After Forbes Accuses Allen Weisselberg of Perjury, New York AG Seeks Forensic Exam of Trump Org Emails

New York State Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge on Thursday to order a forensic examination of Trump Organization emails showing Allen Weisselberg's communications with Forbes after the magazine accused the executive of lying under oath.

In testimony from a little more than a week ago, Weisselberg insisted that he “never focused” on calculating the square footage of the former president’s Trump Tower triplex, a three-floor penthouse in his namesake skyscraper.

The issue had loomed large over the trial because former President Donald Trump had estimated the size of that triplex, his longtime New York apartment, was nearly three times its actual size.

Weisselberg's testimony abruptly ended shortly after Forbes accused him of lying under oath, based on “old emails and notes, some of which the attorney general’s office does not possess.” Weisselberg, who is a civil defendant alongside Trump, was previously convicted criminally in a separate tax fraud case.

As first reported by The Messenger, the attorney general's office was aware of and looking into the Forbes article on the day it was published.

On Thursday, the AG asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to resolve the matter by empowering a court monitor to investigate.

"The failure to produce these later emails indicates a breakdown somewhere in the process of preserving, collecting, reviewing and producing documents," the letter, signed by her senior counsel Kevin Wallace, states. "This failure also comes in the face of a years-long process to ensure a complete response to OAG’s subpoenas and multiple affidavits on behalf of the Trump Organization attesting to the completion of their production obligations. The failure is also suggestive of potentially broader issues in the production process."

"We would therefore propose that the Monitor undertake a forensic examination of electronic data held by the Trump Organization for the very brief period August to September of 2016 to determine if all responsive information has been produced," Wallace continued. "If the Monitor determines that responsive information was not produced, she can provide an assessment of where in the process the failure occurred and propose remedies to ameliorate those issues."

The letter is followed by pages of Weisselberg's emails already submitted into evidence — plus, a few that have not been. The attorney general noted that the Trump Organization appeared not to have "produced a later set of emails" between Weisselberg and Steven Ekovich, an executive at the real estate agency Marcus & Millichap.

In one of those newly released messages, Ekovich complained about the Forbes downgrade to Weisselberg: "Those bastards always trying to tear people down, then when they are wrong they hide the apology."

James wants the monitor to submit a report with her findings of the "likely omissions" by Friday, Oct. 27, the end of next week.

Read the letter below: