KEY POINTS
  • Federal prosecutors have given immunity to the publisher of the National Enquirer in connection with the $150,000 hush-money payment the supermarket tabloid gave Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claims she had an affair with President Donald Trump.
  • That payment to McDougal was made shortly before the 2016 presidential election, and was done "to influence" that election, which sent Trump to the White House, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. 
  • News of the deal came after Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included facilitating the payment to McDougal, and to another alleged Trump paramour, porn star Stormy Daniels.

Federal prosecutors have given immunity to the company that publishes The National Enquirer in connection with the $150,000 hush-money payment the supermarket tabloid gave Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claims she had an affair with President Donald Trump.

That payment to McDougal was made shortly before the 2016 presidential election and was done "to influence" that election, which sent Trump to the White House, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.