President Donald Trump's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who has been subpoenaed to testify in the federal case against Michael Cohen, could offer testimony that could also be damaging to the president himself, particularly if special counsel Robert Mueller's probe focuses on Trump's "money trail," the president's former attorney, Jay Goldberg, said Friday night.
"I've known Allen in regard to his relationship with Donald for 20 years," Goldberg told CNN's Erin Burnett. "He knows everything about Donald. Next to a family member, and perhaps even more than a family member, he knows everything about Donald."
In terms of a money trail, he added, "Donald can be hurt, I believe, a great deal by Allen. Allen is an honorable guy. He is not like anybody, and he will tell the truth."
Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's longtime CFO, was subpoenaed this week to testify before a federal grand jury in the Cohen investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, Goldberg, who served as Trump's attorney for decades, told Burnett there were mistakes all around in the release of a tape of Trump and Cohen speaking about a payoff to a former Playboy model, but added he has been vindicated for his warnings to the president not to hire former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as his attorney.
"When I was questioned by Donald as whether to hire Giuliani, I was not in favor of Giuliani," Goldberg said. "I didn't think he had knowledge of how to handle the case [from a] defense perspective. He was a long-time prosecutor. He didn't know how to set a case up."
That means he did not know how to prepare for the future impeachment of Cohen as a witness when he commented earlier this year that he believed Cohen to be a truthful person.
"Now, we don't know that Cohen would tell the truth," Goldberg said. "It's entirely likely that given precedent, a person who was in Cohen's position would tell the government what he believes the government wants to hear. For Giuliani to say that he will tell the truth strips the defense of its main weapon of claiming that he is coloring his testimony so he can get a letter of cooperation. I knew as soon as Giuliani spoke that he was damaging Trump's case immeasurably."
Giuliani labeled Cohen as a turncoat and serial liar Thursday after he said Trump knew and approved of the June 2016 meeting between his son and Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Goldberg said he has not spoken with Trump about Giuliani, as he did not want to rub "salt to an open wound," and he had already indicated to him the "danger of Giuliani as a spokesman."
He also had strong criticism for Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis, for releasing a tape of Trump and Cohen speaking about the payments.
"Who looks bad in this case is [Cohen's attorney] Lanny Davis for releasing the material prematurely," Goldberg said. "The prosecutor is not going to take kindly to the release of these tapes early on . . . now Trump knows that Cohen is given to tape-recording. That weapon is gone from the prosecutor's arsenal."
However, Goldberg also said he believes Trump's current personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is also causing issues in connection with Cohen and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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