The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump Org’s long time Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, has been granted immunity in exchange for testimony in the investigation into Michael Cohen’s role in the hush-money payments of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal on behalf of then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
Sources told The Wall Street Journal that Weisselberg appeared in front of a grand jury earlier this year but the Journal could not confirm that he testified that Donald Trump had knowledge of the payments.
The decision by prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office to grant immunity to Mr. Weisselberg escalates the pressure on Mr. Trump, whom Mr. Weisselberg has served for decades as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. After Mr. Trump was elected, he handed control of his financial assets and business interests to his two adult sons and Mr. Weisselberg.
The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Weisselberg didn’t respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Trump, who on Thursday said so-called flipping “almost ought to be illegal,” declined to comment.
The news comes after reports yesterday that the National Enquirer’s David Pecker and Dylan Howell were also granted immunity in the Cohen hush-money investigation. On Tuesday, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s long time attorney and “fixer” pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts and stated that the payments to the two woman who claim to have had affairs with Trump were made at the direction of Donald Trump, implicating the president in a federal crime.
Weisselberg came into the public eye recently when his name came up in a taped conversation between Cohen and Trump about the plan to pay off Karen McDougal. Cohen told Trump that he had discussed plans to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story from American Media, Inc. with Weisselberg.
