NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the $30,000 payment in 2015 by the company that publishes the National Enquirer to buy a salacious rumor about Trump (all times local):
3:55 p.m.
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.
___
1:14 a.m.
The company that publishes the National Enquirer paid a former doorman at one of Donald Trump’s New York skyscrapers $30,000 during the presidential campaign for a tip about Trump it never ran.
Dino Sajudin (saw-JOO-dihn) signed a contract with American Media Inc. that barred him from discussing his tip with anyone.
The previously unreported payment preceded by eight months a $150,000 payment the company made to an ex-Playboy Playmate who alleged an affair with Trump.
Federal authorities are now investigating any connections between Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen and that payment to the ex-playmate.
On Wednesday, a sister publication of the Enquirer reported that it had paid Sajudin in late 2015 but claimed his tip wasn’t true.
Former staffers at the publication say top editors stopped their reporting after Sajudin’s payment.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.