Federal grand jury is targeting someone in the Trump Organization – and it looks like it’s Eric Trump
Back when Michael Cohen cut a plea deal just days before he would have been arrested in his campaign finance scandal, the big question was whether Cohen was the only one being criminally targeted in that particular scandal. Now we have a definitive answer, and it has the potential to send shockwaves through the Trump Organization, as well as the Trump family.
Today the Department of Justice revealed in court filings that it still has an “ongoing grand jury investigation” in relation to Michael Cohen’s illegal election payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Cohen has already pleaded guilty, so the grand jury can’t still be targeting him. The two women involved were never targets, so it can’t be them. Instead, one or more people who were helping Cohen with those payoffs are now grand jury targets. So where does this get us?
Brad Heath of USA Today flagged the grand jury news in the latest filings. Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti pointed out that the Michael Cohen plea agreement “discussed other Trump Organization employees who assisted Cohen” without naming them. So who within the Trump family business was helping Cohen with this payoff? We know that Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was involved, but he was given immunity in exchange for his cooperation against Cohen, meaning it’s not Weisselberg. This leaves us with one very strong possibility.
Just ten days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported this about covering up the payoff to Stormy Daniels: “Mr. Trump told Mr. Cohen to coordinate the legal response with Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, and another outside lawyer who had represented Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization in other matters.” So we know that Donald Trump told Eric to help Michael Cohen cover up the payoff, which the Feds have since determined was illegal – and now we know that a grand jury is still pursuing someone in the matter, after having nailed Cohen. Do the math.
