Former President Donald Trump may be called to testify in the Trump Organization’s fraud trial in Manhattan, a judge said Monday.
The announcement was made to a pool of more than 130 potential jurors at Manhattan Supreme Court in the criminal case against Trump’s namesake business, which is accused of helping its executives dodge taxes on perks like free apartments and cars.
Justice Juan Manuel Merchan told potential jurors that Trump was on the list of people whose names might come up and could be called to testify.
The selection process was set to continue Tuesday and was expected to take up to two weeks. The trial could last a month, officials said. No jurors were selected Monday.
The judge and lawyers in the case are looking to keep people with strong political opinions out of the jury box, which may prove challenging in the overwhelmingly blue borough. On Monday, Merchan privately questioned dozens of potential candidates who said they had a “good faith reason” not to serve and could not be impartial.
Trump transferred control of the Trump Organization to his three oldest children and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg after being elected US president. Getty Images
Donald Trump may be called to testify in the Trump Organization’s fraud trial. AP
Jury selection began in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday and was expected to continue for about two weeks. REUTERSTrump, 76, is not personally on trial but has decried the case as a “political which hunt” by prosecutors, who twice went to the Supreme Court to obtain the Republican’s tax records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg inherited the case from his predecessor Cy Vance, and has said Trump’s personal conduct remains under investigation.
The case will largely hinge on the government’s star witness, longtime Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to fraudulently accepting $1.7 million under the table from the company.
A grand jury indicted the Trump Organization on 14 counts of tax evasion in connection with accusations that it gave untaxed “indirect employee compensation” to executives in the form of free perks, like transportation and housing.
No jurors were selected for the panel on the first day of the process in Manhattan Criminal Court. Getty Images
Longtime Trump confidant and convicted criminal Allen Weisselberg is cooperating with the government’s probe of the Trump Organization. AP
Donald Trump’s three eldest children are also on the list of potential witnesses. Joe RaedleIf convicted, the organization could be fined more than $1 million and lose contracts like its agreement with New York City to run the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx.
Trump transferred ownership of the company to Weisselberg and his adult children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump in 2017 when he became president.
The three eldest Trump progeny, Weisselberg’s son and ex-wife and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen are also on the list of potential witnesses.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax evasion, making false statements to a bank, and campaign finance violations that he claimed he committed at the behest of his former boss.
The Trump Organization — along with the former president, Eric, Ivanka and Donald Jr. — are also being sued for $250 million by Albany prosecutors for allegedly fraudulently inflating the value of its properties.
