A top figure in President Donald Trump’s orbit was granted immunity in the investigation into hush money payments made to two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump, a sources familiar with the matter told CNN Friday.
Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, whose entanglements with Trump’s finances are extensive, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
The interview, which focused on Cohen and the payments, happened weeks ago under a deal negotiated by his attorney, one of the sources said. Weisselberg hasn’t been called back, the source said.
But the disclosure, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, caps a tumultuous week for Trump that has pushed his presidency to new heights of legal peril.
A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Trump’s legal team and a spokesperson for the US attorneys office declined to comment. Weisselberg did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.
Weisselberg, whose relationship with Trump dates back decades, is also the treasurer of Trump’s charity, helped prepare Trump’s tax returns and is the only non-family member to serve as trustee of the trust that holds the President’s interest in his own companies.
He was subpoenaed last month to testify as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, the Journal reported.
At the time, a former Trump Organization employee told CNN that Weisselberg being subpoenaed was the “ultimate nightmare scenario for Trump” because Weisselberg knows “anything and everything” about the finances of the Trump Organization.
“Allen knows where all the financial bodies are buried. Allen knows every deal, he knows every dealership, he knows every sale, anything and everything that’s been done – he knows every membership. Anything you can think of,” said the person, who was not making any specific allegations about the Trump Organization’s finances.
On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, and implicated the President by admitting in court that he “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” kept information that would have harmed Trump from becoming public during the 2016 election.
That prompted Trump to bemoan “flipping” – suspects cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence – telling Fox News that the legal practice “almost ought to be illegal.”
On Thursday, David Pecker, the CEO of the National Enquirer’s publisher, was also granted immunity in the Cohen case for providing details of the payments to prosecutors, a source confirmed to CNN.
Also this week, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted of various tax and banking charges. The case was the first to go to trial in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.