Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday detailed an alleged “catch and kill” scheme involving a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about a child former President Donald Trump fathered out of wedlock.
In a statement of facts filed with the court, Bragg’s office claimed that from August 2015 – right after Trump announced his 2016 presidential run – to December 2017, Trump and his then-lawyer Michael Cohen orchestrated a so-called “catch and kill” scheme with David Pecker, then-CEO of magazine publisher American Media, Inc., in order to conceal negative stories.
The court filing details previously reported allegations that AMI paid former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin $30,000 after he claimed to have knowledge of an affair which led to the birth of an illegitimate child.
“In or about October or November 2015, the AMI CEO learned that a former Trump Tower doorman (the “Doorman”) was trying to sell information regarding a child that the Defendant had allegedly fathered out of wedlock,” the statement of facts reads.
“At the AMI CEO’s direction, AMI negotiated and signed an agreement to pay the Doorman $30,000 to acquire exclusive rights to the story,” the document states.
The Manhattan DA’s Office contends that AMI “falsely characterized this payment” in the company’s financial records and purchased the story from Sajudin “without fully investigating his claims” because of the agreement Pecker made with Trump and Cohen.
“When AMI later concluded that the story was not true, the AMI CEO wanted to release the Doorman from the agreement. However, Lawyer A [Cohen] instructed the AMI CEO not to release the Doorman until after the presidential election, and the AMI CEO complied with that instruction because of his agreement with the Defendant and Lawyer A,” the statement of facts reads.
The Post previously reported that the unnamed woman at the center of the salacious story “emphatically” denied that she had an affair with Trump, telling the Associated Press: “This is all fake.”
Sajudin was eventually released from his non-disclosure agreement with AMI sometime after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, and Trump was so grateful for Pecker’s help suppressing the unflattering story that he invited the AMI CEO to his inauguration and to dinner at the White House, according to prosecutors.
“The Defendant thanked the AMI CEO for handling the stories of the Doorman and Woman 1 [former Playboy model Karen McDougal], and invited the AMI CEO to the Inauguration. In the summer of 2017, the Defendant invited the AMI CEO to the White House for a dinner to thank him for his help during the campaign,” the court filing reads.
Bragg’s indictment against Trump, unsealed on Tuesday, charges the former president with 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records as part of his allegedly elaborate “catch and kill” scheme.
In 2018, Pecker inked a non-prosecution agreement with federal authorities, ensuring he would not face charges for his role in the payoffs. He also cannot face charges for falsification of business records in connection with the Sajudin payment because the two-year statute of limitations has expired.