The word of a second “catch and kill” cover-up of a story about Trump’s sex life has investigators focused on connections between Trump, Michael Cohen, The National Enquirer and bank fraud.
The AP reported:
The Associated Press confirmed the details of the Enquirer’s payment through a review of a confidential contract and interviews with dozens of current and former employees of the Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc. Sajudin got $30,000 in exchange for signing over the rights, “in perpetuity,” to a rumor he’d heard about Trump’s sex life — that the president had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations. The contract subjected Sajudin to a $1 million penalty if he disclosed either the rumor or the terms of the deal to anyone.
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Prosecutors are probing whether Cohen broke banking or campaign laws in connection with AMI’s payment to McDougal and a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that Cohen said he paid out of his own pocket.
Federal investigators have sought communications between Cohen, American Media’s chief executive and the Enquirer’s top editor, the New York Times reported.
Bank fraud is a growing concern for Trump
Investigators are following the money, and what they are finding are a consistent pattern of potential bank and wire fraud. There is a web of payment that went to silence rumors about Trump’s sex life and affairs before the election. Trump has denied any knowledge of these payments, but in at least one case, Stormy Daniels, Trump signed the agreement.
Investigators want to know if Trump and Cohen committed fraud. The investigation has spun off from Russia collusion, and into how Trump and his world of characters conduct business.
There will be more of these agreements surfacing. Trump didn’t just have a few affairs. His behavior has been public knowledge for decades. The cover-up is where the focus is in terms of potential illegality, but Trump world is being torn apart and what is being discovered is a potential history of criminal fraud.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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