12/12/2018

MEDIA/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “With the revelation by prosecutors on Wednesday [12-12-18] that a tabloid publisher admitted to paying off a Playboy model, key participants in two hush-money schemes say the transactions were intended to protect Donald J. Trump’s campaign for president. That leaves Mr. Trump in an increasingly isolated and legally precarious position, according to election law experts. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments made in 2016 to keep two women silent about alleged affairs are now firmly framed as illegal campaign contributions. The news about the publisher, the parent company of The National Enquirer, came on the same day that Mr. Trump’s former lawyer Michael D. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in part for his involvement in the payments.”

Mike McIntire, Charlie Savage and Jim Rutenberg, “Tabloid Publisher’s Deal in Hush-Money Inquiry Adds to Trump’s Danger,” The New York Times online, December 12, 2018