Trump ‘had affair with Playboy bunny ...then she got $150,000 to stay quiet’
DONALD Trump was at the centre of a new sex scandal yesterday amid allegations he had an extra-marital fling with a Playboy Bunny who was then paid to keep quiet.
Karen McDougal, a former Playmate of the Year, claims she had a nine-month affair with the president after they met at a Playboy pool party in 2006.
It happened two months after Mr Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron, the New Yorker magazine reported. It is also around the time he was alleged to have been having an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.
The New Yorker went on to claim the National Enquirer magazine paid Ms McDougal $150,000 (€121,000) for the sole rights to her story, but never ran the piece.
David Pecker, chairman and chief executive of the National Enquirer’s publisher, has said he is a ‘personal friend’ of the 71-year-old president.
The White House called the report ‘fake news’ and has previously dismissed claims of an affair with Ms Daniels.
Ms McDougal told The New Yorker that the National Enquirer ‘took my rights away’.
‘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,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid to even mention his name.’
In an eight-page, handwritten note obtained by The New Yorker, Ms McDougal described what she claimed was a sexual relationship with Mr Trump from 2006 to 2007.
She said he immediately took a liking to her at the Playboy party, ‘telling me how beautiful I was’.
The former model said the first time they had sex she was shocked that Mr Trump offered her cash. She told him ‘I’m not that girl’ and that she slept with him because she liked him.
Ms McDougal, 46, claimed she visited his homes, including Trump Tower where he allegedly pointed out Melania’s separate bedroom, and said she ‘liked space to read or be alone’.
Ms McDougal also said she would often visit Mr Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She claims she was even introduced to the president’s family, including his son Eric at a party, and that Mr Trump would fly her around the US to events he was attending.
One such occasion was the Lake Tahoe golf tournament, which is where Mr Trump allegedly began an affair with Ms Daniels that same year.
Mr Trump also showered Ms McDougal with merchandise from his golf courses, it was claimed. In April 2007, after nine months, she is alleged to have finally ended the affair.
Jerry George, a former senior editor at the National Enquirer, told The New Yorker that the company never published anything about Mr Trump without his approval. The magazine said it had not published the claims because they did not find them credible.
Ms McDougal says she is nervous about sharing her story but was
‘Afraid to even mention his name’
inspired to come forward after Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, made her affair public. The porn star this week threatened to reveal the full story of her alleged affair with Mr Trump after Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, acknowledged he paid her $130,000 not to discuss the allegations publicly.
Mr Cohen, who described himself as the president’s ‘fix-it guy’, told The New York Times he acted alone and was not reimbursed for it. Ms Daniels claims his acknowledgement means she is now not bound by the non-disclosure contract.
Mr Trump strongly denies affairs with both Ms McDougal and Ms Daniels. Spokesman Hope Hicks also said the White House had no knowledge of a possible agreement with Ms McDougal.