U.S. president Donald Trump is staring down another allegation involving an extramarital affair and a rumored pre-election payoff.
According to a story published in The New Yorker early Friday morning, Trump engaged in an extramarital affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal beginning in the spring of 2006. That’s less than two years after Trump married Slovenian model (now U.S. first lady) Melania Trump – and just months after the couple’s son Barron Trump was born.
The 1998 Playmate of the Year, McDougal was the runner-up to Pamela Anderson in the magazine’s “Playmate of the ’90s” contest.
According to a handwritten diary note McDougal made at the time, Trump “immediately took a liking to me, kept talking to me – telling me how beautiful I was, etc. It was so obvious that a Playmate Promotions exec said, ‘Wow, he was all over you – I think you could be his next wife.’”
Is there any proof of the affair beyond that? None that’s been made public … at least not up until the point when another ally of Trump appears to have paid six figures in an effort to make the story go away.
As with the allegations involving Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels, the problem for Trump here isn’t necessarily the rumored affairs but efforts undertaken to keep them under wraps.
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McDougal’s account of her alleged affair with Trump was purchased for $150,000 by American Media, Inc. – the publisher of the National Enquirer – but the news outlet never ran the story. The implication is that AMI president and CEO David Pecker – who has described himself as “a personal friend” of the president – bought the story for the sole purpose of killing it.
AMI purchased rights to the McDougal story on November 4, 2016 – four days before Trump pulled off his shocking upset of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
McDougal isn’t happy about the deal …
“It took my rights away,” McDougal told reporter Ronan Farrow. “At this point I feel I can’t talk about anything without getting into trouble, because I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about. I’m afraid to even mention his name.”
McDougal may not be saying anything, but her diary is spilling its secrets …
“I was so nervous! I was into his intelligence + charm. Such a polite man,” she wrote of her first exchange with Trump, according to The New Yorker story. “We talked for a couple hours – then, it was “ON”! We got naked + had sex.”
McDougal claimed Trump attempted to pay her after their initial sexual encounter – but she refused.
“He offered me money,” she wrote. “I looked at him (+ felt sad) + said, ‘No thanks – I’m not ‘that girl.’ I slept w/you because I like you – NOT for money’ – He told me ‘you are special.’”
The White House issued a qualified denial in response to the story.
“This is an old story that is just more fake news,” a statement provided to The New Yorker noted. “The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal.”
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Banner: Karen McDougal