‘I was in complete shock’: Trump Tower doorman says he received no warning about being named in Donald Trump indictment
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Dino Sajudin, the former Trump Tower doorman who allegedly received $30K hush money for withholding information accusing Donald Trump of having a child out of wedlock, opened up on being named in the former President’s indictment on Tuesday.
Sajudin said that he was “in complete shock” after being cited in the legal case and claimed that he did not receive any warning about being named in Trump’s indictment. The former doorman also shared that he was not interviewed by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office and was neither asked to appear in front of the Grand Jury.
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Donald Trump pled not guilty after being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records earlier this week. The charges were in relation to three alleged payments, including $30,000 to Sajudin, $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and $130,000 to Stormy Daniels.
‘I was not given any forewarning’
“I was in complete shock when I was informed by my attorney that I was cited in the statement of facts related to former President Trump's Indictment as I was not given any forewarning that I would be included,” former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin told the Daily Mail about being named in Donald Trump’s indictment. “I was never asked to appear before the Grand Jury, nor was I ever interviewed by the District Attorney's Office,” he added.
The court documents stated that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office alleged that Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen alongside David Pecker, the CEO of American Media and National Enquirer publisher, made the payment to Sajudin as part of what is known as a ‘catch and kill’ scheme. It claimed that the plan was orchestrated to purchase negative information and suppress damaging publications against the-then presidential candidate shortly before the 2016 US election.
“In or about October or November 2015, the AMI CEO learned that a former Trump Tower doorman (‘the Doorman’) was trying to sell information regarding a child that the defendant had allegedly fathered out of wedlock,” the statement of facts noted, as per the New York Post. “At the AMI CEO’s direction, AMI negotiated and signed an agreement to pay the doorman $30,000 to acquire exclusive rights to the story. When AMI later concluded that the story was not true, the AMI CEO wanted to release the doorman from the agreement,” the document further claimed.
It also mentioned, “However, Lawyer A [Cohen] instructed the AMI CEO not to release the doorman until after the presidential election, and the AMI CEO complied with that instruction because of his agreement with the defendant and lawyer A.”
Dino Sajudin wrote about Donald Trump's love child
Former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin who was allegedly paid $30K hush money to withhold information about his claims of Donald Trump having a child out of wedlock also wrote a book based on his allegations, the New York Post reported. In the self-published book, titled ‘Trump Doorman,’ Sajudin reiterated his claims and alleged that Trump had the child with a “rude” concierge at the Trump Tower. Sajudin wrote that the unnamed Colombian-born concierge was often rude to residents. He also claimed that Trump Organization officials asked him to keep quiet when he complained about the woman.
Sajudin alleged that he soon found out that the woman received special treatment as she previously worked as a housekeeper for the Trump family. He went on to claim that at one point, a man who he only mentioned as “Mr C,” told him that the woman was the mother of a daughter Donald Trump fathered out of wedlock. “Little Tiffany and Ivanka are not the only girls out there carrying the big guy’s DNA. As time went on I continued to complain to my union boss about the head concierge. One day, Mr C looked at me dead in the face and said, ‘Dino when you have Trump’s kid, you can do whatever the hell you want to,’” Sajudin wrote.
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen confirmed to the publication that he is not the “Mr C” mentioned in Dino Sajudin’s book. Meanwhile, the woman involved in the doorman’s allegations previously denied the claims. “This is all fake,” she told the Associated Press.