- NY prosecutors are looking into Trump's hush-money payment to Karen McDougal, WSJ reported.
- It's the first sign that the Manhattan DA could win charges against Trump in connection to two hush-money payments.
The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating a $150,000 hush-money payment that former President Donald Trump made to a former Playboy model, according to the Wall Street Journal.
New York prosecutors have questioned grand jury witnesses about the payment as part of an ongoing investigation into the former president's personal and financial dealings, the Journal reported.
Investigators have long been probing a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels. This is the first indication that prosecutors have brought evidence related to the payments to McDougal as part of their inquiry, raising the possibility that Trump could be indicted in connection to both payments.
Investigators have long been examining if Trump broke the law when his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels during the 2016 US election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to several felonies in connection to the payment, including tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. He also said that he paid Daniels at Trump's direction.
An attorney representing Trump declined to comment. The former president denies knowledge of the payments and has said that he did "absolutely nothing wrong." He has also denied having affairs with Daniels and McDougal.
The Manhattan grand jury was empaneled in January, but activity related to the Trump investigation appears to have slowed in the past two weeks.
Cohen — thought to be one of the final prosecutor witnesses — finished his grand jury testimony on March 15. Since then, the jury has heard from Robert Costello — an attorney who assailed Cohen's credibility on Trump's behalf — and heard additional testimony from David Pecker. Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, played a role in purchasing the rights to McDougal's and Daniels's stories to keep them quiet.
The grand jury is expected not to hear about the Trump case again for several weeks, raising the possibility that the Manhattan district attorney's office is backing away from the case — or reconfiguring it to include more evidence.