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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump was in the room during negotiations with National Enquirer publisher David Pecker over how the tabloid could assist in quashing negative stories, according to media reports.
Trump was also in the room for an August 2015 meeting that included his former attorney Michael Cohen and Pecker discussing how his tabloid company, American Media Inc., could potentially assist Trump in his bid for president, according to the Wall Street Journal, NBC News and CNN.
Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday publicly announced a nonprosecution agreement with the company and included that Pecker, through the agreement, admitted that he offered to "help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided."
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In the document, federal prosecutors noted that AMI made a $150,000 payment "in concert" with Trump's campaign. The payment went to former Playmate Karen McDougal so the Enquirer could own the rights to her story of an alleged affair with Trump and never publish any of the details.
Federal prosecutors also noted a meeting that included Pecker, Cohen and "at least one other member of the campaign." NBC News and CNN confirmed Thursday with unnamed sourced that Trump was in attendance, highlighting that the president was aware of the tabloid company's plot to silence negative stories and potentially leaving Trump liable in any criminal investigation.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to note that Trump attended the meeting, writing in a story last month that the president asked Pecker specifically what he could do to help his presidential campaign.
The August meeting was only two months after Trump announced his bid for president.
The arrangement with Pecker has been under investigation by federal authorities in New York, but the president's attendance marks a new layer in the hush money scandal that has clouded the White House for the last year and led to a number of lawsuits.
Trump has offered a variety of explanations for the payments to McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels, who was given $130,000 days before the election for her silence about an alleged affair. At first, the president denied the payments but more recently has claimed they were private transactions and within the law.
However, this week Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for, among other crimes, his role in the payments, which federal prosecutors said violated federal campaign finance laws.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Reports: Trump attended negotiations with National Enquirer about hush money deals
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