Thread: The National Enquirer Flips On Donald Trump In Playmate Hush Money Scandal

12/12/2018 02:25 pm ET Updated 4 hours ago

The National Enquirer Flips On Donald Trump In Playmate Hush Money Scandal

The National Enquirer’s parent company, AMI, has offered “substantial and important assistance” in an investigation into hush money payments.

By Ryan J. Reilly and Maxwell Strachan

The parent company of the National Enquirer has admitted to federal prosecutors that “its principal purpose” in paying former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal $150,000 ahead of the 2016 election was to “suppress” her story about an alleged affair with Donald Trump for the explicit purpose of improving the then-candidate’s chances of victory.

The decision, the company also said, was made in direct “cooperation, consultation and concert with one or more” members of the Trump campaign.

At the bottom of a Wednesday press release touting the sentencing of former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York revealed that it had recently reached a “non-prosecution agreement” with American Media Inc., which owns tabloids including the National Enquirer.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES

As part of the deal, AMI offered “substantial and important assistance” in federal prosecutors’ investigation into payments made to McDougal, prosecutors said.

AMI has previously denied that it “paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump,” claiming that it paid McDougal to write fitness columns and appear on magazine covers, as well as for the story rights related to any relationship she had had with a married man. And on Monday, Trump seemed to dismiss any payment made on behalf of him before the election as a “simple private transaction,” rather than a “campaign contribution.”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump


“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun...No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...

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But as part of its agreement with federal prosecutors, AMI now admits it paid the money to McDougal in order to catch and kill the story of her alleged affair to aid then-candidate Trump’s campaign.

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Neither McDougal nor Trump are mentioned in the Wednesday press release, which states that the payment was made “in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election.”

“AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election,” the release added.

David Pecker, the chief executive and chairman of AMI, long considered himself a “personal friend” of Trump. He for many years granted Trump favorable coverage, particularly in the Enquirer, where Trump’s team was given “copy approval and headline approval and photo approval,” a senior editor told HuffPost over the summer.

That dedication to Trump extended through the election, when the Enquirer publicly endorsed Trump and vigorously attacked his opponents. Behind the scenes, Pecker agreed to go even further to help his friend become president, coordinating with Cohen in August 2015 to “deal with negative stories about” Trump’s “relationships with women,” a decision prosecutors say led to the McDougal deal.

But as outlined in AMI’s agreement with the Justice Department, the company knew at the time that corporations are not legally allowed to make payments in hopes of influencing an election, and it did not tell the Federal Election Commission about the payment to McDougal.

As prosecutors zeroed in on the idea that AMI’s payment could be considered as an illegal campaign contribution, Pecker ultimately decided to flip on his friend, agreeing to a deal with prosecutors this year that would grant him immunity in exchange for information related to payments made to McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. As part of the deal, chief content officer Dylan Howard also received immunity.

AMI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b00e17a535ada6

Feds: Cohen broke the law at Trump's direction

Oh they lied when they were telling the truth, and then they tell the truth when they are lying to gain immunity.

That's so funny!

But as outlined in AMI’s agreement with the Justice Department, the company knew at the time that corporations are not legally allowed to make payments in hopes of influencing an election, and it did not tell the Federal Election Commission about the payment to McDougal.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

But as outlined in AMI’s agreement with the Justice Department, the company knew at the time that corporations are not legally allowed to make payments in hopes of influencing an election, and it did not tell the Federal Election Commission about the payment to McDougal.

Didn't Trump reimburse them through Cohen or something like that? It was actually paid by Trump, not them. They advanced it and did the contracts and agreements, but Trump paid for it with his personal money. That's what the story was a year ago. Trump Org made the arrangements because they have procedures to access his personal accounts and pay his bills for him subject to his approval, that's what that Trump Org accountant stated a year or more ago, maybe 2 years ago, when it first came out whenever that was.

AMI is not stupid, they're pretty smart, so I don't know why they would think they were liable for a campaign finance violation for a payment they didn't actually make unless they just didn't want to mess with the hassle of having the feds on their ass with a Witch Hunt investigation and when they were offered immunity to lie and tell the feds whatever they wanted to hear and be done with it, they took it and ran, which is fine, maybe most people would do that. I mean look what the feds did to Manafort and Flynn and Cohen. I can see why they would do whatever and say whatever the feds wanted. There's no telling what these prosecutors were threatening them with. It's a messed up system.

