Report: Trump pushed for hush-money deals
Feds have evidence of his role in payoffs, newspaper says.
Federal prosecutors in New York have gathered evidence that shows President Donald Trump participated in so-called hush money payments made to women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with him before his presidency, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing a slew of unidentified sources, the newspaper reported that Trump “intervened directly to suppress stories about his alleged sexual encounters with women,” coordinating with American Media Inc.’s chief executive, David Pecker. American Media publishes the National Enquirer.
The Journal reported the coordination might have violated campaign-finance laws.
Karen McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate, claimed she had a nearly yearlong affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. The rights to her story were bought in August 2016 by American Media, the Journal reported, but her story was never published.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels also said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. She signed a non-disclosure agreement shortly before voters went to the polls for the 2016 presidential election in exchange for $130,000 from Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.
Cohen pleaded guilty in August to multiple counts of tax evasion and a campaign finance violation related to payments to Daniels and McDougal. In court, Cohen said he paid a pair of women in coordination with an “unnamed candidate” to influence the election. Neither the president nor the women were named, though The Associated Press reported that the amounts of money paid and the dates of the transactions lined up with payments made to Daniels and McDougal.
In court records, prosecutors said Cohen planned to buy the rights to McDougal’s story from American Media Inc. for $125,000, but the media company backed out of the deal.
The Journal reported that Trump contacted Pecker directly when he learned in mid-2016 that McDougal was considering selling her story. American Media decided to buy it for $150,000 after learning that she was also in talks with ABC News, according to the newspaper.
The deal signed by McDougal included promises that she would appear as a model on two magazine covers and that American Media could publish health and fitness columns under her name, the Journal reported. The newspaper added that Pecker consulted with an election-law specialist before signing the deal to ensure that the payment would be justified for business.
Under federal law, corporations are not allowed to give cash or in-kind contributions directly to candidates.
After the deal was signed, Cohen became concerned that Pecker might leave American Media and hatched a plan to buy all materials related to Trump the company had collected.