National Post (National Edition)
‘This is just more fake news’
Q Who is Karen McDougal?
A She is a former Playboy model who claims she had an extra-marital affair with Donald Trump before he entered politics. According to a story by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker published Friday, she kept handwritten notes about the affair, which she said began in 2006 when Trump taped an episode of his reality show The Apprentice at the Playboy Mansion. The notes detailed how she visited Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel over a nine-month period in 2006 and 2007. He always ordered steak and mashed potatoes and he offered to pay her after the first time they had sex, her notes said. McDougal’s story has similarities to reports that Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, made a $130,000 payment ahead of the 2016 election to Stephanie Clifford, an adult-film actress better known as Stormy Daniels.
Q Is there a backstory to the article?
A Farrow said Friday she was paid $150,000 by National Enquirer publisher American Media for the story, which never ran. American Media is led by David Pecker, reported to be a close friend of Trump. The agreement illustrates the “leverage” Pecker’s publications have over “the sitting president of the United States. They know where the bodies are buried,” Farrow said Friday on NPR.
Q Has there been a response?
A “This is an old story that is just more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal,” a White House spokesman told The New Yorker.