Trump Org paid for CFO's grandchildren prep-school with Trump-signed checks: report

Trump Org paid for CFO's grandchildren prep-school with Trump-signed checks: report
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg/Screenshot

More strange things are becoming known about the Trump Organizations' finances as the ex-daughter-in-law of CFO Allen Weisselberg continues to cooperate with prosecutors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, prosecutors have issued a new subpoena related to the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.

"The subpoena seeks information from Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, where grandchildren of Weisselberg are students," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "From 2012 to 2019, more than $500,000 of the children's tuition was paid for with checks signed by either Mr. Weisselberg or Mr. Trump, the two children's mother, Jennifer Weisselberg, told The Wall Street Journal. She is the former wife of Mr. Weisselberg's son, Barry."

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and his investigators were told that Barry clearly understood that tuition was part of the compensation package from the Trump Organization. He was the man who ran the skating rink in New York City. Prosecutors began looking into the curious salary of Barry Weisselberg in April. He was paid more than $200,000 in salary for running the rink with $40,000 in annual bonuses. The $500,000 in tuition costs is being added to that salary.

"Columbia Prep is a private school of roughly 1,300 prekindergarten through high-school students on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Tuition this academic year ran more than $50,000," the report explained.

Former prosecutors explained to the Wall Street Journal that it's possible the DA office is looking into whether members of the Weisselberg family were evading taxes.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen revealed in an interview that Weisselberg has the receipts on and while he's loyal to the former president, he's far more loyal to his family.

"He's not going to let his boys go to prison," Cohen told The New Yorker in March, "and I don't think he wants to spend his golden years in a correctional institution, either."

The president's niece Mary Trump also agreed, "Allen Weisselberg knows where all the bodies are buried."

So if it appears that Barry Weisselberg might be in legal trouble, he or his father may be willing to make a deal with Vance to avoid prosecution.

Read the full report at The Wall Street Journal.

For customer support contact support@rawstory.com. Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) disclosed exclusive new details to Raw Story on Friday about the activities of the suspect in the pipe bombs left at the Republican and Democratic National Committees on Jan. 6.

"Based on those reports, it should have been a lot worse," said Loudermilk, explaining that many details known to the FBI have gone unshared with the public for years.

"Why wasn't that information shared?" Raw Story's reporter asked.

Loudermilk went on to detail "videos that we hadn't seen before" about the Jan. 6 pipe bomber, who has never been identified but can be seen in videos wearing a gray hoodie. "The newest revelation which we're just getting out today is that the pipe bomber, the gray hoodie jacket person, actually made a stop ... at the Congressional Black Caucus before he placed the device at the Democratic National Committee."

"They walked into the property ... stayed there for a minute or so, then got up and left," Loudermilk added.

"So the FBI never released that information," Raw Story confirmed.

The new information raises a number of additional questions about the plot, Loudermilk said, including, "Was the one at the RNC supposed to go to the CBC?"

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A former Democratic House Representative accused MAGA members of "lying" about President Donald Trump's latest threat to lawmakers during an interview on Friday morning.

Earlier this week, Trump threatened Democratic lawmakers who told military members that they don't have to follow illegal orders, saying the comments amounted to "seditious behavior" and could be "punishable by death." Several GOP members, including those closely aligned with Trump and the MAGA movement, claimed they didn't see the president's comments, which Max Rose, who represented New York's 11th Congressional District from 2019 to 2021, found hard to believe.

Rose discussed the GOP and MAGA's response to Trump's comments in a new interview on MS Now.

"These people are lying there," Rose said after host Ana Cabrera showed a montage video of Republicans denying that they saw Trump's threat.

"I've never met a federal representative who does not check the news every 20 minutes," he added. "They have tens of staff members whose only job is to update them on what's going on, and then they boldface lie because they're so afraid of this president. They're so afraid of a potential primary. They're so afraid of some backlash from a maga extremist that could potentially call them or even tweet at them. That's how fragile they are."

The FBI turned the tables on a California realtor and Republican congressional candidate who was planning to drop an attack on a Democratic lawmaker but instead was grilled about her communication with Federal Housing Agency Director Bill Pulte and DOJ official Ed Martin, according to reports.

Christine Bish thought she was heading to Greenbelt, Maryland, to testify to a grand jury about Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and mortgage fraud allegations — but instead had an unexpected meeting, MS NOW anchor Ana Cabrera said Friday. The grand jury was hearing allegations that Pulte and Martin illegally shared sensitive information in the administration's mortgage fraud probes of Democratic figures and Trump enemies.

"...There is another stunning curveball at the DOJ. Two Trump allies who have spearheaded investigations into Trump's political adversaries, Bill Pulte and Ed Martin, are now themselves under investigation for their handling of those cases, according to two people familiar with the probe," Cabrera reported.

MS NOW justice and intel reporter Ken Dilanian, part of the team that broke the story, described the shock over the move and other potential allegations that have surfaced, especially the questions over Martin's involvement.

"[Martin is] basically spearheading many of the DOJ's inquiries into Donald Trump's political opponents. He's a darling of Donald Trump. Now, his own Justice Department is investigating him," Dilanian said.

Dilanian talked to Bish on Thursday after her surprise chat.

"She was summoned to the grand jury, subpoenaed, and she showed up yesterday in Greenbelt, Maryland," Dilanian reported. "Instead of testifying before the grand jury, she had an interview with a prosecutor, an FBI agent and others, and she told me that she thought she would be telling them about her take on Adam Schiff's mortgage. But instead, they were grilling her about her communications with Pulte, with Martin, and with two other men who she said spoke to her about these allegations, who don't actually work for the government. And so this is a huge deal. It's amazing to all of us who cover the Justice Department that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, and Pam Bondi, the attorney general, have allowed this investigation to germinate from the Maryland grand jury."

The investigation is ongoing.

"It'll be interesting to see whether it persists now that it's become public. And Donald Trump surely is aware of it," Dilanian said.

Bondi and Blanche are also aware of the updates to this investigation, and that "nothing of this level at the Justice Department happens without the senior people at least being briefed on it. This is a huge deal. They know that. They knew that if it got out, it would be a massive, massive story. I mean, where else have we seen anything like this? One legal scholar, commenting on our reporting yesterday called this an extraordinary sign of life for the rule of law. We'll have to see whether that remains the case."

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