Allen Weisselberg is currently sitting in a Rikers Island cell, once again, after pleading guilty to perjury. So it’s no surprise that the Trump Organization’s longtime financial controller may have been less than honest about the role he played. during his former boss’s 2016 presidential campaign. But emails obtained by The Daily Beast suggest not only that Weisselberg provided moonlighting for the campaign, in possible violation of campaign finance laws, but that he also contributed specifically to his filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The 2016 Trump campaign’s compliance with FEC filing requirements is linked to the Manhattan criminal case against the former president, who is accused of falsifying business records to avoid reporting a hush-hush payment to the movie star for adults Stormy Daniels. Although Weisselberg is not expected to testify in the case, he “left behind a potentially invaluable paper trail” for prosecutors, the report said.
Weisselberg’s contribution to the 2016 campaign was detailed in an email sent by Rick Gates, a former Trump aide who has himself pleaded guilty to lying about his lobbying for pro-Russian interests in Ukraine.
“I would like to introduce you to Allen Weisselberg who is part of the Trump Organization and has been a tremendous help to us during the campaign,” Gates wrote in the April 19 email, according to The Daily Beast. “Please contact Allen and walk him through the PIC audit process and the activities that were carried out throughout the project,” he continued, referring to the Presidential Inaugural Committee of Trump.
A printed copy of that email, obtained by The Daily Beast, shows handwritten notes from Weisselberg stating that he “spoke to Rick Gates today about inauguration accounting” and had requested “full reports showing all the money collected and spent” since the third. party company helping the Trump campaign comply with FEC regulations.
Weisselberg’s work appears to constitute an in-kind contribution to the campaign – a donation of labor – but does not appear in any filings with the FEC, the Daily Beast noted.
The revelation that Weisselberg worked on the 2016 campaign comes as prosecutors say they plan to present evidence at Trump’s criminal trial showing the former Trump Organization executive was involved in the Trump organization scheme. secret money.
Last month, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors that Weisselberg worked with former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to conceal the $130,000 payment to Daniels, who the Manhattan district attorney’s office said should have been reported as a campaign contribution. Cohen was ultimately reimbursed for the payment to the tune of $420,000, an amount intended to cover the taxes he would have to pay to claim the money as income for his legal work.
Prosecutors plan to introduce handwritten notes from Weisselberg showing that the Trump Organization payment was intended to be “a clever way to repay Cohen without making it too obvious,” Colangelo said, arguing the former president should have sign the arrangement. “They agreed to fudge the books.”
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