An incredibly shitty week for Donald Trump just got worse.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has been granted immunity in the case against Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen. Weisselberg, who was originally hired by Trump’s father is one of the guys that helped orchistrate hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. Because of this a judge this week accepted the guilty plea of Cohen for bank and tax fraud as well as serious campaign finance violations who Cohen said he was directed to do by the now President of the United States.
Via the WSJ:
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 as well as CFO for 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.
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.
Weisselberg’s presumed flip on Trump comes a day after federal prosecutors also granted immunity to another longtime Trump ally: David Pecker. Pecker serves as a chief executive for American Media, the company that publishes the National Enquirer who is believed to have bought the story of McDougal in an effort to bury it so that it wouldn’t play a role in the 2016 election. Pecker is also believed to have been involved and had knowledge of those hush money payments by Cohen and could provide some insight on whether or not Trump knew of those payments potentially corroborating Cohen’s plea.
As far as Weisselberg goes, it’s not clear at this point if he told investigators if Trump knew of the payments however it is the Trump CFO that arranged reimbursement payments to Cohen who in October of 2016 made a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her affair with Trump.
Nonetheless, Weisselberg’s apparent willingness to cooperate with investigators caps off a week that may have given the American public firm insight on crimes committed by the POTUS. Also this week, Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud which will send him to prison essentially for the rest of his life.