Michael Cohen alleged Wednesday that President Trump and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker used catch and kill—the practice of buying rights to a story with the intent of never running it—“long before” he joined the team in 2007. When asked by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) about the use of catch and kill to silence claims of an alleged affair, Cohen first explained the rationale behind the practice. And when Maloney asked if he practiced catch and kill for Trump, Cohen responded that “I was involved in several of these catch-and-kill episodes. But these catch-and-kill scenarios existed between David Pecker and Mr. Trump long before I started working in 2007.” This is Cohen’s first acknowledgement that Trump and his longtime ally have used more catch-and-kill payments than those that are already known, which include alleged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former playboy model Karen McDougal intended to silence their claims of having an affair with Trump.