Also, corporations are fully entitled to make payments for the purpose of influencing an election. Who do you think funds the billions of dollars donated to political campaigns? Special interests, most of which if not all of which are: corporations.

There is also no limit on a business venture associated with a campaign to influence an election. It just has to be reported by whoever ultimately pays it. You don't report the whole supply chain, just the ultimate payor, which would be Donald Trump.

Then you must go to the issue of what were Trump's motives. Was his motive to influence the election? Why would it be? He has his own $10 billion business to protect, his own brand to protect, his own name and reputation to protect and MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, his wife and son to protect.

The question is would Donald Trump have made the payment to buy McDougal's story if he wasn't running for President? Yes, he would have. And I believe both Cohen and Pecker will be great witnesses to that great simple fact with a trail of documents a mile long spanning years which the feds have which is EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE and proof beyond all doubt that this is the biggest most rotten malicious insidious unconstitutional WITCH HUNT in American History.

And a national disgrace.

The same for Stormy Daniels.

The problem is political hacks working for the DOJ, who don't understand having something more important to protect than winning an election, I guess because they've never had it.

Originally Posted by Judy

Didn't Trump reimburse them through Cohen or something like that? . . .

That was one of the other mistresses that Trump reimbursed Cohen for his money.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

That was one of the other mistresses that Trump reimbursed Cohen for his money.

I think Cohen paid for them both and Trump reimbursed Cohen for them both. Maybe not, but that's what I remember and that's why the amount Trump paid Cohen was supposed to be $420,000. $280,000 for the payments plus legal services for putting the deals together plus a bonus. I don't think he got the bonus, because both women breached their deals, and the whole thing blew up.

I just heard on CNN that Cohen never reimbursed AMI. He offered to by purchasing the story rights in August of 2016 but AMI apparently decided for business reasons to hang on to the story. So don't know about the $150,000. I think Cohen billed Trump for it without maybe ever paying AMI for it. It's not clear, mixed stories coming out, I think the whole thing blew up before the election anyway.

Yeah, here it is. The Wall Street Journal ran the story about Karen McDougal 4 days before the 2016 Election.

In November 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that McDougal had told her friend that she had an affair with a married Donald Trump from 2006 to 2007, with various sources quoting that it had lasted from ten months to a year. It also reported that American Media, Inc. (AMI), the owner of the National Enquirer, had paid McDougal $150,000 for exclusive rights to her story, but never published it. AMI stated to The Wall Street Journal that it had paid the amount to McDougal not "to kill damaging stories about" Trump, but for "exclusive life rights to any relationship she has had with a then-married man" and "two years’ worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers".[46][47] On June 20, 2016, Dylan Howard interviewed McDougal for several hours at the offices of her lawyer, Keith M. Davidson.[48] McDougal later met with investigative reporters from ABC News, which prompted American Media to offer to buy the rights to McDougal's story for $150,000 in August 5, 2016.[48]

The Wall Street Journal published the story four days before the 2016 United States presidential election, in which Trump was the Republican nominee. Trump was endorsed by the National Enquirer, and was friends with AMI CEO/Chairman David Pecker. Hope Hicks, speaking for the Trump campaign, denied the existence of an affair between Trump and McDougal, saying that the notion was "totally untrue."[49][50]

So voters knew about it before the election. Trump still won so it didn't influence the election, voters didn't care, but I'm sure it impacted his family, his wife and son Baron. And Cohen knows that because when he went down to Mar-a-Lago after this all blew up, Cohen was heard apologizing over and over to Melania for the way he handled this and it all blowing up and how it would affect Baron.

What’s next for the Trump hush money investigation

Michael Cohen got sentenced, and prosecutors announced they won’t charge AMI.

By Andrew
Dec 12, 2018, 5:15pm EST

New York federal prosecutors’ investigation into the hush money payments Michael Cohen arranged during the 2016 campaign isn’t yet over — and it appears to have moved closer to President Trump.

Shortly after Cohen was sentenced, prosecutors in his case announced they’d reached a non-prosecution agreement with a company involved in one of those payments, American Media Inc. — and said the company assisted in the investigation and admitted it acted “in concert” with Trump’s presidential campaign.

This follows up on a sentencing memo filed last week, in which prosecutors asserted that Cohen “acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1” — Trump — in violating campaign finance law.

Meanwhile, recent reports from both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times suggest the involvement of Trump and the Trump Organization in the payoffs both remain major focuses of the probe.

