Lawyer claims Trump could get away with financial lies because there was a disclaimer
Former President Donald Trump is facing a number of lawsuits involving financial issues and campaign problems. When it comes to Trump's annual proclamations of his net worth, he's been putting a disclaimer on them to claim that it could be "off."
Speaking to Fox's Sean Hannity, Trump made it clear that his "disclaimer" that is "right on the front... basically says, you know, get your own people. You're at your own risk .... It may be way off."
Business Insider noticed the interview Sunday revealing the 20-page "Statements of Financial Condition" which Attorney General Letitia James' massive lawsuit examines.
James called the "disclaimer" fraudulent. Statements submitted to the government and banks tend to require the truth, not disclaimers that it could contain fraud.
Still, Trump explained to Hannity that none of James' fraud complaints matter due to the "Statement of Financial Conditions" included.
It isn't the first time Trump has tried this approach. It's a concept Trump has talked about since 2019 when Democrats in Congress began asking Mazars USA for the financial statements of the then-president's.
The idea is that Trump's inflation of assets when asking banks for money or deflation of assets when paying taxes are all possible simply because he put a disclaimer on the information.
Insider spoke to former financial crimes prosecutor Armen Morian, who has donated to Republican candidates in the past, and claimed that Trump has a point. Sure there could be all-out fraud, but Trump essentially made it clear that he could be lying and it was incumbent on the bank to confirm whether or not Trump was lying.
"What the disclaimers are saying is, 'Beware when you read these financial statements,'" Morian said, after Trump's documents were unsealed last week.
"That's all it has to do," Morian said of Trump's disclaimer. "And that doesn't cover just Mazars."
He said that it covers Trump fully. That doesn't necessarily mean that it covers Trump for tax purposes, the IRS, state taxes, local tax incentives and other community-related finances. It also doesn't protect Trump from facing consequences from banks refusing to lend to him in the future.