“During and in furtherance of his candidacy for President, the Defendant and others agreed to identify and suppress negative stories about him,” prosecutors
Officials with media company American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer, said in a non-prosecution agreement that same year that it made a payment to McDougal to ensure that she “did not publicize damaging allegations” about Trump “before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election,” according to prosecutors and previous reports.
“As part of this scheme, Donald Trump and others made three payments to people who claimed to have negative information about Mr. Trump. To make these payments, they set up shell companies and they made yet more false statements, including for example in AMI – American Media Inc.’s – business records.
Bragg said Trump made “Thirty-four false statements ... to cover up other crimes. These are felony crimes in New York State no matter who you are.”