Names and faces
■ A Manhattan judge has tossed out a defamation lawsuit against Fox News brought by Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who took a $150,000 payoff to squelch her story of an affair with a pre-presidency Donald Trump. McDougal had alleged in the suit filed late last year that Fox host Tucker Carlson slandered her by calling the payout “a classic case of extortion.” On Dec. 10, 2018, Carson recounted what he called “undisputed” facts: that two women had “approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn’t give them money.” On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ruled that McDougal failed to prove that Carlson was accusing her of an actual crime in a way that would back up a defamation claim. The judge called the on-air remarks “rhetorical hyperbole and opinion commentary intended to frame a political debate, and as such, are not actionable as defamation,” the judge said in a written ruling. Messages were left on Thursday with attorneys on both sides of the legal fight seeking comment. McDougal has said she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. He denied it. As the Republican ran for office in 2016, National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc. paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story, which it never published. The company eventually acknowledged the purchase was a “catch-and-kill” maneuver to help the presidential prospects of Trump. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, ended up pleading guilty to campaign finance violations in connection with payments to silence McDougal. AMI, in a deal to avoid federal prosecution, admitted to making the payment “in concert” with the Trump campaign.
■ Model Gigi Hadid and her musician boyfriend Zayn Malik took to social media to celebrate the arrival of an infant girl, with dad saying he’s “grateful” and “thankful.” “To try put into words how I am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love I feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding. Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine,” Malik wrote on Twitter. He shared a black and white image featuring Malik and their daughter holding hands. Hadid also shared a similar photo on Instagram, with the caption: “Our girl joined us earth-side this weekend and she’s already changing our world. So in love.” Neither parent revealed the baby’s name. The supermodel confirmed her pregnancy in April on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show.” It is Hadid’s her first child with boyfriend Malik, a former member of One Direction. Hadid, 25, and Malik, 27, have been dating off-and-on for several years. She has become one of the world’s most in-demand models and he was the first to leave One Direction to strike out as a solo artist.