of the loan but that's
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something called it's called collateral
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damage and a lot of loans have terms in
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there we don't know if his do but they
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say if you're convicted immediately you
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have to pay the money back so that's
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another view so they might you one would
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think that actually the money problems
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are the thing that is probably most
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deeply affecting you right now or the
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threat of money problems but i gotta ask
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you as someone who's followed the sort
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of ins and outs the trials and
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tribulations of the trump organization
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and its associated conciliaries
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allen weisselberg is going to rikers
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island right riker this week
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a doctor was found dead in rikers island
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um
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like
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killed in in the jail the correction
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department captain stabbed in the neck
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at the rikers island complex this is not
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club fed this is not a cushy uh no
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that's on the one end and then you've
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just got to think coved you know right i
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mean it's just there's a lot of serious
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are you surprised that he's going to
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jail for trump effectively
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i think it's a pretty good deal for him
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i think only you know when i think about
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sort of the calculation he made
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did he want to go to trial and face that
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and just have it continue to linger or
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could he get this deal and then with
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good behavior he'll be out in in a 100
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days
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and he's going to have probably a lot of
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protection inside i mean i'm sure there
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was a lot of soul searching that went
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down on this um
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but you know i guess i'm more just
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surprised we're at this juncture than i
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am that he's going to
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guys that is probably the reason i woke
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up and i i really shouldn't be surprised
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at anything but you know it gives me
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some energy yes well when sue craig is
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surprised we should all be surprised
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thank you so much for joining me
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