Things have been going not well for President Donald Trump lately.
His closest associates are not exactly batting a thousand in court, Omarosa has tapes on tapes on tapes and the colors on the American Flag proved hard to remember. Now things look like they're about to get worse.
A former Trump doorman obtained his release from the 2015 contract keeping him silent about another alleged Trump affair, a possible illegitimate child and the National Enquirer's efforts to cover up the story.
Dino Sajudin is a former doorman at Trump World Tower. In 2015 he entered into an agreement with National Enquirer parent company AMI—headed by Trump friend and recently immunity granted federal witness David Pecker—granting them the exclusive rights to his story. The details of the original contract leaned heavily in AMI's favor and left Sajudin no recourse was the story not published.
These sorts of contracts, known as "Catch and Kill", buried negative press for powerful people. The story is never intended to be published and the source is threatened with fines they cannot possibly pay if they talk to anyone else, so any scandal just quietly goes away.
At least that's the idea. The National Enquirer came under fire for using these contracts to suppress negative press about Donald Trump while he was running for President after former model Karen McDougal—another alleged affair of the President's—made news of her own Catch and Kill contract with AMI public.
Now that Sajudin was released from the agreement, CNN obtained a copy.
It doesn't mention the details of what Sajudin knows—aside from direct reference to "information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child"—but it does contain a few key points.
"Source shall provide AMI with information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child; and any and all documentation, including but not limited to, letters and any legal documents and photographs in Source's possession relevant to the Exclusive." (exclusive being the story)
"Source acknowledges that AMI shall have no obligation to publish the Exclusive... AMI will not owe Source any compensation if AMI does not publish the Exclusive."
"The Exclusivity Period set forth in this agreement is extended in perpetuity and shall not expire."
"In the event Source breeches this provision, Source shall be liable to AMI and shall pay to AMI, as liquidated damages and not as penalty, a sum of one million dollars..."
In plain English, the above obligated Sajudin to tell AMI what he knew and hand over all of his proof. AMI only paid if they published but bore no obligation to do so. They had exclusive rights to his words and proof forever, and if he talked to anyone else then he had to pay AMI a million dollars.
Interestingly, the original agreement changed a few months later to allow a $30,000 payment to Sajudin even though the National Enquirer never ran the story.
Giphy
Sajudin's attorney, Marc Held, recently announced his client's release from the AMI Catch and Kill contract.
"Mr. Sajudin has been unable to discuss the circumstances regarding his deal with American Media Inc. and the story that he sold to them, due to a significant financial penalty. Just recently, AMI released Mr. Sajudin from the terms of his agreement and he is now able to speak about his personal experience with them, as well as his story, which is now known to be one of the 'catch and kill' pieces. Mr. Sajudin hopes the truth will come out in the very near future."
Sajudin came forward to CNN in April saying he knew of another Trump affair and child, but could not talk about it. At the time, AMI and the National Enquirer criticized Sajudin's claim as "not credible" - but this contract proves otherwise.
Twitter certainly has some thoughts on the newest Presidential Plot Twist.
Sajudin has as yet not shared any details about the mistress or child.
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