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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Thu Dec 13, 2018, 09:32 AM Dec 2018

A big question looming over Trump just got bigger: What is Allen Weisselberg spilling about?

By Aaron Blake
December 13 at 6:00 AM

We learned Tuesday that not only has Michael Cohen implicated President Trump in campaign finance violations, but so too effectively has the parent company for the National Enquirer, American Media Inc.

In a release about Cohen’s three-year sentence, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York revealed that AMI has been given immunity from prosecution, just like its head David Pecker had previously. SDNY prosecutors also said that AMI admitted its payment to Playboy playmate Karen McDougal was “in concert with” Trump’s presidential campaign and was aimed at burying the story to help elect Trump. As Philip Bump writes, that language is clearly intended to emphasize that this was a campaign finance violation and not just a regular old hush-money payment:

As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.

So that’s two parties who were involved in these arrangements — the McDougal one and the Stormy Daniels payment — that have implicated Trump or his campaign in a crime. That’s significant in and of itself, because it’s no longer just the word of a felon (Cohen). But it also suggests dominoes that have yet to fall, and among those dominoes is one potentially huge one: Allen Weisselberg.

When Cohen released that tape of him and Trump talking about buying back the rights to McDougal’s story from AMI, Cohen mentioned how he had consulted with Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, about how to make it happen.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/13/big-question-looming-over-trump-just-got-bigger-what-is-allen-weisselberg-spilling-about/?utm_term=.ed598e550bc1

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A big question looming over Trump just got bigger: What is Allen Weisselberg spilling about? (Original Post) DonViejo Dec 2018 OP

Yep. So much of the iceberg is still under water....... Ninga Dec 2018 #1

Weisselberg appears to have two immunity deals so far Jarqui Dec 2018 #2

Ninga

(8,275 posts)

1. Yep. So much of the iceberg is still under water.......

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Dec 13, 2018, 09:41 AM

Dec 2018

Jarqui

(10,125 posts)

2. Weisselberg appears to have two immunity deals so far

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Dec 13, 2018, 09:53 AM

Dec 2018

one for these campaign finance violations
and
one for the Trump Foundation

Manafort & Cohen have also been found guilty of financial crimes like tax evasion, bank fraud, not declaring offshore bank accounts, etc

And that is where Trump and Weisselberg are most vulnerable. As CFO for Trump's businesses/entities, Weisselberg has responsibilities if tax returns are not right, etc.

As this can unfold in NY State, it is pardon proof.

Weisselberg is in his 70s. He can sing or wind up in prison for the rest of his life like Manafort.

Obstruction, conspiracy with the Russians, etc can be hard to prove. But financial crimes nearly always have a paper trail for where the money went - which is why they were able to nail Cohen and Manafort so easily for them. Beyond the jail time, they have recovered millions of dollars - enough to basically pay for Mueller to date (roughly). I suspect they'll hurt Trump big time here as his restitution may range from 10 to 100 times Cohen's and that loss of cash could bring his leveraged house of cards down.

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