Inside the Hush-Money Payments That Could Decide Trump’s Legal Fate

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McDougal, who is named as a woman in the indictment documents, did not respond to a request for comment this week. When he spoke with me in 2018 for a New Yorker story and again in 2020 for the podcast, he expressed regret. Now knowing what was going on behind the scenes, McDougal told me, I felt like I was part of a huge historical cover-up.

Prosecutors charged Trump with thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business records, apparently related to payments being returned to Cohen after he paid Clifford. Prosecutors will try to establish that the offenses, which would normally be classified as misdemeanors, were committed with the intent to commit another crime, allowing them to be charged as felonies. The person with knowledge of Braggs’ investigation said prosecutors are not required by law to identify that second crime. Flexibility and options are key, that person told me. Prosecutors intend to save that decision when they think it is most prudent. At a press conference this week, Bragg identified several potential secondary crimes, including violations of state and federal election law.

Trump, at his own press conference this week, said the charges were a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to prevent him from winning reelection. Everyone who has looked into this case, including RINOs and even hardcore Democrats, says there was no crime and it shouldn’t have been brought, he said. Cohen and Pecker, who are both expected to testify on behalf of the prosecution, did not respond to requests for comment.

Sajudin, now in his fifties, sports a goatee and smooth hair. He grew up in Brooklyn in a large Italian American family. Sajudin told me that he spent his youth working in construction and asbestos abatement, witnessing troublemaker colleagues paying off building inspectors. In 2008, he started working as a doorman at Trump Tower. Whenever Trump went to the building, he often gave everyone a hundred dollar bill, he recalled in the 2019 interview. On the other hand, he said, Its like a corporate mob, so to speak. He added, They will try to be nice to you in the beginning, to try and get what they want. And then, if that doesn’t work, they try to touch you.

At Trump Tower, Sajudin ran into a woman who worked as the buildings concierge and was Trump’s former housekeeper. Sajudin recalled making lavish purchases that seemed out of proportion to his income and said he enjoyed the impunity from the buildings’ management. Whenever he got into an argument with someone, the first word out of his mouth was, I’m going to call Mr. Trump. I will call Mr Trump, Sajudin told me. He said he raised the matter with higher-ups, including Matthew Calamari, Trump’s longtime bodyguard, who rose through the ranks of the Trump Organization to become its COO Calamari, he said, became loud and rude and told me, he said, Know you. , you need to, like, let it go. He said, If you have Trumps child, you can do whatever you want. The next time Trump came to the building, Sajudin said, he received an unusually large tip from Calamari. A few hundred bucks, Sajudin recalled. I assumed he was being so nice to me because he wanted me to keep quiet.

When Sajudin, agitated by his altercations with the concierge, continued to press the subject, he said Calamari called him to a second meeting, in a darkened office with the blinds drawn. Sajudin remembered that Calamari told him, We think of you like family. We work together. But you have to let this situation go. Calamari shook hands and asked, Are we clear? He never let go of my hand, added Sajudin. It’s like a movie. You know, like watching Goodfellas. (Calamari declined repeated requests for comment.)

After his encounter with Calamari, Sajudin felt his status in the Trump Organization deteriorate. I feel like I’ve been blacklisted, Sajudin told me. They probably wouldn’t want someone with this information working in a building in Manhattan. Sajudin eventually left the organization he said by mutual agreement. While he was looking for another job, he thought he could cash in on the gossip. He contacted the Globe, and then the Enquirer. A reporter from the Enquirer quickly responded, offering him a six-figure sum, which was later drastically reduced when Sajudin said he didn’t want his name attached.

In the fall of 2015, Sajudin found himself in a hotel room in rural Pennsylvania, taking a polygraph test for the Enquirer, which he passed. He signed a preliminary agreement with the tabloid to give it exclusive rights to the story. Shortly thereafter, in a meeting with an Enquirer reporter at a nearby fast-food restaurant, he also signed a revised contract, which included a stronger non-disclosure clause. If I talk about the story, I could be fined a million dollars, he said.

AMI employees are divided over the truth of the underlying rumor. Some have questioned Sajudins credibility. In 2014, a Web site registered through a service that obscured the author’s identity claimed that Sajudin had made similar accusations against a Trump Tower resident. Sajudin told me he continues to believe the rumor about Trump’s paternity and defended his credibility. When I tell you the truth, it’s the truth, he said. No one would risk it all to make up stories.

Eight months after paying Sajudin, AMI terminated its deal with McDougal. A few months after that, Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels. Soon after, Trump was elected as President.

In April 2018, FBI agents raided the Cohens’ hotel and office, in part to gather information about the AMI scheme, and The New Yorker published my initial reporting on the payment to Sajudin. Oh, shit, Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented McDougal and Clifford, told me in 2019, describing his reaction to the raid. Oh, shit, shit, shit. Cohen was eventually convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for campaign-finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. AMI admitted to the scheme, and entered into a non-prosecution agreement with federal authorities. Trump was not charged at the time. (Cohen and Davidson did not respond to requests for comment this week.)

In our interviews, McDougal told me that he believes catch and kill should be illegal in many situations and positions. He added, referring to elected officials, If you work for your country, you have to deal with this matter. Sajudin told me he was shocked by the growing importance of his story. As the former President’s trial continues, interest in AMI’s Trump-related transactions is likely to intensify. I thought it was just like a tabloid, Sajudin told me. Now I see it as more than that.

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