US President Donald Trump at one point devised a plan to buy decades’ worth of unflattering stories that the US tabloid National Enquirer had collected about him but never published, according to a new report.

Under the plan, which was never completed, Mr Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, sought to buy all the dirt that the Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc., had amassed on him since the 1980s, several of the president’s associates told the New York Times.

media_camera US President Donald Trump reportedly tried to buy up negative stories from scandal sheet the National Inquirer. Picture: AFP

The supermarket tabloid had bought the stories under a practice known as “catch and kill” — paying people for the rights to their potentially embarrassing tales about Mr Trump and keeping the sordid accusations under wraps, reports the New York Post.

Among the unflattering stories were tips about Mr Trump’s marital woes, alleged affairs and dishonest golfing, people with knowledge of AMI’s operations told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Some of the stories were reportedly kept in a safe but it was unclear whether the information still exists after it was moved to another location around the time of Mr Trump’s inauguration, according to The Associated Press.

media_camera The cover of an issue of the National Enquirer featuring US president Donald Trump who allegedly tried to buy decades of discarded stories. Picture: Mary Altaffer, File

The existence of the plan to buy the material has not been previously reported, but it was hinted at in a recording that Mr Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, released last about a conversation his client had with Mr Trump.

“It’s all the stuff — all the stuff, because you never know,” Mr Cohen said on the secret recording in which the US president appears to discuss a possible payment to buy the rights to Playboy model Karen McDougal’s affair claim.

media_camera Stormy Daniels (L); and Playboy model Karen McDougal claim to have had affairs with Donald Trump and to have been paid “hush money”. Picture: AFP

It remained unclear whether the proposed plan to buy the stories has attracted the interest of federal investigators in New York, where Mr Cohen last week pleaded guilty over a $US130,000 ($A178,000) payment to adult performer Stormy Daniels, as well as a $US150,000 ($A206,000) payment to Ms McDougal, the paper reported.

Prosecutors have granted immunity to two AMI staffers so they can speak about the roles Mr Trump and Mr Cohen played in the hush-money payments during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In exchange for their co-operation, AMI CEO David Pecker and Australian journalist Dylan Howard, the company’s chief content officer, won’t face prosecution for their roles in the pay-offs, according to The Wall Street Journal.

media_camera David Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer, is a longtime friend of Donald Trump. Picture: AP

Mr Pecker, a longtime friend of Mr Trump’s, has already met with prosecutors and shared details about the payments that Mr Cohen arranged to silence Ms McDougal and Ms Daniels.

In 2016, Mr Pecker prevented his staff from sifting through Trump materials that dated to before Mr Pecker became AMI chairman in 1999, several former staff members told the paper.

Shortly after AMI completed the $US150,000 ($A205,0000) deal with Ms McDougal at Mr Trump’s behest, the president and Mr Cohen became worried about what would happen to AMI’s sensitive Trump files if Pecker were to leave the company, sources told the Times.

Mr Cohen heard rumours that Mr Pecker might jump ship for Time magazine, according to sources.

“Maybe he gets hit by a truck,” Mr Trump reportedly said of Mr Pecker in a conversation with Mr Cohen.

Lawyers for Mr Trump and Mr Cohen reportedly declined to comment to The New York Times, as did AMI.

TRUMP HINTS AT WHITE HOUSE LEGAL SUCCESSOR

Meanwhile, a day after announcing the departure of his White House counsel, Mr Trump teased on Thursday that he’s excited about his choice for a replacement but isn’t ready to share his new lawyer’s name.

Mr Trump said on Wednesday on Twitter that Don McGahn will leave in the coming months. He has been a consequential insider on Mr Trump’s legal team and a key figure in the administration’s handling of the federal investigation into Russian election interference and possible Trump campaign collusion.

media_camera White House Counsel Don McGahn is on the way out. Picture: AFP

“I am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Don McGahn as White House Councel!” Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday, misspelling “counsel.”

Then he took a shot at reports that Mr McGahn had threatened to resign last year if the president continued to press for the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller as head of the Russia investigation.

“I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!” Mr Trump said, referring as well to his Attorney-General, who recused himself from the investigation, much to the president’s annoyance.

Mr Trump said on Wednesday that the Russia investigation was not a factor, “even a little bit,” in his decision about Mr McGahn’s departure.

media_camera Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed-door meeting in Washington. Picture: AP

“We do everything straight,” he said. “We do everything by the book,” Mr Trump said.

Mr McGahn’s exit, which has been expected for some time, continues the churn of top officials as the administration sets records for turnover and the White House struggles to fill key vacancies.

Unlike some less-amiable separations, however, Mr Trump praised Mr McGahn as “a really good guy” who has done “an excellent job”.

The departure of Mr Trump’s top lawyer will hit one of the most critical — and yet least visible — positions in the West Wing. Besides dealing with Mr Mueller’s investigation, Mr McGahn has had important input on a range of issues from policy to personnel to national security.

— with the New York Post

Originally published as Trump ‘tried to buy dirt’ from tabloid