The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump Organization executive Alan Weisselberg “was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Michael Cohen in the criminal investigation into hush-money payments for two women during the 2016 presidential campaign.â€
As Chief Financial Officer for all of Trump’s business and nonprofit entities, Weisselberg literally knows everything about Trump’s finances going back decades. Weisselberg first started working for Fred Trump, the president’s father, in the 1970’s.
He has reportedly been granted legal immunity in exchange for his testimony in front of a grand jury as part of the probe of former Trump “fixer†Michael Cohen being carried on by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.
“The scope of Allen Weisselberg’s responsibilities:
* Handled Trump Org. finances for decades
* Been involved with the Trump Foundation
* Managed Trump’s private trust
* Has reviewed the Trump presidential campaign’s booksâ€
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The scope of Allen Weisselberg’s responsibilities:
Handled Trump Org. finances for decades
Been involved with the Trump Foundation
Managed Trump's private trust
Has at times reviewed the Trump presidential campaign's books https://t.co/CCQYnRuXEf
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 24, 2018
Cohen this week pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, including making illegal campaign contributions to PresidentTrump’s campaign that were used to pay off Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal as hush money so they wouldn’t talk about their affairs with the president. Cohen also implicated the president, his company, and company officers in the commission of crimes.
Weisselberg’s cooperation with investigators may be a much bigger threat to the president than Cohen’s, even though Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer for over ten years. Weisselberg has all of the detailed information about all of Trump’s business and finance operations for such entities as:
- The Trump Organization, which consists of 500 different for-profit entities,
- The Trump Foundation, which is under criminal investigation by the State of New York, and
- The Trump campaign organization, which has been charged with crimes and violations of several federal laws.
The Journal also mentioned that Donald Trump gave Weisselberg financial control over the Trump Organization after he was elected president, although he shared that responsibility with the president’s sons, Eric and Don Jr..
It is believed that Weisselberg personally approved all expenditures by the Trump Organization and its many different entities.
The Journal has also reported that it doesn’t know yet whether or not Weisselberg has verified Cohen’s charges that President Trump knew about the illegal payments made to Daniels and McDougal and was in fact part of the negotiations for those payments.
Weisselberg’s reported cooperation with prosecutors is a severe blow to the president, coming just one day after one of his closest friends, National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, also agreed to testify against him in exchange for immunity from prosecution. It will inevitably lead to speculation that federal prosecutors are looking the president’s sons as potential targets of their criminal investigation.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
