Did former President Donald Trump say in a Truth Social post "Can't trust a guy named Weisselberg - know what I mean?" after Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg pled guilty to tax fraud? No, that's not true: The quote was a joke, according to professional comedian and former U.S. Sen. Al Franken, who tweeted it after news reports that Weisselberg implicated the Trump Organization as part of his plea deal in a New York criminal investigation.
The claim originated in a tweet (archived here) posted by Franken on August 18, 2022. It read:
After Allen Weisselberg pled guilty today to 15 counts of tax fraud & implicated the Trump organization Trump posted on Truth Social - 'Can't trust a guy named Weisselberg -know what I mean?'
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Aug 19 16:12:00 2022 UTC)
A day after posting his tweet, Franken -- who first gained fame as a writer and performer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" comedy show -- made it clear to those who thought it was real that it was not, writing:
Hi guys! It was a joke.
Hi guys! It was a joke. https://t.co/RqB145RznM
-- Al Franken (@alfranken) August 19, 2022
Contrary to the joke, Trump's company released a statement of support for Weisselberg, calling their former CFO "a fine and honorable man who, for the past four years, has been harassed, persecuted, and threatened by law enforcement, particularly the Manhattan district attorney, in their never-ending, politically motivated quest to get President Trump."
