By Associated Press - Thursday, April 12, 2018

A government watchdog group wants the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission to investigate a $30,000 payment by the National Enquirer’s publisher to an ex-Trump doorman during the presidential campaign.

Washington-based Common Cause says the money was intended to influence the election but wasn’t properly reported.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that American Media Inc. paid an ex-doorman in 2015 for the rights to a salacious rumor about the future president it never published. A contract shows the ex-doorman was barred from discussing it.

The deal preceded a $150,000 payment the company made to an ex-Playboy Playmate who alleged an affair with Trump.

Prosecutors are probing connections between Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen and the ex-playmate’s payment.

The tabloid says it found the ex-doorman’s story untrue so didn’t publish a story based on the information.

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