Nation

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Sarah Ellison and Paul Farhi Washington Post  December 13, 2018 The National Enquirer’s parent company acknowledged paying hush money to a woman who alleged an affair with Donald Trump to ‘‘suppress the woman’s story’’ and ‘‘prevent it from influencing the election.’’The admission came as federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they would not prosecute the company, American Media Inc., or AMI, for its role in a scheme to tilt the presidential race in favor of Trump. In the agreement, AMI said it would cooperate with prosecutors and admitted it paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal before the 2016 election to silence her allegations of an affair with Trump.The deal signaled the unraveling of the deep relationship Trump and AMI CEO David Pecker had forged over decades. The deal also made clear that Pecker, … [Read more...] about Hush money was paid on candidate Trump’s behalf, publisher says

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Rebecca R. Ruiz and Ben Protess New York Times  December 12, 2018 Federal prosecutors took a major step Wednesday in their investigation of hush-money payments made to two women who said they had had affairs with Donald Trump, announcing that The National Enquirer’s parent company was cooperating.The company, American Media Inc., the country’s biggest tabloid publisher, played an important role in a scheme to keep the women silent in the months before the 2016 election so that Trump’s chances would not be damaged. Payments to those women amounted to campaign finance violations, federal prosecutors said.Under the agreement with AMI, dated in September but previously kept private, federal prosecutors in Manhattan agreed not to charge the company in return for its cooperation. The company also agreed to train employees on election law standards and … [Read more...] about National Enquirer parent company won’t be prosecuted over efforts to protect Trump

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays Associated Press  December 12, 2018 NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen, who as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer once vowed he would ‘‘take a bullet’’ for his boss, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for an array of crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to two women that he says was done at the direction of Trump.The sentence was in line with what federal prosecutors asked for. Sentencing guidelines called for around four to five years behind bars, and prosecutors asked in court papers that Cohen be given only a slight break. He is ordered to surrender March 6.Cohen, standing alone at the defense table, shook his head slightly and closed his eyes briefly as the sentence was announced by the judge. Advertisement U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley … [Read more...] about Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sentenced to 3 years in prison

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Annie Karni New York Times  December 11, 2018 WASHINGTON — It was Round One: Nancy Pelosi vs. President Trump.The likely new House majority leader arrived at the White House Tuesday afternoon ready to take on Trump. The subject was a potential government shutdown, and funding Trump’s beloved wall, and what followed was a remarkable exchange between a veteran congressional leader and a president who is rarely challenged to his face in public, especially by a woman.“Mr. President, please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as a leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory,” Pelosi said, about halfway through the meeting, after Trump accused her of “being in a situation where it’s not easy for her to talk right now.” Advertisement As viewers watched the televised back-and-forth, … [Read more...] about Pelosi vs. Trump: ‘Don’t characterize the strength that I bring,’ she says

Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Julie Hirschfeld Davis New York Times  December 12, 2018 WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday transformed what was to be a private negotiating session with Democratic congressional leaders into a bitter televised altercation over his long-promised border wall, vowing to force a year-end government shutdown if they refused to fund his signature campaign promise.During an extraordinary public airing of hostilities that underscored a new, more confrontational dynamic, Trump vowed to block full funding for the government if Democrats refuse to allocate money for the wall on the Southwestern border, saying he was “proud to shut down the government for border security.”Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders, took issue with the president’s position and his false assertions about … [Read more...] about Trump threatens shutdown if he doesn’t get funding for border wall