The President is believed to have asked National Enquirer David Pecker for his help in buying Playboy model Karen McDougal’s silence.
Federal prosecutors probing the cash paid to former Playboy model Karen McDougal are believed to have found the President thanked the National Enquirer magazine for buying her silence.
The move could be a potential violation of strict campaign finance laws.
Today, the Wall Street Journal said the investigation into possible crimes found Trump had intervened directly to suppress alleged sexual encounters ‘several’ times.
The billionaire businessman asked his then close friend David Pecker, the CEO of the tabloid magazine ’s parent company American Media Inc, how he could help his campaign in August 2015.
Pecker told him he could buy the silence of women claiming sexual encounters with the then-candidate.
Shortly after American Media brokered a £115,000 deal with McDougal after initial telling her it was only worth £11,000.
Editors of the magazine, who were in constant contact with Pecker and Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen, increased their bid ten-fold when they discovered the model was speaking to a TV station.
The payment was made by a direct request from Trump to Pecker.
American Media said at the time she had been paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and denied buying her story to protect Trump.
The President’s campaign team pleaded ignorance when asked.
“We have no knowledge of any of this,” Hope Hicks, Trump’s then-spokeswoman, said of the McDougal deal.
Hicks, who discussed the matter with Trump before issuing the comment, was relaying what she had been told, according to people familiar with the conversation.
Trump also denied knowing of payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels who claims she had sex with him in 2006.
Source: Daily Mirror
