US Prez Donald Trump played vital role in hushing up payments to Stormy Daniels

In the year 2015, US President Donald Trump had asked David Pecker, CEO of American Media to reverse the story of a former Playboy model who said Trump had an affair with the Model. Pecker’s firm paid $150,000 to the model, Karen McDougal, to keep her from speaking out about it in public.

According to The Wall Street Journal report, Trump met in August 2015 at the Trump Tower with David Pecker, who offered to use the National Enquirer to buy the silence of women who might try to publicise sexual affairs with Trump.

“What can you do to help my campaign?” Trump asked, according to people familiar with the meeting.

David Pecker had offered Trump to use his tabloid to buy the silence of women if they tried to publicise alleged sexual encounters with Donald Trump.

Federal prosecutors have prepared an 80-page indictment against Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen that outlined the US President's role in directing payments to women to keep quiet about alleged affairs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report on Friday adds new details to Cohen's comments in court when he pleaded guilty in August, in which he said the payments to the women were coordinated with Trump, reports CNN.

Trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the payments that were made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Trump, the Journal said.

The 22-page document prosecutors ultimately filed against Cohen alleged that he coordinated with one or more members of the Trump campaign.

According to the report in Wall Street Journal, Trump was involved in the agreement or was briefed on nearly every step. He had directed agreements on phone calls and meetings with Michael Cohen, and others. The US attorney’s office in Manhattan has gathered evidence of Trump’s participation in the transactions.

On November 8, US president’s outside counsel Jay Sekulow, declined to comment when the White House referred questions about Trump’s involvement to hush up the deals.

In an October 23 interview, Donald Trump had refused to answer questions on whether he had ever discussed the payments with Michael Cohen during the campaign.

Michael Cohen, who resigned from the Trump Organisation to serve as the president’s personal attorney in the early 2017, denied Trump played any part in the two hush-money deals when they were first reported in the Journal.

The revelations about Trump’s involvement in the hush-money deals come as special counsel Robert Mueller continues his probe into Russian electoral interference, and as a newly elected Democratic majority in the House of Representatives has signaled its intention to investigate the Trump administration when it takes power.

Cohen, who implicated the president in his crimes when he pleaded guilty in August, has met with investigators for Mueller and with federal prosecutors in New York, seeking to provide information that could mitigate his punishment. His sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 12.

He told federal prosecutors he conferred with Trump in the weeks before the 2016 election about paying Stephanie Clifford, the former adult-film star known professionally as Stormy Daniels, to keep quiet about her allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump. He told them that Trump urged him to “get it done.”

Cohen has also described to prosecutors his discussions with Trump and a Trump Organization executive about how to pay Clifford without leaving the candidate’s fingerprints on the deal.

US President’s involvement in the payments, by itself, wouldn’t mean he is guilty of federal crimes, according to Richard Hasen, a law professor at University of California, Irvine, who specializes in election law. A criminal conviction would require proof Trump willfully skirted legal prohibitions on contributions from companies or from individuals in excess of $2,700, he said.

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing Daniels, said the new developments vindicated his client.

"I think the President should be indicted."

With inputs from IANS.