The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been asking questions during grand jury proceedings about a hush money scheme known as a “catch and kill” deal aimed at covering up an alleged affair between former President Donald Trump and a former playboy model before the 2016 presidential election, two people familiar with the matter said.
Prosecutors have asked at least one witness questions about a $150,000 payment the publisher of the National Enquirer made to the model, Karen McDougal, to buy her story about the alleged affair with Trump, the people said.
The grand jury, which has been investigating Trump’s alleged role in a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, has indicted the former president in connection to that scheme, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time, one source told CNN. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.
The witness was asked about other stories bought by American Media Inc. – which publishes the Enquirer – and later killed. Trump had a history, with his long-time friend and former chairman of AMI, David Pecker, of buying negative stories and planting positive ones, the people said. Pecker testified Monday before the Manhattan grand jury for the second time.
Trump has denied both affairs.
It wasn’t clear whether prosecutors were considering the payment as part of its investigation or using it to establish a pattern of entering into such deals.
The district attorney’s renewed interest in the McDougal payment was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Tacopina declined to comment.
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