'New Yorker' says handwritten note by former Playmate details affair with Trump
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAYPublished 9:42 a.m. ET Feb. 16, 2018 | Updated 10:37 a.m. ET Feb. 16, 2018 link
A former Playmate, who says she has been emboldened by the #MeToo movement and declining health, has confirmed to The New Yorker that she authored an eight-page, hand-written document about her alleged affair with Donald Trump that the magazine said was quietly buried by the National Enquirer after buying exclusive rights to it.
The deal, which netted Karen McDougal $82,500, has prevented her from discussing the alleged relationship with Trump.
McDougal, who was judged runner-up for "Playmate of the '90s," allegedly met Trump in 2006 at the Playboy mansion after Trump had been married to Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years.
She spoke to writer Ronan Farrow, who has written recently about sexual abuse in Hollywood, but was circumspect about details regarding Trump. She acknowledged, however, that she wrote the account of the alleged affair, which Farrow said he obtained from John Crawford, a friend of McDougal's.
The Wall Street Journal, four days before the 2016 presidential election, reported that American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid $150,000 for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran. Buying the rights to a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call “catch and kill.”
David Pecker, CEO and chairman of A.M.I., has described Trump as a personal friend.
McDougal, choosing her words carefully, said the emergence of the #MeToo movement and health problems, which she blames on breast implant removal last year, has prompted her to be more conflicted about the moral compromises of silence, The New Yorker says.
“As I was sick and feeling like I was dying and bedridden, all I could do was pray to live. But now I pray to live right, and make right with the wrongs that I have done,” she told Farrow. She also noted the impact women have had in recent months by describing abuses by high-profile men. “I know it’s a different circumstance,” she said, “but I just think I feel braver.”
A.M.I. said, according to the magazine, an amendment to McDougal’s contract — signed after Trump won the election — allowed her to “respond to legitimate press inquiries” regarding the alleged affair. The company said that it did not print the story because it did not find it credible.
McDougal, in her first on-the-record comments about the handling of her story by The National Enquirer, declined to discuss the details of her relationship with Trump, for fear of violating the agreement, the magazine said.
She did say, however, that she regretted signing the contract. “It took my rights away,” McDougal told 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.”
In the handwritten account of McDougal's story, obtained by The New Yorker, she wrote that Trump "immediately took a liking to me" after their meeting at Hugh Hefner's mansion, following a taping of Trump TV show The Apprentice. She wrote that their first date was dinner in a private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel that allegedly turned intimate.
“I was so nervous! I was into his intelligence + charm. Such a polite man,” she wrote. “We talked for a couple hours — then, it was “ON”! We got naked + had sex.” As she was leaving, according to the account, McDougal writes he offered her money, which she said made her sad, and she declined.
A.M.I. paid her $150,000 for her story. McDougal ended up with $82,500 after other intermediaries to the deal took a cut from the payment, the magazine said. The deal also included promises to publish columns by her and for other appearances in magazines. After Trump won the presidency, however, A.M.I.’s promises largely went unfulfilled, according to McDougal.
The magazine said her story "provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs— sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously — out of the press."
The New Yorker said a White House spokesperson said in a statement that Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal. “This is an old story that is just more fake news," according to the statement. "The president says he never had a relationship with McDougal.”
The article comes in the wake of a report in The New York Times that a porn star, Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 by Trump's personal lawyer only days before the election as part of a non-disclosure agreement. While Trump lawyer Michael Cohen confirms he "facilitated" the payment to Daniels, he has not disclosed its purpose.
While Daniels has not discussed her alleged relationship with Trump since signing the deal, In-Touch magazine last month published salacious details of an alleged affair with Trump based on earlier interviews with the magazine.
Donald Trump had an affair with former Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal — whom he met at a party for “The Apprentice” in 2006 while married to his current wife, Melania, according to an explosive report Friday that details the great lengths to which the future president went to conceal his alleged indiscretions from the press.
McDougal wrote in an eight-page, handwritten note — which her friend John Crawford shared with the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow — that 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,’” according to the piece, titled “Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity.”
She said she was initially wowed by Trump.
