A former doorman at Trump World Tower has been released from a contract that prohibited him from speaking about his knowledge of an alleged affair between Donald Trump and his housekeeper that resulted in a child.
Dino Sajudin signed a “source agreement” with AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, in 2015 which effectively bought the rights to the story but never published it, reports CNN.
Sajudin’s attorney, Marc Held, said his client had not been able to discuss the contract or the alleged affair without incurring a “significant financial penalty” but he had been “recently” released from the deal by AMI.
The Chief Executive of AMI is David Pecker, who was this week granted immunity as part of a probe into Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
As part of the deal, Pecker agreed to provide information to prosecutors related to payments made to two alleged one-time sexual partners of President Donald Trump ― former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels ― in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen and AMI allegedly helped coordinate both payments.
Jerry George, a former senior editor at AMI, spoke to HuffPost this week and said the relationship between Trump and Pecker was one in which the latter used “catch and kill” contracts in order to keep negative stories about Trump out of the public.
When asked how many stories were quashed in this manner, George said: “I would say 10. And hundreds of story leads that were never approved, that would come in and we just wouldn’t explore”.
He added: “In retrospect, Donald Trump was always presidential timber we just never took it seriously. He always talked about running for president, but no one believed it would ever be possible.
“Looking back now, it became possible because of the assistance of at least this organisation. It certainly didn’t hurt to have the most dominant presence on the supermarket rack in his pocket.”
CNN obtained a copy of the Dino Sajudin’s “catch and kill” contract. It does not go into detail about the alleged affair but says: “Source shall provide AMI with information regarding Donald Trump’s illegitimate child...”
The latest development comes after a torrid week for the President: his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight counts of fraud and Michael Cohen, admitted campaign finance violations.
Adding to his woes, the man who knows the most about his murky finances, Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, was this week also granted immunity in the same probe as Pecker.