The former daughter-in-law of Donald Trump's longtime accountant Allen Weisselberg has been accused of lying about appearing before a Manhattan grand jury on Monday.
Jennifer Weisselberg told The Daily Beast that she had testified Monday behind closed doors along with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, and explained to investigators how the former president ordered his top financial executive to avoid taxes and falsify records.
"Something has changed and it's up-leveled," Weisselberg told the website. “It’s bigger than any taxes, paper, insurance, banks, insurance… it's bigger than money."
But The Daily Beast later reported, citing two unnamed sources, that "Weisselberg had merely used the intense media focus on the case to bring attention to herself. Her attorney, Duncan Levin, who has guided her previous interviews with investigators about the Trump Organization's tax fraud, did not accompany her on Monday."
"Weisselberg was actually at the DA’s office to testify before a separate grand jury totally unrelated to Trump concerning a personal matter, according to a person familiar with her situation," the publication continued. "The media stunt casts doubt on her reliability as a witness and could prevent investigators from using her to testify in the future about alleged tax dodging at the Trump Organization, according to this person."
The grand jury has been hearing evidence about a hush money payoff scheme involving Cohen and porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, and their closed-door testimony and an invitation for Trump himself to testify suggests the investigation is nearing its end.
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“Looks like they are turning over every stone,” said one source close to the investigation.
Trump plans to decline the invitation, and Cohen said outside the district attorney's office that he felt "a little twisted inside."
“It's been a long time coming, five years now, give or take,” Cohen said. “This is not revenge. What this is, is about accountability…he needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”
(Note: This article was updated after additional reporting from The Daily Beast.)
