The Manhattan district attorney's office is looking into an alleged second payment from former President Donald Trump to a woman, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal, who says she had an affair with him years before he was elected.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the news Thursday, McDougal claims to have received $150,000 for her silence after a 10-month relationship with Trump beginning in 2006.
McDougal signed a contract with the National Enquirer in August, 2016, for exclusive rights to the story, but it was later purchased by Trump-allied publisher American Media Inc., now known as A360 Media.
The buy-out took the story off the market in a method known as "catch and kill," it was eventually acknowledged to prosecutors. Several months thereafter, the Journal broke the story.
Trump advocates note that these payments were made before he was president and are not unusual for a celebrity who may have contested relationships. Trump never used campaign funds for the payments and his lawyers have noted they are well beyond the five year statute of limitations.
Trump's legal team maintains that he was unaware of the deal by American Media Inc. until after it occurred and denies ever having an affair with McDougal.
National Enquirer publisher David Pecker previously testified in court on the McDougal incident, admitting that he should have informed the Federal Election Commission.
Sources told the Journal that the McDougal payment is important for prosecutors to establish a pattern of conduct by the former president, who is also accused of overseeing a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's team argues that Daniels received $130,000 from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was later reimbursed by Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Cohen has since flipped on Trump and serves as a key witness for Bragg in the ongoing investigation. However, testimony from his former colleague Robert Costello and a resurfaced 2018 letter have called his credibility into doubt.
Trump's indictment by the New York grand jury was initially expected to occur earlier this month. However, potential charges have been pushed back for weeks as the panel is expected to break for most of April.
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