What Michael Cohen's Plea Deal Means for David Pecker and American Media

Trump's former lawyer worked with the publisher while breaking campaign finance laws

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to breaking campaign finance laws, after he helped arrange a payment to a former Playboy model with David Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc.

Though American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, went unnamed in court documents, The Wall Street Journal reported four days before the 2016 presidential election that the publisher bought the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about having an affair with Trump and refused to publish it, a tactic known as “catch and kill.”

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