Mr. Weisselberg has referred to himself as President Trump\u2019s \u201ceyes and ears\u201d at the Trump Organization. He was incriminated by Michael Cohen in testimony on Wednesday.<\/b>
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In testimony before Congress this week, Michael Cohen cast himself as a central figure in schemes that could threaten the presidency of Donald J. Trump.
But Mr. Cohen said he didn\u2019t work alone, unexpectedly mentioning by name the involvement of another member of Mr. Trump\u2019s inner circle, Allen Weisselberg, more than 20 times. The revelations are set to intensify the scrutiny on Mr. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump\u2019s unassuming 71-year-old chief financial officer, who already is a focus for federal prosecutors in New York.
On Wednesday, Mr. Cohen specifically identified Mr. Weisselberg as helping mastermind a strategy to mask reimbursements to Mr. Cohen for his payment to Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said after Wednesday\u2019s hearing that he \u201cprobably will\u201d want to call additional witnesses, including Mr. Weisselberg, to gather additional evidence about the hush-money payment.
A Democratic official said that the House Intelligence Committee anticipates calling Mr. Weisselberg to testify, as well.
Mr. Cohen said in the hearing that the payment was ordered by Mr. Trump, which violated campaign finance laws because it was intended to buy Ms. Daniels\u2019s silence so that she could not hurt Mr. Trump\u2019s prospects right before the election.
Mr. Cohen said he had paid Ms. Daniels with his own money, and then was repaid by the Trump Organization.
\u201cAllen Weisselberg made the decision that it should be paid over the 12 months so that it would look like a retainer,\u201d Mr. Cohen told lawmakers, describing how reimbursements were made monthly.
Mr. Cohen submitted to Congress a copy of a $35,000 check \u2014 labeled exhibit 5b \u2014 that he said was one of those monthly payments.
It was signed by Mr. Weisselberg and Donald Trump Jr.
Mr. Weisselberg declined to comment through his lawyers. But it is clear why lawmakers and investigators might home in on him as they examine the Trump Organization\u2019s finances.
After Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud and other crimes in August, federal prosecutors in Manhattan began focusing on what role the Trump Organization and its executives, including Mr. Weisselberg, played in the campaign finance scheme, according to people briefed on the matter.
As part of the investigation, Mr. Weisselberg was granted limited immunity to testify before a federal grand jury last year. But there has been no indication that he has cooperated with prosecutors.
Mr. Weisselberg, an accountant, began his career doing the books for Mr. Trump\u2019s father in a dingy building in Brooklyn. For decades, he has represented Mr. Trump on paperwork for everything from complex real estate deals to the operations of the antique carousel in Central Park, which the Trump Organization runs.
In 2015, a lawyer representing students who alleged they were defrauded by Mr. Trump\u2019s education venture, Trump University, questioned Mr. Weisselberg during a deposition, describing him as \u201cMr. Trump\u2019s eyes and ears for his investments.\u201d
Mr. Weisselberg replied, \u201cAm I his eyes and ears? From an economic standpoint,\u201d court records show. In 2016, Mr. Trump settled the case for $25 million.
Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign official, wrote in a book that he co-authored, \u201cLet Trump Be Trump\u201d that Mr. Weisselberg \u201cknows of every dime that leaves the building.\u201d
Aside from Mr. Weisselberg, several other Trump associates may now be asked to testify before the House in the wake of Mr. Cohen\u2019s hearing, including three executives at the Trump Organization: Matthew Calamari, Alan Garten and Ronald C. Lieberman.
But Mr. Cummings said the committee would have to proceed carefully to avoid interfering with the investigation by federal prosecutors in the special counsel\u2019s office and the United States attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan.
Still in an indication of what may come, Mr. Cummings has sent letters totwo lawyers he said were involved in preparing Mr. Trump\u2019s federal financial disclosure filing, which originally omitted payments he made to reimburse Mr. Cohen for the payment to Ms. Daniels.
The letters requested that the lawyers, Sheri A. Dillon and Stefan C. Passantino, appear for interviews with the committee in March.
Ms. Dillon is a tax lawyer who represents Mr. Trump. Mr. Passantino was a deputy White House counsel at the time focused on ethics, but has since left and now advises the Trump Organization on how to deal with House investigations.
