Feds Subpoena Trump-Friendly AMI in Michael Cohen Probe
They want records related to the $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
AMIR LEVY/ REUTERS / Reuters
American Media Inc., publisher of the Trump-friendly gossip mag National Enquirer, was recently subpoenaed by federal authorities as part of their effort to determine if former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen suppressed anti-Trump information before the 2016 election. The Wall Street Journal reports that authorities are seeking records related to the $150,000 that AMI paid to Karen McDougal in August 2016, in order to obtain the rights to her alleged story of having a “nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump beginning in 2006,” according to the Journal. AMI never published McDougal’s story, a known industry technique that the Journal calls “catch and kill.” It is illegal for corporations to make contributions to presidential campaigns, the Journal reports, and if investigators discover that Cohen pressured AMI to purchase and suppress McDougal’s story for the purpose of preserving Trump’s image, charges could be brought against both parties.
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