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July 17 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors have ended an investigation into hush money payments a former attorney for President Donald Trump says he made to silence women who claimed sexual affairs, and some of the documents from the inquiry will soon be made public, a New York court ruled Wednesday. Prosecutors said the payments violated campaign finance laws, and the attorney, Michael Cohen, has said he made them on Trump's orders.
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The investigation was examining Trump and his private business, the Trump Organization. Prosecutors said Wednesday they found no evidence anyone at the Trump Organization were involved in the payments, which were made before the 2016 election.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley II said some of the documents from the investigation are in the public interest, and ordered them released.
"The campaign finance violations discussed in the materials are a matter of national importance," Pauley wrote. "Now that the Government's investigation into these violations has concluded, it is time that every American has an opportunity to scrutinize the materials."
Pauley ordered the government to make the documents available Thursday.
Cohen is serving a three-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty this year to lying to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He also violated campaign finance laws by paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump has denied the accusations of extramarital affairs and hush money payments, and has said his campaign didn't violate any campaign finance laws.
The Trump administration unsuccessfully fought to have some parts of the report redacted. The court ruled only the names of law enforcement investigators, people engaged in business transactions with Cohen and personal information will be blacked out.
