|
A
non-prosecution agreement between federal prosecutors and
American Media Inc, which publishes the National Enquirer
tabloid newspaper, was disclosed on Wednesday in conjunction
with the sentencing of Cohen for crimes that included violating
campaign finance laws by orchestrating hush payments to women.
As part of the agreement American Media admitted that it had
made a $150,000 payment to silence a woman about her alleged
affair with Trump "in concert" with a presidential campaign and
with the intent of influencing the 2016 election.
In its "Statement of Admitted Facts," American Media said that
in August 2015 Pecker and Cohen met with at least "one other
member of the campaign" where the scheme to identify and
suppress such stories by making hush payments was discussed.
The "other member of the campaign" in that meeting was Trump,
NBC reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Charles Stillman, an attorney for American Media, declined to
comment to Reuters.
Neither Guy Petrillo, a lawyer for Cohen, nor Jay Sekulow, an
attorney for Trump, immediately responded to requests for
comment.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump in a series of tweets distanced
himself from Cohen, saying that he never directed Cohen to break
the law and that the payments were unrelated to his campaign.
Cohen said in a guilty plea in August that he was directed by
Trump to arrange a payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, and
personally pay adult-film star Stormy Daniels, both of whom have
claimed they had affairs with Trump before he was president.
Prosecutors in New York confirmed last week in a court filing
that they believed the president ordered the payments to protect
his campaign.
Trump has denied the affairs and argues the payments to the two
women were not campaign contributions.
In tweets on Thursday, Trump said, "I never directed Michael
Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to
know the law."
(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Leslie Adler)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
