Prosecutors for New York Attorney General Letitia James produced a document in court Wednesday during the $250 million business fraud civil trial of Donald Trump that one legal expert says shows the ex-president knew he did not win the 2020 election, and had planned to return to private life.
The document, as The Messenger’s Adam Klasfeld reports, shows Donald Trump “restored himself” as trustee of the Trump Organization on Jan. 15, 2021, just days before leaving office.
Professor at NYU Law and former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weismann, the well-known MSNBC legal analyst, jumped on Klasfeld’s social media post.
“BREAKING in NY civil Trump case,” Weissmann wrote on X. “This document could be hugely important to Jack Smith and Fani Willis,” the Special Counsel prosecuting Trump for his efforts to overturn he election and in the Espionage Act case over classified documents, and the Georgia District Attorney also prosecuting Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
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Weissman says the document “would show that Trump knew, at least as of 1/15/21, that he had not won the election and was returning to his private life & business.”
On January 11, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump held an hour-long press conference, complete with prop folders. His attorney claimed the president-elect had “relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization,” and handed “complete and total control” of his business empire to Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Alan Weisselberg.
That, according to ProPublica, did not happen until at least January 23, 2021.
Reporters were blocked from being able to examine the documents.