Donald Trump grand jury probes hush money to second woman

The investigation into a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model Karen McDougal raises the prospect that Donald Trump could face another hush money charge.

Donald Trump may face charges over hush money to a second woman. Picture: AFP.

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.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bragg declined to comment. A lawyer for Ms McDougal didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Mr Trump didn’t immediately comment. Mr Trump has called the investigation by Mr Bragg, a Democrat, a “witch hunt” and has said that he didn’t do anything wrong.

Ms McDougal signed a contract with the publisher of the National Enquirer in August 2016 that gave the company exclusive rights to her story of an affair with Mr Trump. American Media Inc., a longtime ally of Mr Trump, bought Ms McDougal’s story to take it off the market and prevent her from telling it elsewhere, a tabloid practice known as “catch and kill,” the publisher later acknowledged to federal prosecutors. The Wall Street Journal first revealed the payment to Ms McDougal in November 2016. Mr Trump’s lawyers have said he wasn’t aware of the payment to Ms McDougal until after the deal was done. Mr Trump denies that he had an affair with Ms McDougal.

The grand jury testimony of David Pecker, the former chief executive of American Media, has tied Mr Trump directly to the payment to Ms McDougal and to an alleged broader scheme to suppress negative stories about Mr Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, according to some of the people familiar with the matter.

Mr Pecker in January was among the first witnesses to testify before the grand jury, and he returned for a second appearance earlier this week.

Mr Pecker was the last known witness to testify, and it isn’t clear when the grand jury will take up the case again. The grand jury meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but it hears matters besides the Trump investigation. The grand jury is scheduled to take a previously planned hiatus around the Passover and Easter holidays, people familiar with the schedule said. Still, prosecutors control the grand jury, and can change the schedule or call the grand jurors back at any time.

Mr Pecker’s testimony could help prosecutors shore up the word of Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who is expected to play a central role as a prosecution witness in any case against the former president. One grand jury witness who testified at the request of Mr Trump’s team told jurors that Mr Cohen has offered inconsistent reasons for paying Ms Daniels.

Mr Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign-finance charges related to the Daniels and McDougal payments. Mr Cohen told a federal court that Mr Trump directed him to buy Ms Daniels’s silence and to coordinate with Mr Pecker to bottle up Ms McDougal’s story.

Federal law bars companies from contributing directly to political candidates. Mr Cohen admitted in 2018 that by facilitating the McDougal payment he caused a corporation to make an illegal campaign donation. Federal prosecutors decided against charging American Media after its cooperation in the investigation of Mr Cohen.

Mr Pecker met with Mr Cohen and Mr Trump in 2015 and offered to help Mr Trump’s campaign by intercepting negative stories about the candidate, according to a 2018 nonprosecution agreement between American Media and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan. The following year, Mr Trump appealed to Mr Pecker directly to buy Ms McDougal’s story, the Journal previously reported.

In addition to Mr Pecker’s testimony, Mr Trump’s own words tie him to the deal with Ms McDougal. Mr Cohen secretly recorded Mr Trump discussing the plan to reimburse American Media in September 2016.

The publisher agreed to transfer the rights to Ms McDougal’s story to a company controlled by Mr Cohen. A consultant for Mr Pecker used a separate shell company to issue a false invoice to Mr Cohen for advisory services, insulating both American Media and Mr Trump from the transaction, according to the nonprosecution agreement.

But in early October 2016, before American Media received the money, Mr Pecker cancelled the deal on the advice of counsel, the Journal previously reported.

That same month, when Mr Cohen learned that Ms Daniels was shopping her account of a sexual encounter with Mr Trump, Mr Cohen urged Mr Pecker to buy the story, as he had with Ms McDougal’s. This time, however, Mr Pecker declined. Mr Cohen then paid Ms Daniels himself and was later reimbursed by Mr Trump.

Dow Jones