Former CFO Allen Weisselberg appeared visibly torn in his testimony Friday between loyalty to his employer and the need to cooperate with prosecutors to satisfy his plea deal in the Trump Organization’s criminal trial.   

  Defense attorneys challenged him several times Friday morning, and attorney Susan Necheles spoke to him briefly about his fears of going to jail if the plea deal falls apart.   

  “What I have in mind is to tell the truth in this trial,” Weiselberg maintained whenever asked about his motives on the stand.   

  The line of questioning on cross-examination quickly got heated between the lawyers, with defense attorney Alan Futerfas objecting to Neheles’ questioning at one point in the exchange.   

  Weiselberg, the star of the administration, has again removed former President Donald Trump from the internal “purge” at the Trump Organization.  He testified Friday that he dealt primarily with Trump’s sons after Trump was elected president, saying he’s not sure what the president knew about the company’s condition or when.   

  “Once he was in the White House, we had very little communication about things going on in the company,” Weisselberg testified.   

  He also said that Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., became aware of the illegal practices after an internal review conducted in 2017 and 2018. Weiselberg acknowledged that no one was disciplined or demoted after the scheme was exposed.  In fact, he said, he asked Eric Trump for a $200,000 raise in 2019, which he received.   

  To win a conviction, prosecutors must prove that Weiselberg intended to benefit the Trump entities — exactly what the jury will need to find will be determined by the judge when he gives the case to the jury.   

  Weiselberg walked a fine line in his testimony, telling jurors that he never wanted to harm the company — his goal, he said, was primarily to pay less tax — but he knew then that the company would also benefit from his schemes to some extent. .   

  “It was a boon to the company, but mostly it was due to my greed,” he said.   

  Necheles also pushed Weisselberg to acknowledge that prosecutors want him to establish a correlation between his own greed and the tax breaks his scheme offered companies.   

  “It’s important to prosecutors that you testify,” he said.   

  “I don’t know what’s important to prosecutors,” Weiselberg said.   

  Weisselberg testified, however, that he and Jeff McConney, Trump Org.  auditor, never specifically talked about the benefits to the company or estimated how much the company would save as a result of the reported revenue.   

  “It’s been understood that with less payroll you have less payroll taxes,” he said.   

  Defense counsel Futerfas suggested the benefit to the Trump entities was minimal.  He showed the jury a Trump Org disbursement journal.  expenses, including nearly $54,000 for flowers.  The defense attorney compared expenses of more than $267 million over eight years to the $24,000 in payroll taxes the companies did not pay for Weisselberg’s unreported fringe benefits over 12 years.   

  Despite Weiselberg’s “betrayal” of the Trumps and their companies, the Trump Organization.  he still foots the bill for his large team of lawyers from several firms.  His lawyers are some of the best in the city, Susan Hoffinger, the executive assistant district attorney at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said at the redirect hearing.   

  Smiling, Weiselberg said, “I hope so.”   

  The courtroom broke into laughter, including from the judge and some jurors, and the prosecutor turned to smile at Weisselberg’s legal team sitting in the second row of the gallery.   

  Necheles later clarified with the decades-old Trump Org.  executive that he stuck by the Trump family during difficult years on the brink of bankruptcy.   

  “And now you’re at the worst time of your life,” Necheles asked.   

  “I would say yes,” Weiselberg said.   

  “And he hasn’t kicked you to the curb,” he said.   

  “He hasn’t,” he replied.   

  “You don’t take that to mean he approves of what you did, do you?”  Necheles asked.   

  “No,” Weiselberg said.   

  The trial was adjourned for the week and will only sit on Monday and Tuesday of next week due to a public holiday.   

  Weiselberg is off the stand after testifying for three days.