Indictment Alleges Trump Orchestrated Scheme To Suppress Damaging Stories

In the indictment and an accompanying statement of facts, prosecutors said Trump "orchestrated" a scheme to keep damaging stories from public view, one that prosecutors say continued into Trump's presidency.

"During the [2016] election, TRUMP and others employed a 'catch and kill' scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects", the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a news release along with the indictment. "TRUMP then went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws."

The Manhattan district attorney says Trump concealed his "catch and kill" scheme through false business entries from August 2015 to December 2017. 

The indictment focuses on three payments that allegedly led to the falsification of records: a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed Trump had a child out of wedlock; $150,000 paid to a woman, known to be former Playboy model Karen McDougal, in exchange for her story about an alleged affair; and a $130,000 payment made on Trump's behalf to Stormy Daniels by Trump's attorney Michael Cohen.

After the 2016 election, prosecutors say Trump reimbursed Cohen through a series of checks from a trust and his bank account that were processed through the Trump Organization and disguised as covering legal expenses. The Manhattan D.A. said 11 checks were issued for a "phony" purpose. 

"In total, 34 false entries were made in New York business records to conceal the initial covert $130,000 payment," the D.A.'s office said. "Further, participants in the scheme took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the reimbursements."