A Reuters report says that a grand jury is hearing evidence in New York over former president Donald Trump’s role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Possible criminal charges against the former president by the Manhattan district attorney’s office might follow.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has testified on the matter before the grand jury. The New York Times reported that Pecker was seen entering the lower Manhattan building where the grand jury is empaneled.
The publisher bought the rights to unflattering stories about Trump, but never published them, in a bid to help Trump.
The developments indicate that the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is closer to a decision on whether to charge Trump.
Bragg’s office declined to comment on the Times report.
Stormy Daniels says that she had an affair with Trump who gave her $130,000 before the 2016 presidential election to not discuss the encounter. However, Trump has maintained that nothing of the sort ever happened and in 2018 told reporters he knows nothing about any payment being made to her.
Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison in New York for arranging the payments to Daniels and a former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The latter said she had an affair with Trump before he took office.
McDougal reportedly sold her story for $150,000 to American Media Inc (AMI), but it was never published. Apparently, the practice known as “catch and kill” was deployed in the matter, under which a potentially damaging article is taken hold of to stop it from being published.
(With inputs from agencies)
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