✔National Enquirer Subpoenaed in Michael Cohen Probe
National Enquirer Subpoenaed in Michael Cohen Probe
Prosecutors eye whether company coordinated with ex-Trump lawyer on payment to bury affair allegation
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Investigators are probing any potential efforts by Mr. Cohen to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, including whether he coordinated with American Media to pay Ms. McDougal and then not publish her account, other people familiar with the matter said.
Prosecutors are examining whether the payment violated campaign-finance or other laws, the people said.
American Media hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, and the company has denied paying Ms. McDougal to suppress her story.
“American Media Inc., has, and will continue to, comply with any and all requests that do not jeopardize or violate its protected sources or materials pursuant to our first amendment rights,” a company spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Karen McDougal has said she had an affair with Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump and his representatives have denied a sexual encounter.
Ms. McDougal has said publicly that she had a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump beginning in 2006. The tactic of paying for a story but not publishing it is known in the tabloid world as “catch and kill,” The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The company’s chairman and chief executive, David Pecker, has said he is a longtime friend of Messrs. Trump and Cohen, and the Enquirer aggressively supported Mr. Trump’s campaign. Ms. McDougal said in a March lawsuit against the publisher that she realized after the fact the payment was intended to muzzle her during the campaign.
Two months after American Media’s payment to Ms. McDougal, Mr. Cohen wired $130,000 to former adult-film star Stephanie Clifford so she would keep silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, also in 2006.
That payment occurred 12 days before the presidential election.
Mr. Trump and his representatives have denied he had sexual encounters with Ms. McDougal or Ms. Clifford, who is professionally known as Stormy Daniels. Mr. Trump has acknowledged repaying Mr. Cohen through monthly retainers.
The White House and Mr. Cohen didn’t respond to requests for comment for this article.
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