The Daily Fuckup

A Trump Organization executive told the court on Oct. 16, 2023, that Allen Weisselberg said Donald Trump wanted his net worth to go up on the company’s financial statements. Patrick Birney’s testimony came during the New York civil fraud trial that was already underway in Manhattan.

The timing matters because the trial was not starting from scratch. In September 2023, Justice Arthur Engoron had already found Trump and several co-defendants liable for fraud on key claims. The October proceedings were focused on the unresolved issues, including remedies and remaining causes of action, with the court still hearing testimony about how the statements were prepared and who influenced them. citeturn0search0turn0search2

Birney’s account fit the attorney general’s broader theory that the Trump Organization did not simply make casual bookkeeping errors. The state has argued that the financial statements were used to present Trump as wealthier than he was and to support better terms from lenders and insurers. In that view, the numbers were not an accident; they were part of a repeated practice tied to the way Trump’s wealth was portrayed year after year. citeturn0search0turn0search2

Trump’s lawyers challenged Birney’s testimony as hearsay, but the statement still added to the record of witnesses describing pressure to push Trump’s net worth higher. The testimony did not resolve the case, and it did not by itself prove the attorney general’s full theory. It did, however, put another company insider on the stand saying the message inside the Trump Organization was to make the numbers climb. citeturn0search2turn0search3