Lawrence O'Donnell (MSNBC, The Last Word) can barely hold back his laughter as he explains how Donald Trump's unhinged rant on Wednesday was a complete contradiction of everything his lawyers had told a judge only the day before and served as a perfect piece of evidence that the New York Attorney General immediately used in telling the judge Trump must be compelled to answer questions under oath in the current civil and criminal investigations into his business practices (my emphasis):
If you think Donald Trump is stupid – and you have every right to – imagine, imagine what his lawyers think of him.
New York's Attorney General releases a letter that shows that Mazars, the accounting firm, has dropped Donald Trump – and Donald Trump's insane ego demands that Donald Trump release a statement, fighting back against that Mazars letter.
And when he does that – when Donald Trump does that – he contradicts everything that his lawyers have been telling the judge in that case, and then tonight, in the breaking news of the night, the Attorney General of the State of New York uses Donald Trump's exact, profoundly stupid words in his statement against him. . . .
Attorney General Letitia James has now responded to Donald Trump's statement about her release of that February 9 letter from Donald Trump's now-former accountants. In a filing with the judge in the case tonight, the Attorney General says "it is truly rare for a party to publicly disagree with statements submitted by his own attorneys in a signed pleading – let alone one day after the pleading was filed."
The Attorney General refers to the fact that Donald Trump's lawyers insisted, in writing, to the court, that Donald Trump should not be compelled to testify about his businesses because he does not know enough about his businesses.
Tonight, the Attorney General told the judge "he professes intimate knowledge of his company, its assets and their values". . . .
Today, the Attorney General points out that Donald Trump's written rant responding to the Mazars letter begins with Donald Trump's own description of the evaluation of his assets, which is exactly what the Attorney General is investigating.
In his written statement, Donald Trump boasts: "My company has among the best real estate and other assets anywhere in the world, has significant amounts of cash, and has relatively very little debt, which is totally current." He then lists specific figures for cash and marketable securities, escrow, reserve deposits and prepaid expenses, total assets, net worth, and total liabilities and net worth.
He went on to say that the numbers don't tell the whole story because "based on current enthusiasm and transactions which have or will take place, the brand value today could be, in my opinion, substantially higher".
So once again Donald Trump holds himself out as the highest, most-definitive authority on the valuation of his businesses.
And he does that in his boastful written statement which is a direct, complete and total contradiction to what his lawyers have told the judge in this case, the reason his lawyers have given for why he should not have to testify.
The Attorney General clearly believes Donald Trump's written statement solidifies her right to compel his under-oath testimony about the valuation of his businesses. In her filing with the judge tonight, Attorney General James says: "Mr. Trump claims to know exactly what OAG is investigating."
Once again, we see there is no one – no one – who testifies against Donald Trump more effectively than Donald Trump . . .
Donald Trump issued a completely incoherent rant yesterday in reaction to Mazars dropping him as a client and in it he said that Hillary Clinton should be executed for spying and he seemed to confess – to just confess – to the fraud charges that the company is already facing by writing this:
The charge against a 74-year-old long-term and wonderful employee [Allen Weisselberg] is that he did not pay taxes on a company care or a company apartment (Do others pay such a tax? Did [former Manhattan District Attorney] Cy Vance pay a tax on his car?), and a charge having to do with my paying for the education of his grandchildren. Murders all over the city and they are worried about me helping with young children's education?So Donald Trump appears to be admitting that no taxes were paid on the compensation to Allen Weisselberg that included a free car, a free apartment and free tuition for his grandchildren, a compensation package that was close to $2 million. Donald Trump does not say that all relevant tax laws were complied with. He simply seems to be saying, "Why are they enforcing tax laws against us?"
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