Donald Trump pursued desperate illegal measures to try to prevent the National Enquirer from selling him out
Last week Donald Trump’s longtime ally David Pecker, who runs the pro-Trump tabloid rag National Enquirer, cut an immunity deal with federal prosecutors in relation to the Trump-Cohen scandal. We then learned that Pecker had been buying up dirt on Trump for years and keeping it all in a safe. Now it turns out Trump pursued desperate – and illegal – measures during the election to try to prevent the Enquirer from selling him out.
Around the time that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen were working with the National Enquirer to buy the silence of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in violation of federal campaign law, Trump and Cohen were also plotting to buy up all the existing dirt that the Enquirer was sitting on. This is coming from the New York Times tonight, which says it got this information from “several of Mr. Trump’s associates,” raising questions about just how many of Trump’s own people are now selling him out. But the remarkable part here is the legal aspect of it all.
It’s been established that Trump, Cohen and the Enquirer committed a felony by buying the silence of McDougal and Daniels during an election in which Trump was a candidate. But if Trump and Cohen were also plotting during the election to buy up the dirt that the Enquirer was sitting on, as the Times is reporting, our legal interpretation is that this was also an illegal campaign contribution in the name of trying to ensure that the Enquirer didn’t expose any of this dirt. Trump buying Daniels’ silence during the election is really no different than Trump buying the Enquirer’s silence during the election.
To be clear, the Times says that this never came to fruition. But by merely hatching out the plan, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen entered in a conspiracy to commit a felony, which is itself a felony. Cohen has already cut a plea deal, and he’s already told a judge under oath that Trump instructed him to commit certain crimes, so it’s not difficult to imagine Cohen being willing to sell Trump out on this as well. Even if Cohen doesn’t, Trump’s other associates are already selling him out on this matter to the New York Times – so there’s no shortage of witnesses on this one.
