On the same day, prosecutors announced that they had reached a deal with National Enquirer publisher American Media, which had made one of the payments in a so-called "catch and kill" deal to buy the woman's story and not publish it.
According to prosecutors, "AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election."
CNN legal analyst Laura Coates discussed this development, and why it may be a big problem for Trump.
"Remember, David Pecker, who is the head of AMI, got immunity to testify around the time Michael Cohen plead guilty to these charges about campaign finance contributions," she said. "It was David Pecker with AMI whose name was mentioned in that now notorious secret recording with Michael Cohen... What would have been the incentive for a prosecutor to give them immunity? If what they're telling you is what Michael Cohen has done is a violation of the law. If he acted in concert with them, what valuable information could they have provided that would incentivize a plea deal."
Coates said that this development should be "very troubling for Donald Trump."
"Knowing that David Pecker has been a close friend for many years, has been a guest on his plane to and from Mar-A-Lago, has, according to Michael Cohen, helped with this over the years," she said.
Coates was asked about the fact that Democrats on Capitol Hill do not seem eager to make a big deal out of Trump's involvement in campaign finance violations, and said that she didn't read much into it.
"These [crimes] that Michael Cohen plead guilty to are felonies," she said. "If you look at it on the criminal side it's quite serious."
Watch below.
