As part of the agreement, AMI admitted it paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 before the 2016 election to silence her allegations about an affair with Trump. American Media Inc. insisted Friday that it had not broken any laws but pledged to thoroughly investigate the extortion claims. Cotter said the threat in the Bezos matter could be economic harm to Bezos’s business, while the thing of value demanded is a public statement absolving the Enquirer of political motives. “Under the law, it doesn’t even matter whether AMI believes the statement they are using extortionate threats to obtain is true or not. On Friday, deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said he was “not sure” if the president is aware of Bezos’s allegations.

Source: Washington Post February 09, 2019 00:36 UTC