Here’s our man, Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare…he’s got a BOOM! - article regarding how much T must/may have known about the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
Article is from WSJ…is very long with a timeline of Michael Cohen’s and David Pecker’s involvement in paying for women’s silence and what T’s involvement in this may be. As imagined, it does look like that indeed T was very much involved with these payments, had knowledge of how to handle the payments, etc.
These comments must be coming from Cohen’s end or perhaps David Pecker, of American Media. As we know, David Pecker has some sought to plea bargain with Special Counsel. But the WSJ, a conservative paper, does analyze with great acuity T’s potential (and undeniable) influence in these activities.
BOOM 
indeed!
Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal
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.
Less than a year later, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pecker to quash the story of a former Playboy model who said they’d had an affair. Mr. Pecker’s company soon paid $150,000 to the model, Karen McDougal, to keep her from speaking publicly about it. Mr. Trump later thanked Mr. Pecker for the assistance.
The Trump Tower meeting and its aftermath are among several previously unreported instances in which Mr. Trump intervened directly to suppress stories about his alleged sexual encounters with women, according to interviews with three dozen people who have direct knowledge of the events or who have been briefed on them, as well as court papers, corporate records and other documents.
rolls on!