As you’ve probably heard by now, on Thursday, the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, were indicted on 15 criminal charges, including conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying records. Obviously, this is bad news for Donald Trump’s company, which former executives predict is finished; for Weisselberg, who faces more than a decade in prison if convicted on all charges; and for Trump, who may ultimately find himself personally charged and possibly behind bars. But according to his two adults sons who took over the day-to-day running of the family business in 2017? None of this is a big deal and people dodge six to seven figures worth of taxes all the time.
Appearing on Fox News last evening, the ex-president’s namesake nodded in agreement as host Jesse Watters’s suggested that the amount of money Weisselberg is alleged to have hid from the IRS is basically pocket change.
“They’re alleging $100,000 a year in perks over 15 years. This is a $2 billion company, the Trump Organization, so we’re talking about pennies on the dollar, okay? Pennies on the dollar,” Watters declared. “So this is all they can find? This is all they can find? After promising, what, illegal loans from Moscow? Illegal tax shelters? They promised us the world. So if this is all they can find, a Mercedes that wasn’t properly filed in a tax return? This is usually dealt with from my understanding, maybe a fine, maybe you just refile the tax. Never have they ever charged anybody criminally like this before.” To which Don Jr. responded, “Correct.”
For one thing, we love the idea that Watters and Trump Jr. are all, “That’s all you got?? $1.5 million? Our butlers make more money in a year than that,” when the MAGA crowd is supposedly the party that actually cares about the middle and working class, and the average American makes somewhere in the range of $40,000 a year. For another, as many have pointed out, this is very likely just the beginning of the investigation, not the end.
Don Jr., of course, isn‘t the only Trump boy trying to downplay the situation. After citing Daily Mail comments as a legal defense, Eric Trump also showed up on Fox News to claim that there are way more important things for New York prosecutors to be doing than worrying about an unrepentant alleged tax cheat. (Weisselberg, along with the Trump Organization, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.)
Channeling his father, who spent the last year of his presidency claiming New York and other states that didn’t vote for him are crime-infested hellholes, Eric ranted: “Crime is rampant, people are leaving the city in record numbers, it’s dirty, it’s disgusting, New York is no longer what it is. And they have an entire district attorney’s office and attorney general’s office that’s focused on $3.5 million to take down a political opponent? I mean this is what they do, this is New York state for you, this is worse than a banana republic, it’s truly horrible. And Raymond, you know this better than anybody, they’re afraid that my father is going to run in 2024 and they are afraid that he is going to win.” As he, his brother, and all conservatives are contractually obligated to do, Eric then went on to invoke Joe Biden’s son. “They don’t look at corrupt Hunter Biden,” Trump sneered. “No they don’t care about any of that. They care about going after innocent, great human beings.”
In perhaps related news, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told MSBNC on Thursday: “I think that [COO] Matthew Calamari is on the chopping block…on top of that I also believe that there are other members of the Trump Organization, including the children who are next to come up on to these indictments.”
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