This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump played a central role in hush money payments to women who said they had sexual relationships with him, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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The report documented multiple instances during the 2016 in which the president intervened directly to suppress the stories of women who said they had sexual relationships with him.

Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actor and director Stormy Daniels received payments to stay silent about the alleged encounters.

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The report contradicted denials by Trump and could implicate him in violations of election laws. In August, the president’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes for orchestrating the payments, which he said he did at Trump’s direction.

According to the Journal, in an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower – when the billionaire was a confirmed candidate for the Republican presidential nomination – David Pecker, chief executive of American Media, offered to use his National Enquirer to buy the silence of any women who might try to publicize affairs with Trump.

The company later paid McDougal $150,000 to keep her mouth shut.

Pecker refused a similar arrangement in the Stormy Daniels case, the paper reported. Cohen has told prosecutors Trump told him to “get it done”.

Cohen then arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels, and Trump’s company reimbursed him.