FILE - Donald Bender, left, a former accountant for Donald Trump, arrives at Manhattan criminal court, Nov. 21, 2022, in New York. There was talk of impeachment at the Trump Organizations criminal tax fraud trial. But the subject was not former President Donald Trump, who was impeached twice. Instead, the question arose as to whether lawyers for his company were angling on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022 to impeach their own witness, longtime Trump accountant Donald Bender.
The defense rested after calling just two witnesses: Bender, whom company lawyers sought to discredit and treat as a hostile witness, and a paralegal who appeared briefly to verify tax information referenced in a 2013 email that Weisselberg sent to Bender. Merchan declined to rule on a defense motion to dismiss the charges and, given that he plans to proceed to closing arguments, it doesn't appear he's inclined to do so.
Necheles sought permission to confront Bender with records showing he spent more time working on tax returns for the Trump Corporation, the company’s main subsidiary, than he led on. But Necheles stopped short of saying she wanted to attack his credibility in front of the jurors. “I believe I’ve bent over backward to allow both defendants to prepare a defense,” the judge said, referring to the Trump Corporation and the other charged subsidiary, the Trump Payroll Corporation. As a gatekeeper, Merchan said, “I don’t believe that means I have to let you throw everything at the jury and see what sticks.”
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