Court filing: Cohen coordinated with 'one or more members' of Trump campaign on hush money
By Tal Axelrod - 08/21/18 06:45 PM EDT
The Department of Justice filing on Michael Cohen’s guilty plea on bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations expands on details surrounding hush money payments to two women who claim to have had affairs with President Trump.
The filing says Cohen “coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments.â€
Cohen said Tuesday he was directed to make the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal by “the candidate,†not mentioning Trump by name.
A $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was completed just weeks before the 2016 election. She is now suing Cohen and the president for defamation and to void the nondisclosure agreement.
Cohen also coordinated a payment of $150,000, which matches up with the amount former McDougal was paid by publishers of the National Enquirer for exclusive rights to her story about her alleged affair with Trump.
“What he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign, to the candidate and the campaign,†Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said at a press conference.
Khuzami went on to detail sham invoices Cohen filed to shield the true intent of the payments.
Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis put out a statement Tuesday evening, saying, “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?â€
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/402931-cohen-coordinated-with-one-or-more-members-of-trump-campaign-in-hush-money
