Manhattan prosecutors are now aggressively digging into Trump’s 2016 ‘hush payment’ to Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal, according to a leak to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has been accused of paying porn star Stormy Daniels ‘hush payments’ through his then-attorney Michael Cohen in a scheme to silence her and stop the story about their alleged affair from being published in the National Enquirer.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg elevated the Stormy ‘hush payment’ case from a misdemeanor to a felony earlier this year in a effort to ‘get Trump.’
The same Manhattan prosecutors are now digging into Trump’s $150,000 ‘hush payment’ to Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Karen McDougal claims she had a 10-month affair with Donald Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied the affair.
According to reports, McDougal signed a contract with the National Enquirer to give them the exclusive rights to her story (known as ‘catch and kill’) about her years-old relationship with Trump.
It is unclear if prosecutors will bring charges related to Trump’s payment to Karen McDougal or use it to establish a ‘pattern of conduct’ by Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Manhattan prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star also have been examining a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged that she had an affair with the former president, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the prospect that Mr. Trump could face charges connected to the silencing of both women.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been presenting a grand jury with evidence of Mr. Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels since January. In those proceedings, the people said, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors also have questioned grand-jury witnesses extensively about an earlier deal involving Karen McDougal, Playboy Magazine’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, who has said she began a 10-month relationship with Mr. Trump in 2006.
The extent of prosecutors’ interest in Ms. McDougal hasn’t been previously reported. Prosecutors could use any McDougal evidence either to bring charges directly related to the McDougal payment or to establish an alleged pattern of conduct by Mr. Trump, the people said. Participants in the deals with both women allege that Mr. Trump played a central role.
The Manhattan grand jury probing Trump’s payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in on a break and will reportedly resume on April 24.