Perjury Plea Opens Up Trump Lawyers to Big Problems
Donald Trump’s former money man Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to perjury. Now, his lawyers could be on the hook for Weisselberg’s lies. And it could affect Trump’s own defense.
Now that former Trump Organization accountant Allen Weisselberg has pleaded guilty to perjury, the lawyers who defended Donald Trump at his bank fraud trial have found themselves in a precarious position: open to accusations that they violated professional ethics for remaining silent while their witness lied in court.
Attorneys put their bar licenses at risk if they sit idly by while they know that their witnesses present false testimony under oath. As such, Weisselberg’s recent confession presents a unique and personal threat to Trump’s hired legal guns, who have already gained an unseemly reputation over their willingness to defend their client’s hate-fueled attacks on public officials, attack judges on his behalf, and play delay games by pitting court calendars against each other.
“The lawyers could face bar discipline if they knew that this testimony was false and did nothing,” said Rebecca Roiphe, who teaches at New York Law School. “The state bar attorney grievance committee could initiate its own investigation or the trial judge could make a referral.”
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