'Priceless paper trail': Newly-obtained docs show ex-Trump CFO played major role in 2016 campaign

02 May 2024

For decades, Allen Weisselberg was a fixture at the Trump Organization. But the company's former chief financial officer is now serving his second jail sentence at Rikers Island in New York City after pleading guilty to perjury charges.

Weisselberg, now 76, won't be a witness for the prosecution in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money/falsified business records case against former President Donald Trump. But the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger points out that even though Weisselberg's "personal testimony may not be key" in the case, the former Trump Organization CFO "left behind a potentially priceless paper trail."

In an article published on May 2, Sollenberger reports that newly obtained e-mails show that Weisselberg had a secret role in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

"The prosecution has already highlighted Weisselberg's central role, saying that they will present the accountant's handwritten notes documenting the allegedly fraudulent reimbursement scheme that Trump is charged with carrying out," Sollenberger explains. "But other documents obtained by The Daily Beast suggest that Weisselberg was in a unique position among the other witnesses — not only was he handling the Trump Org's books, he was also apparently advising the campaign at the same time."

The Daily Beast reporter continues, "Federal Election Commission records don't show any campaign payments to Weisselberg, however, raising the prospect that Trump's right-hand man may himself have made unreported contributions in the form of services for his 2016 bid."

Sollenberger reports that "internal Trumpworld e-mails" describe Weisselberg as an "enormous help" to Trump's 2016 campaign.

"Additionally, these records show that the hardened bookkeeper was apparently quite familiar with FEC filings," according to Sollenberger. "This cuts to the heart of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case: that the hush-money payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels just ahead of the election was a campaign finance crime, which Trump then went to great lengths to keep from the public — allegedly criminal lengths."

Sollenberger stresses that although Weisselberg hasn't been present at all during Trump's trial in Lower Manhattan, his name has come up a lot during testimony.

"Weisselberg — who last month pleaded guilty to perjury after doing a stint in Rikers Island on tax fraud charges — is already known to have a key role on one side of the payments," Sollenberger reports. "Prosecutors told jurors last week that they will present handwritten documents where Weisselberg lays out the plan to reimburse former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for his $130,000 payoff to Daniels, with those reimbursements coming via a series of checks from the Trump Organization — which were 'grossed up' for tax purposes and disguised as 'retainers' for legal work that Cohen never performed."

Sollenberger adds, "However, Weisselberg was not previously reported to have had any deep involvement at the same time with the campaign."

Read The Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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