Earlier today, a source with direct knowledge of the situation gave NBC News the biggest peak

yet into what we should expect from Trump's New York-Hush Money trial next week.

A potential witness list.

But let me back up.

Four days before election, in 2016, the Wall Street Journal published this explosive story,

National Inquirer shielded Donald Trump from Playboy Models' affair allegation.

It was what is known in the tabloid world as a catch and kill scheme.

Trump had an affair with the Playboy model named Karen McDougal.

When Trump ran for president, McDougal tried to sell that story to the press.

So the National Inquirer bought the story from McDougal and then they killed it.

And this is no longer just the stuff of allegation.

In 2018, the National Inquirer's parent company

entered into a non-prosecution agreement

with prosecutors in New York.

The tabloid admitted the whole scheme in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Around the time that was happening, the Wall Street Journal had another scoop.

David Pecker, the CEO of the National Inquirer, also had an immunity deal with prosecutors.

He was also spilling the beans.

So knowing all of that background, when NBC... was also spilling the beans.

So knowing all of that background,

when NBC got this potential witness list today

for Trump's Hush Money trial,

...