sitting president. that s exactly what special counsel mueller would be doing, i guess, in your hypothetical so it s hard to see what the circumstances of indicting would carve out, would allow and would sort of justify the attorney general from departing from olc opinion which binds the executive branch. i may be in the minority but i don t see that as a likely scenario. mostly what i m trying to do, because we talk frequently about how, you know, what they say you can t indict a sitting president, i just want to help the viewers get to an understanding of where that rule comes from and this is fundamentally what it is and you ve helped us understand that. matt axelrod, former justice department prosecutor, senior doj official under president obama, thanks for your time. thank you. still ahead, the cautionary tale of a trump cabinet member who believed he had friends in washington and a real-life spy mystery. stay with us. stay with us. we ll be right back.
reporter, winner of a pulitzer prize for his coverage of the workings of the trump foundation and organization. david, great to have you with us. thank you for being with us. thank you for your reporting. i don t know if we can overstate how important allen weisselberg is to the trump organization, to the trump foundation and to donald trump. it s a name not everybody knew about more than a few weeks ago after we heard the tape from michael cohen, but this guy has been with trump from the beginning. that s right. donald trump tebded to treat all points of his personal empire personal expenses, company, charity as one big pot of money and the person who oversaw all as one bit pot of money and wie weisselberg handled that. he would bring in checks individually for donald trump to sign. he didn t have a lot of executive responsibility, but he had a lot of administrative responsibilities, he handled the ins and outs of the money. if i was to pick one person besides donald trump sr. t
and there s one other thing to keep in mind with all of this news today, that this top executive at the trump organization, essentially donald trump s right-hand officer at his business, has been given immunity by federal prosecutors. and it s this, david pecker, this guy, the national enquirer chief who was the keeper of donald trump s tabloid secrets, well, he s flipped and given information to prosecutors. michael cohen, the keeper of donald trump s personal secrets, he s pleaded guilty to crimes he says he committed with trump and now allen weisselberg, the keeper of donald trump s financial and business secrets, he s been given immunity. donald trump is running out of hiding places. the other two executives who run the trump organization with allen weisselberg and who run the trump trust from which weisselberg ordered the cohen reimbursements be paid, they re both named trump. where are prosecutors going to go next? joining us now is david fahrenthold, washington post
that s exactly what special counsel mueller would be doing, i guess, in your hypothetical so it s hard to see what the circumstances of indicting would carve out, would allow and justify the attorney general from departing from olc opinion that binds the executive branch. i may be in the minority but i don t see that as a likely scenario. mostly what i m trying to do, what they say you can indict a sitting president, i want to help the viewers get to an understanding of where the rule comes from and this is fundamentally what it is and you helped us understand that. matt axelrod, former justice department prosecutor, senior doj official under president obama, thanks for your time. thank you. still ahead, the cautionary tale of a trump cabinet member who believed he had friends in washington and a real life spy mystery. stay with us. we ll be right back. hat? no, what? i just switched to geico
the trump trust from which weisselberg ordered the cohen reimbursements be paid, they re both named trump. where are prosecutors going to go next? joining us now is david fahrenthold, washington post reporter, winner of a pulitzer prize for his coverage of the workings of the trump foundation and organization. david, great to have you with us. thank you for being with us. thank you for your reporting. i don t know if we can overstate how important allen weisselberg is to the trump organization to the trump foundation and donald trump. it s a name not everybody knew about more than a few weeks ago after we heard the tape from michael cohen but this guy has been with trump from the beginning. donald trump treated all points of his personal empire personal expenses, company, charity as one big pot of money and the person who oversaw all that pot of money was allen weisselberg. he would bring in checks individually for donald trump to sign. he didn t have a lot of executive respons