Prosecutors grant immunity to longtime Trump finance chief
NEW YORK — He’s one of the longest-serving employees in Donald Trump’s family real estate business. Through triumphs, scandals and bankruptcies, he was there.
Allen Weisselberg was handling the books when Fred Trump ran the company in the early 1970s. He was handling them when his son Donald made his mark with Trump Tower in the early ’80s, then teetered on personal bankruptcy in the ’90s. And he was there when Trump transformed the business around his TV celebrity in the new millennium and went on a global licensing spree.
Now the private and loyal Weisselberg is in the spotlight as the latest Trump confidant, and perhaps the most significant, to strike a deal with federal investigators for protection and to tell what he knows. Federal prosecutors have granted the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer immunity in the federal probe of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen as the president lashes out at people “flipping” to the feds.
“Weisselberg knows everything about Trump entities that have taken in money and spent it,” said Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio, who writes frequently about the president’s businesses. “All of this would come into play if Trump was being audited or investigated for financial crimes.”
Two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press about the deal Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. One of them said the immunity agreement was restricted to Weisselberg’s grand jury testimony last month in the Cohen case, specifically the allegations that Cohen paid hush money to two women who claimed affairs with Trump.
University accepted $458K from eugenics fund
The University of Arizona has accepted years of funding from a foundation infamous for promoting research linking race and intelligence — even after other universities and organizations, including white nationalist groups, stopped receiving support from the group, records show.
A University of Arizona psychology professor used some of the Pioneer Fund’s grant money to pay for recent travel to a conference in London that has included eugenics-themed presentations, according to documents The Associated Press obtained through a public records request. The eugenics movement has included theories about the controlled breeding of humans to “improve” the gene pool.
The Pioneer Fund was created by textile heir Wickliffe Draper in 1937 to — in the words of its original charter — advocate for “race betterment.” The organization has promoted eugenics and financially supported “race scientists” who maintain that blacks are intellectually and genetically inferior to whites.
The private, tax-exempt foundation in Maryland gave nearly $7.8 million to 48 organizations or individuals from 1998 to 2016, including nearly $3 million to at least 22 universities in the U.S. and abroad. But the University of Arizona was the only U.S. university getting any money from the group from 2011 to 2016, tax records show.
The University of Arizona received a total of $458,000 from the Pioneer Fund from 2003 to 2016. The foundation reported a contribution to the school in every year but 2013 over that span. Specifically, the funds were applied for and received by Professor Aurelio Jose Figueredo, who directs a graduate program for the study of human behavior and evolutionary psychology. More recent tax filings aren’t publicly available, but Figueredo’s curriculum vitae says he received a $30,000 grant from the fund for the 2017-2018 academic year as well.
Trump complains to Ohio GOP that Dems are ‘negative, nasty’
COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Donald Trump sought to unite Ohio’s fractious state Republican Party on Friday, bitterly complaining about “negative, nasty” Democrats and warning that the Democratic contender for governor would “destroy your state.”
Trump praised the slate of Republican candidates during a fundraising dinner in the nation’s premier battleground state but noticeably avoided mentioning Gov. John Kasich, one of his 2016 primary opponents and sharpest critics, who skipped the event.
A subdued Trump, who has been grappling with the defection of some longtime loyalists amid investigations into his 2016 campaign, skewered Democrat Richard Cordray “as a far-left candidate” who was “groomed by Pocahontas.” That was a reprise of his insult of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible 2020 presidential challenger, over her Native American heritage.
“Cordray will destroy your state,” Trump said without going into specifics. Cordray, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington during the Obama administration, worked closely with Warren, who helped create the agency before she won a Senate seat.
Ohio is holding a number of high-stakes races for governor, Senate and several U.S. House seats that could factor into GOP control of Congress this fall — and linger into Trump’s next presidential campaign.
From wire sources
Fox’s Carlson stunned by reaction to stories on South Africa
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Friday he’s shocked his segments this week on a South African land reform policy should be considered an appeal to white nationalists — let alone spark an international incident.
Carlson argued against a proposal that would allow the South African government to seize some white-owned agricultural land, part of an effort to address inequities left over from apartheid. Whites own more than 70 percent of such farmland despite being about 8 percent of the population.
Two hours after Carlson reported on it, a prominent viewer — Republican President Donald Trump — tweeted that he asked the secretary of state to look into the issue.
The South African government then lashed out at Trump, condemning his tweet as racially polarizing.
“The government of South Africa wishes to caution against alarmist, false, inaccurate and misinformed, as well as – in some cases – politically motivated statements that do not reflect the policies and intentions of the South African government,” the government’s statement said.
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Bill Clinton, Smokey Robinson to speak at Franklin funeral
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton, Smokey Robinson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cicely Tyson will be among the speakers at Aretha Franklin’s funeral next week.
Franklin’s rep, Gwendolyn Quinn, says other speakers will include former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, music mogul Clive Davis, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Bishop T.D. Jakes. Michael Eric Dyson, former TV judge Greg Mathis, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones and U.S. Rep Brenda Lawrence are also additional speakers.
Clinton and the Queen of Soul were longtime friends. She sang at both of his inaugurations. Robinson and Franklin grew up together in Detroit.
Franklin died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. Her funeral will be held in Detroit at Greater Grace Temple next Friday.
The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. will deliver the eulogy. He is pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta.
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Robin Leach of ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ dies
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Robin Leach, whose voice crystallized the opulent 1980s on TV’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” died Friday. He was 76
His son, Steven Leach, said he died in Las Vegas, where he made his home.
Leach had a stroke in November while on vacation in Mexico that led to a months-long recovery, much of which he spent at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio before returning to Las Vegas in June. His son said Leach suffered another stroke Monday.
“Champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was Leach’s sign-off at the end of every episode of his syndicated show’s decade-long run that began in 1984.
Celebrities and others took to social media to express condolences and share stories about their interactions with Leach.