President Trump knew of details and facilitated payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in exchange for their silence about alleged affairs with him, according to a new report.
Trump coordinated phone calls and meetings about the payments with his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, though he has denied doing so, the Wall Street Journal reports. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has obtained evidence of Trump’s role in the payments, according to the report.
In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of excessive campaign contribution, made on Oct. 27, 2016. The payments were made by Cohen per the direction of the “candidate” to McDougal and Daniels, so they wouldn’t share their stories with the media.
The White House referred the Wall Street Journal to Trump’s outside counsel Jay Sekulow, who refused to comment.
Trump also dismissed questions from the Wall Street Journal in October about whether he and Cohen had talked about the payments when Trump was running for office, claiming, “nobody cares about that.”
McDougal was paid $150,000 for exclusive rights of her story from the publisher of the National Enquirer, but the piece never published. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump coordinated with David Pecker, chief executive of the National Enquirer’s parent company American Media Inc., to prevent the story from running and later thanked Pecker for his involvement.
Similarly, Daniels was paid $130,000 by Cohen in exchange for her silence on the affair.
Cohen and other aides initially rejected that Trump had anything to do with the payments when they were first reported earlier this year.
But Cohen has met with investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, along with New York federal prosecutors and shared that Trump did participate in the deals.
According to the Wall Street Journal, federal prosecutors were informed by Cohen that he and Trump discussed the payment to Daniels just before the election, and that Trump instructed Cohen to “get it done.” Cohen, Trump, and a Trump Organization executive also talked about how to cover-up Trump’s involvement in the arrangement.
Trump has denied the affairs with both women. Cohen’s sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 12.
