Tabloid Company’s Admission Shows New Peril for Trump’s Circle
By David Voreacos , Chris Dolmetsch , and Gerry Smith
December 12, 2018
- Pecker met with Cohen, at least one other campaign member
- National Enquirer sought to aid campaign, now is cooperating
The tabloid publishing company that killed damaging stories about Donald Trump is telling U.S. prosecutors about the plans hatched with members of Trump’s team in the earliest days of the campaign.
At least one unidentified campaign member joined Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in an August 2015 meeting with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, to discuss suppressing negative news stories during the election, the U.S. said.
Prosecutors’ reference to unidentified campaign staff suggests that the number of Trump associates in legal trouble is still expanding.
The deeper involvement of Trump’s campaign staff was revealed on Wednesday by federal prosecutors in New York, who disclosed they had reached a non-prosecution agreement with American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s publisher.
Under the deal, AMI admitted it worked with the campaign to kill stories “about the presidential candidate’s relationships with women” and agreed to cooperate. As early as August 2015, Pecker agreed to identify any damaging information about Trump that came his way and suppress it by buying the stories and not publishing them -- a practice known as “catch and kill.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...th-prosecutors
Related
Michael Cohen sentenced to three years in prison.
“Morning Joe” co-hosts claim that Jared Kushner attempted to blackmail them
Jared Kushner Told ‘Morning Joe': Apologize to Trump to Kill National Enquirer Story (Report)
June 30, 2017
Loyal Trump supporter Scaramucci says Trump is "not blackmailable"“Kushner told Scarborough that he would need to personally apologize to Trump in exchange for getting Enquirerowner David Pecker to stop the story,” Sherman wrote. “Scarborough says he refused, and the Enquirer published the story in print on June 5, headlined ‘Morning Joe Sleazy Cheating Scandal!'”
From: Leaked Netanyahu Tape: ((WE)) Made Trump Cancel the Iran Deal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZzyq3S-4Yk
Giuliani: Trump repaid attorney Cohen for Stormy Daniels settlement
Poll: Do you believe Stormy Daniels scandal threatens Trump presidency?
In hindsight, was not making Michael Cohen an ambassador a blunder?
"If Trump Falls, Testimonies of Cohen, Pecker, Weisselberg Could Spark anti-Semitic Backlash"
Is Deep Stage covertly leaking/pushing this or this is just media watchdogs' investigative journalism work?
As if Trump-Kushner team needed another hushmoney gate scandal on the heels of growing list of Israel-Flynn gate, Bannon claimed Kushner money laundering gate, Peggy Peterson-Michael Cohen gate scandals etc.
Alleged payment to porn star was illegal donation to Trump campaign, watchdog says
The call from Common Cause for criminal prosecution echoes charges against John Edwards.
01/22/2018
A watchdog group filed a pair of complaints on Monday alleging that a $130,000 payment reportedly made to a pornographic film actress who claims to have had an affair with Donald Trump violated campaign finance laws.
In submissions to the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission, Common Cause said the alleged payment to Stephanie Clifford — who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels — amounted to an in-kind donation to Trump's presidential campaign that should have been publicly disclosed in its official reports.
An attorney for Common Cause, Paul Ryan, said the payment appeared to be hush money. He compared the situation to the series of events that resulted in the prosecution of former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) over nearly $1 million in payments allegedly made to cover up an affair he had with videographer Rielle Hunter during his 2008 presidential bid.
“The purpose is the heart of all this,” Ryan said. “It’s pretty obvious this payment to Ms. Clifford was intended to keep her quiet just weeks before the election so she would not damage the candidate’s effort to win the election.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...onation-357250
Trump Lawyer Used Private Company, Pseudonyms to Pay Porn Star 'Stormy Daniels'
Highly Cited Wall Street Journal 2h ago
President Donald Trump’s lawyer used a private Delaware company to pay a former adult-film star $130,000 in return for her agreeing to not publicly discuss an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to corporate records and people familiar with the matter. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, established Essential Consultants LLC, on Oct. 17, 2016, just before the 2016 presidential election, corporate documents show. Mr. Cohen, who is based in New York, then used a bank account linked to the entity to send the payment to...
CPAC UNBUCKLED...
CPAC speaker criticizes attendees for supporting ‘brainless, sinister, clownish thing called Trumpism’
By Brett Samuels - 02/25/18
Charen spoke Saturday at CPAC on a panel focused on feminism and sexual abuse amid the recent #MeToo movement. Charen ripped the Republican Party for supporting politicians who are accused of sexual misconduct “because he happens to have an ‘R’ after his name.”
"I am disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party, who are sitting in the White House, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women," Charen said, a likely reference to a video of Trump released during his presidential campaign in which he bragged about grabbing women.
Pence told RNC he could replace Trump on ticket after 'Access Hollywood' tape came out: report
The Atlantic reported that Pence made clear to the RNC that he could assume the position of the party's nominee.
At the time, there was reportedly talk about making Pence the nominee and former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice his running mate.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...t-after-access
Ex-Playboy Model Karen McDougal Sues to Break Silence on Trump
By JIM RUTENBERG MARCH 20, 2018
[IMG]https://static01.********/images/2018/03/20/autossell/20lawsuit1/20lawsuit1-master768.jpg[/IMG]
Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with Donald J. Trump, is suing to be freed from an agreement with a media company to remain quiet. Credit Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images, for Playboy A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies’ efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships.
(Read the complaint.)
The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump’s. The other woman, the adult entertainment star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 to stay quiet by the president’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. She filed suit earlier this month.
Both women, who argue that their contracts are invalid, are trying to get around clauses requiring them to resolve disputes in secretive arbitration proceedings rather than in open court. Mr. Trump has denied the affairs.
Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Mr. Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal. She also asserts that after she spoke with The New Yorker last month after it obtained notes she kept on Mr. Trump, A.M.I. warned that “any further disclosures would breach Karen’s contract” and “cause considerable monetary damages.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/u...-on-trump.html
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