NEW YORK — The owner of the National Enquirer has admitted the company paid off a former Playboy model to squelch her account of an alleged sexual affair that could have jeopardized Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
New York federal prosecutors on Wednesday disclosed that the intent of a $150,000 payment American Media Inc. gave the woman in August 2016 "was to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
Without naming Trump, prosecutors released a nonprosecution agreement with American Media that said the transaction was made "in cooperation, consultation, and concert with ... one or more members or agents of a candidate's 2016 presidential campaign."
The filing similarly did not identify Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who contacted a National Enquirer editor in June 2016 in an effort to sell her account of a 10-month sexual affair she said she'd had with Trump in 2006 and 2007.
However, the outlines of the nonprosecution agreement generally match McDougal's previous public statements about Trump and the National Enquirer.
In exchange for immunity from prosecution, the agreement requires American Media to "cooperate fully" with investigators from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office. The agreement was signed Sept. 20.
The company did not immediately respond to a Wednesday telephone message seeking comment on the disclosure.
Prosecutors revealed the agreement after former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison Wednesday for guilty pleas to charges that he made illegal campaign contributions in the form of hush money payoffs to both McDougal and Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford — a porn star who said she had a similar affair with Trump.
Trump has denied the women's accounts.
However, the sentencing memo that the New York prosecutors filed last week said Cohen worked to bury McDougal's account "in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1," a reference to Trump.
Coupled with evidence supplied by Cohen, the agreement with American Media potentially gives prosecutors stronger evidence showing a direct Trump role in campaign contributions that improperly went unreported and violated giving limits.
Cohen's sentence also covered his guilty pleas to charges he evaded more than $1 million in taxes, lied to banks when he sought loans, and lied to congressional committees that were investigating Russian interference with the 2016 presidential campaign.
The nonprosecution agreement said the secret intervention on behalf of Trump began with an August 2015 meeting that included Cohen, at least one other Trump campaign member, and David Pecker, a longtime Trump ally who is American Media's chairman and CEO.
During the session, Pecker "offered to help deal with negative stories" that could threaten Trump's White House bid by "assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided," the filing said.
Such a practice is informally known as catch-and-kill.
McDougal contacted a National Enquirer editor about her story in or about June 2016, the agreement said. The editor and Pecker then called Cohen. At his "urging," the company struck a deal to buy McDougal's story "to prevent its publication," the agreement said.
Under the deal terms, American Media said it would feature McDougal on two magazine covers and publish more than 100 magazine articles she authored, the filing added.
"At no time during the negotiation for or acquisition of the model's story did (American Media) intend to publish the story or disseminate information about it publicly," the agreement said.
Prosecutors granted Pecker immunity from prosecution in exchange for his agreement to provide information about the Trump campaign's involvement in the hush money deal, several news organizations reported in August.
American Media initially said the company's agreement with McDougal barred her from speaking out about her claim. But the company agreed to let her out of the contract in April 2018.