So prosecutors have concluded that the payoffs were criminal, because they were effectively designed to help Trump’s electoral chances but went far above campaign contribution limits. They’ve gotten Cohen to plead guilty to charges. They’ve also decided not to prosecute AMI.

Which means that the obvious next step in the probe would seem to involve Trump or his company.
Trump’s known personal involvement in the illegal payoffs

In August, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) charged Cohen with two campaign finance-related offenses, each involving a separate hush money payment to a woman who claimed she had an affair with Trump.

First was a $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. This payment was made by AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, in August 2016. But Cohen pleaded guilty to “causing” the payment to happen.

Second was the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, made by Cohen himself in the final weeks of the campaign.

Both reporters and prosecutors have suggested that Trump was informed about and involved in these payments at every step of the way.

Near the very beginning of Trump’s campaign, in August 2015, AMI’s CEO David Pecker had a meeting with Cohen, at which Pecker floated the idea of buying the silence of women who came forward with allegations about Trump. Prosecutors have said that “one other member of the [Trump] campaign” was at this meeting.

That seems to refer to Trump himself. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump attended this meeting and asked Pecker for help with his campaign. That’s significant because it shows Trump and Pecker had an understanding about hush money payments well before they actually happened.

Fast-forward to a year later, when McDougal was talking about coming forward. Per the Journal, AMI executives then tipped off Cohen, Cohen told Trump, and then Trump called Pecker asking for help.

After the deal to pay McDougal was made, Cohen reported back to Trump — in a conversation he secretly taped. When Cohen vaguely brought up “our friend David” (Pecker), Trump asked, “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” So that’s more evidence Trump knew what was happening.

SDNY prosecutors also said in a filing last week that, “as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments” — to McDougal and Daniels — “he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.” They haven’t revealed all the evidence they have to back up this statement, but it’s a clear assertion that Trump directed both payoffs.
The Trump Organization was also involved

There’s also potential legal danger for Trump’s company — “the Company,” as SDNY prosecutors have dubbed it.

Cohen was an executive at the Trump Organization when he arranged the payoffs. But he wasn’t the only one at the company (in addition to Trump) who was involved.

During Cohen’s taped conversation with Trump, Cohen also says he spoke to a Trump Organization executive — CFO Allen Weisselberg — about how to repay AMI for the McDougal payoff. “I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” Cohen says.

Weisselberg was also reportedly involved in paying back Cohen for the Daniels payoff with Trump Organization funds in 2017. The money was split into several monthly payments that the company falsely described as “legal expenses.”

Prosecutors investigating the payments reportedly gave Weisselberg immunity for testimony earlier this year. However, this does not mean that Weisselberg “flipped” on Trump, as some surmised: The New York Times reported that the immunity grant “was narrow in scope,” and it remains unclear what Weisselberg said.

But after Cohen pleaded guilty, “federal prosecutors in Manhattan shifted their attention to what role, if any, Trump Organization executives played in the campaign finance violations,” the Times reported this week, citing “people briefed on the matter.”

So Trump’s company certainly appears to have been heavily involved in these illegal payoffs — which raises the question of whether the company itself will be charged.

Matt Miller, a former Obama Justice Department aide, tweeted that he’d “have to think a non-prosecution agreement or indictment of the Trump Organization is coming,” based on prosecutors’ deal with AMI.

Indeed, though the AMI non-prosecution agreement was announced today, the accompanying document is dated September 20, 2018 — suggesting prosecutors have had ample time to move their focus to the next stage of the probe since then. And that next stage certainly seems to point toward Trump and his company.

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/12/18138...rer-hush-money

JD2, you're right, apparently AMI was never reimbursed for the payment they made to Karen McDougal to purchase her story. That's the $150,000. Maybe Cohen was going to purchase the story from AMI and then never got around to it and she breached the agreement 4 days before the election after which, there would be no point. AMI would now have its business rights to collect on the breach. I don't know if they ever did. Karen was writing a column for the National Inquirer as part of the deal and wanted more work activity and promotion for herself and her business she had started.

So it appears so far, the only actual payment by Trump and Cohen was the $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in accordance with a legal non-disclosure agreement. That's the one where Cohen worked out the agreement with Stormy's lawyer, advanced the money and then was eventually reimbursed by Trump.

ANALYSIS
Why the National Enquirer cooperation deal is a VERY big problem for Trump

• Analysis: Trump's former friends flip as he faces a new reality