WASHINGTON — The indictment of former President Donald Trump in New York stems from the payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The payment of $130,000 was made by then-Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen as part of a scheme to “catch and kill” damaging stories about the real estate mogul’s marital infidelities.
Cohen has said he made the secret payment at Trump’s direction and was later reimbursed by the Trump Organization, Trump’s real estate company, for “legal” services.
Cohen pleaded guilty in connection with the case in 2018, but federal prosecutors did not charge Trump, leaving it to the Manhattan district attorney to pursue the case under state law.
In court documents in 2018, federal prosecutors laid out how Cohen, working at the behest of Trump, sought to prevent the candidate’s female accusers from going public with their allegations during the 2016 campaign.
'Catch and kill'
Along with Cohen, a key player in the effort was David Pecker, chairman of American Media Inc. (AMI), the company that at the time published the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.
A longtime Trump friend, Pecker had offered “to help deal with negative stories about [Trump’s] relationships with women” by identifying stories that could be bought and then suppressed. The practice is known in the publishing industry as “catch and kill.”
In August 2016, AMI agreed to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. The story was shelved.
Two months later, a representative for Daniels informed AMI that the porn star was going public with her account of a sexual encounter with Trump and was willing to sell her story.
Having failed to secure a deal with Daniels, Pecker put her agent in touch with Cohen, who negotiated a $130,000 agreement to “purchase [her] silence,” prosecutors wrote in August 2018.
Paying hush money is not illegal. But federal prosecutors charged that classifying the payment as a “legal retainer” fee violated federal campaign finance laws.
Trump has acknowledged that Cohen was reimbursed for the $130,000 paid to Daniels to stop what he termed her “false and extortionist accusations.”
But he’s denied the payment was a “campaign contribution.”
While the precise charges against the former president remain sealed, legal experts say they likely center on the falsification of business records.
Under New York law, falsifying business records is normally a misdemeanor. But when it is done with the intent to commit or hide another crime, it rises to the level of a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
It is not clear what additional criminal offenses, if any, Trump has been charged with.