Susan Wright on the Right
Cohen, Pecker, and now you can add Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization to the list of people in Donald Trump’s circle who have struck deals with prosecutors.
Weisselberg has been given immunity by federal prosecutors to work with them on Michael Cohen’s pending case.
On Thursday, it was announced that Trump’s longtime friend, and CEO of American Media, Inc., David Pecker, had also been granted immunity to work with prosecutors.
So where are all of these immunity deals leading?
To be clear, they’re all associated with the case against Trump’s former “fixer,” Michael Cohen, who was apparently hired to make Donald Trump’s messes go away, and little else.
So where does Weisselberg, a name many may be unfamiliar with, come in?
Weisselberg, who has maintained a low profile despite his role atop the president’s organization, was thrust into the spotlight in July, when a surreptitiously recorded tape became public in which he was mentioned by Cohen in a conversation with Trump about making payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Payments made to McDougal and another woman, porn star Stormy Daniels, formed the foundation of campaign finance charges lodged against Cohen.
So those “nothingburger” secret recordings made by Michael Cohen are actually becoming more relevant, as we go along.
Cohen told Trump in the recording that he planned to set up a company to finance the purchase of the rights from American Media and had consulted Weisselberg on the process of doing so.
Weisselberg had a pretty broad field of control within the Trump Organization.
When Donald Trump became president, he turned over control of his assets and business interests to three people: Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Allen Weisselberg.
Weisselberg’s responsibilities also encompass involvement in the Trump Foundation, managing Trump’s private trust, and on occasion, reviewing the Trump presidential campaign books.
In other words, he’s a much bigger player in Trump world than many were aware of.
He has often been referred to as the “keeper of the vault.” In the court papers filed, detailing his role, he’s referred to as “Executive 1.”
Chairman 1 & Executive-1 have immunity deals. Now to ID the “one or more members” of the Trump campaign who coordinated on this pic.twitter.com/V4kg0ruIBk
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) August 24, 2018
That’s right. Members from Trump’s campaign are also willing to roll.
So how claustrophobic must our president be feeling, right about now?
For that matter, how thin is the air for everyone at the top of Trump Tower?
It’s hard to say, but the importance of this news just cannot be overstated. Weisselberg would be the one person, even more so than Michael Cohen, who knows what sort of financial dirty dealings Donald Trump may have been involved in.
He may be the one who knows if there is tax fraud, cooked books, and who is potentially responsible for the bulk of Trump’s finances.
If there are foreign payments keeping the Trump Organization afloat – as has long been alleged – it is highly unlikely that those arrangements made it past the scrutiny of Michael Weisselberg.
In an earlier piece, I openly wondered if there would be any relief for the president, going into the weekend. It looks as if I have my answer, and that answer is a firm “NO.”
Check Trump’s Twitter feed for even more manic tweeting and harsh attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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