Despite repeated denials and ever-changing stories, Donald Trump was reportedly very involved in the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Before the President and his staff come out to say this is fake news, note that the organization who broke this story today was The Wall Street Journal. It’s a newspaper owned by Rubert Murdoch (also the owner of Fox News).

The report says:

“As a presidential candidate in August 2015, Donald Trump huddled with a longtime friend, media executive David Pecker, in his cluttered 26th floor Trump Tower office and made a request.

What can you do to help my campaign? he asked, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Mr. Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., offered to use his National Enquirer tabloid to buy the silence of women if they tried to publicize alleged sexual encounters with Mr. Trump.”

The WSJ goes on to say:

“…the accounts refute a two-year pattern of denials by Mr. Trump, his legal team and his advisers that he was involved in payoffs to Ms. McDougal and a former adult-film star. They also raise the possibility that the president of the United States violated federal campaign-finance laws.

The Wall Street Journal found that Mr. Trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the agreements. He directed deals in phone calls and meetings with his self-described fixer, Michael Cohen, and others. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has gathered evidence of Mr. Trump’s participation in the transactions.”

And here’s something to ponder.