Mr. Weisselberg has previously been questioned under oath, in a lawsuit filed last year by the New York attorney general against the Trump Foundation, Mr. Trump\u2019s charitable organization, where he served as treasurer. In late December, the foundation was dissolved after the attorney general accused it of fraud.
The United States attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan and the New York attorney general\u2019s office declined to comment.
Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s involvement in the hush money payment to Ms. Daniels first surfaced last year, when federal prosecutors seized recordings from Mr. Cohen\u2019s office. On one of the recordings, Mr. Cohen was heard saying, \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up.\u201d
For his part, Mr. Trump has expressed confidence that Mr. Weisselberg will not turn on the president.
\u201c100 percent he didn\u2019t,\u201d Mr. Trump told reporters for Bloomberg when asked last year whether Mr. Weisselberg had betrayed him. \u201cHe\u2019s a wonderful guy.\u201d
Others are not so certain.
\u201cI am sure Allen does not want to hurt Donald, I am sure there is an affection there,\u201d said Barbara Res, a former executive with the Trump Organization who is a critic of the president. \u201cBut he\u2019s in a terrible position \u2014 and Donald put him there.\u201d
One secret to Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s lifelong career with the Trump family is his earthy modesty, according to friends and biographers of Mr. Trump. He wears dark, unflashy suits and cultivates a salt-and-pepper mustache. He still shows up to his desk in Trump Tower every day, watching over the organization\u2019s finances.
\u201cHe did whatever was necessary to protect the bottom line,\u201d Mr. Trump wrote about Mr. Weisselberg in his book \u201cThink Like a Billionaire.\u201d
As a child in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Mr. Weisselberg played punchball until dark and rode the city bus to school for 15 cents. In \u201cThe Aurora,\u201d the green, clothbound yearbook of the Thomas Jefferson High School class of 1965, he appears as a cowlicked teenage boy, and names his dream profession: accountant.
President Trump\u2019s father made that dream come true: In 1973 he hired Mr. Weisselberg to do his accounting at an office in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
Mr. Weisselberg never lost his Brownsville humility, even as his employer lavished him with things like private jet rides to the pool at Mar-a-Lago and at least one advantageous real estate deal.
\u201cHe is the embodiment of an accountant,\u201d said Gwenda Blair, who interviewed Mr. Weisselberg for her 2000 book, \u201cThe Trumps.\u201d
Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s lifestyle has remained modest, even as he rose to an office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower.
He lived in a ranch-style house in Wantagh, Long Island with his wife of nearly 50 years, Hilary, before selling it in 2013 for $468,000. In 2002, they spent $282,000 for a vacation property \u2014 a low-slung house that backs up to a lagoon in Boynton Beach, Fla.
Most recently, the Weisselbergs rented an apartment in a Trump-branded building on Riverside Drive. (In 2016, over 800 residents voted to strip the Trump name from its facade.)
Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s loyalty has been well-compensated, and his whole family has benefited from the relationship with Mr. Trump.
One of Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s sons, Barry, has been the property manager of Trump Wollman Rink for the past 17 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. There, he once hosted Hanukkah on Ice, dialing up his dad and putting him on speaker phone so he could hear the holiday songs. Barry Weisselberg declined to comment.
Mr. Weisselberg\u2019s other son, Jack, works at Ladder Capital, a real estate investment trust that is one of the Trump Organization\u2019s biggest creditors.
Jack has benefited in other ways: In 2000, his father purchased a one-bedroom apartment in the Trump Parc East building overlooking Central Park. It cost $152,500, which appears to have been purchased profoundly under market value, according to property records. He transferred the deed to his son Jack, according to property records, who flipped it for more than four times the original price in 2006.
Jack Weisselberg did not respond to email or phone messages.
Aside from an awkward cameo on the second season of Mr. Trump\u2019s television show, \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d Mr. Weisselberg has until recently stayed out of the limelight, focusing on serving his boss.
In his books and in interviews, the president has described Mr. Weisselberg as his go-to man, whether it was to help pick carpet swatches for a development, or to strong-arm firms with which he contracted.
In Mr. Cohen\u2019s testimony on Wednesday, Mr. Trump\u2019s reliance on his C. F. O. was on display. When it came to paying back his fixer for the hush money, Mr. Cohen said the president turned to Mr. Weisselberg.
\u201cHe acknowledged to Allen that he was going to pay the $130,000,\u201d Mr. Cohen said, \u201cAnd that Allen and I should go back to his office and figure out how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n