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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating the hush money payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 presidential election in addition to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.
Hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels were revealed and reported by Fox News in 2018. Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in SDNY opted out of charging Trump related to the hush money payments in 2019, even as his former attorney, Michael Cohen, implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Playboy model Karen McDougal, right.
David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc., testified before the Manhattan grand jury Monday. It was at least the second time he has appeared before the panel as part of Bragg’s Trump investigation.
American Media Inc. is the parent company and publisher of National Enquirer. The company allegedly bought McDougal’s story from her, in which she claimed a past affair with then-candidate Donald Trump, for $150,000 in September 2016—weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Federal prosecutors in SDNY decided in 2018 not to bring charges against American Media Inc. for spending $150,000 to buy, then conceal, McDougal’s story.
At the time, American Media Inc., "admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
The investigation into payments to McDougal was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who has also appeared before the Manhattan grand jury multiple times, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the payment to McDougal.
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2018, file photo, adult film actress Stormy Daniels arrives for the opening of the adult entertainment fair "Venus," in Berlin. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
Cohen also pleaded guilty to making hush money payments of $130,000 to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through his own company and was later reimbursed by former President Trump's company, which logged the payments as "legal expenses."
FLASHBACK: TRUMP SAYS HE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT $130G PAYMENT FROM MICHAEL COHEN TO STORMY DANIELS
Cohen has said Trump directed the payments—something the former president has repeatedly denied.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to federal charges, including lying to Congress, as well as campaign-finance violations and tax evasion.
Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen speaks to reporters after a second day of testimony before a grand jury investigating hush money payments he arranged and made on the former president's behalf, Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Trump, in 2018, denied that the payments to Daniels and McDougal were campaign contributions, and instead called them a "simple private transaction."
Robert Costello, a former legal adviser to Cohen, also appeared before the grand jury last week, and said that Trump did not know about the payments made by Cohen.
The Manhattan DA’s investigation into Trump began in 2019 by then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.
The investigation last year led to tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization and its finance chief, Allen Weisselberg.
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