Prosecutors have reportedly granted David Pecker Immunity. He owns the company that published National Enquirer. Veuer's Sam Berman has the full story. Buzz60
The National Enquirer had a safe full of documents outlining its deals with President Donald Trump, including records of hush-money deals it handled to quash stories, according to a report from the Associated Press.
The report came on the heels of prosecutors reportedly offering the CEO of the tabloid magazine's parent company, David Pecker, an immunity deal as investigators looked into campaign finance violations by Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, and Trump's own role in those deals.
The details of how much content was inside the safe and whether the documents were now in the hands of prosecutors remained unclear.
The Associated Press reports the contents of the safe were removed before Trump's inauguration after reports surfaced indicating American Media Inc., the National Enquirer's parent company, had struck a deal with Trump to kill unfavorable stories.
It's unclear whether the information was simply moved to another location or destroyed since the existence of the documents could have been viewed as a liability to the company, AP reported.
The news service said Trump and the Enquirer had deals dating back more than a decade.
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David Pecker: National Enquirer publisher and Trump ally
The unflattering Trump documents were reportedly stored near other information on celebrities who had paid the tabloid to purchase rights to stories and not publish them, a process known as "catch and kill."
Cohen admitted to a federal judge this week that he worked with the tabloid ahead of the 2016 presidential election to pay women who alleged affairs with Trump. He said the sole purpose of these secretive payments was to prevent such stories from "influencing the election."
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including violating campaign finance laws due to the payments.
He faces years in federal prison.
It appears, though, that the investigations into the hush money agreements are nowhere near complete.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Manhattan District Attorney was investigating possible charges against officials at the Trump Organization.
The investigation, the Times reported, centers on how the company accounted for the cash paid to Cohen as part of the payoff to women who claimed affairs with Trump.
The company wrote off the money paid to Cohen as legal expenses, but Cohen told a federal judge Tuesday the money was used for the hush agreements. Federal prosecutors say there "was no such retainer agreement," meaning the payments weren't connected with any legal services.
While the president has discussed the possibility of pardoning those charged in the ongoing probes, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the Times reports the Manhattan DA's investigation could pose a new problem for Trump as he has no power to pardon those charged with state crimes.
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