“I was so nervous! I was into his intelligence + charm. Such a polite man,” she wrote. “We talked for a couple hours — then, it was ‘ON’! We got naked + had sex.”
But McDougal added that she was stunned when Trump offered her money as she was getting dressed after their romp.
“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,’” she wrote, according to Farrow’s account.
McDougal wrote that after their first tryst, she “went to see him every time he was in LA (which was a lot).”
Trump eventually introduced her to members of his family and took her to his private homes, including at Trump Tower, where he pointed out Melania’s separate bedroom, McDougal claimed.
He “said she liked her space,” McDougal said, “to read or be alone.”
During a 2007 party for Trump Vodka in Los Angeles, she said, she was seated at a table with The Donald, Donald Trump Jr., his pregnant wife, Vanessa, and Kim Kardashian.
And at an “Apprentice” bash at the Playboy Mansion, McDougal said, Trump told her he had asked his son Eric “who he thought was the most beautiful girl here + Eric pointed me. Mr. T said ‘He has great taste’ + we laughed!”
McDougal ended their nine-month affair in April 2007, according to the article.
She felt guilty and uncomfortable with some of the would-be president’s comments, like the time her friend brought up her relationship with an African-American man, and Trump said she liked “the big black d–k,” according to the report.
After their relationship ended, McDougal signed a limited life-story rights agreement granting the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., exclusive ownership of her story in exchange for $150,000.
But the story never ran. Farrow suggested the Enquirer just wanted to bury it — a practice known as “catch and kill” — because AMI CEO David Pecker is pals with Trump.
McDougal said she didn’t understand the full extent of the agreement she’d signed and regretted her decision to sell the rights to her story.
The White House said in a statement that Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal.
“This is an old story that is just more fake news. The president says he never had a relationship with McDougal,” a spokesman told the New Yorker.
The story comes as porn star Stormy Daniels is planning a tell-all about her own tryst with Trump.
I kinda feel sorry for his wife. She's gotta feel somewhat humiliated, and that's in front of the whole country.
On the other hand? I can't help but think she may be just be a bit of a gold digger herself, but am uncertain about this.
a gold digger who, until something says otherwise, is still faithful to her first husband.
meanwhile, her husband, who's been married 3 times, has cheated on all 3 of his wives, has 5 kids by 3 different women, got caught paying hush money to a pornstar, and now got busted for being with an ex playmate.
that doesn't even cover the creepiness that is trump, from going into women's changing rooms unannounced, to the weirdo sick crap he's said about his own daughter, to the sexual harrassment/assault allegations, one in which he got caught bragging about on tape to billy Bush.
when conservatives talk about family values, i guess Trump is the best example they could come up with.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
when conservatives talk about family values, i guess Trump is the best example they could come up with.
Its party over country , IMO
I thnk many consevstives dont like Trump but will still stick up for him, no matter what, just because he is a Repub. Just look at many of the Repbs on this board who couldnt stand Trump leading up to his nomination, but now since he is the Republican choice, he can do no wrong and they will defend everything he does.
and in fairness I think many Dems do the same thing
Damn it feels good to be an independent who can think for himself .
You may be in the drivers seat but God is holding the map. #GMSTRONG
Lets see what Melania does.. If I was her, I'd be PO'd and serve him w papers and drag his ass thru court during his presidency, take half his cash, get child support, deny visitation, move back to Europe and get a security detail.
although to be fair, i'm sure Trump is looking at a russian mail order catalog the moment Melania dumps her.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Lets see what Melania does.. If I was her, I'd be PO'd and serve him w papers and drag his ass thru court during his presidency, take half his cash, get child support, deny visitation, move back to Europe and get a security detail.
The media would have a field day..
saint...how many more "bimbo eruptions" will it take for Melania to realize what a scum her husband is?
I would think she has to be thinking about a divorce and taking half of everything he owns...problem is, on paper, Trump might be broke.
Forget Russia...forget Mueller...forget all the investigations...
Cross your wife, with evidence mounting of infidelity and have it play out in public...YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE, Donald
Interesting. From JFK, Clinton, Tiger or Trump, I don't give a damn who you sleep with or who you're cheating on. This world is full of freaks, open marriages and swingers to downright cheaters, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!
Since when do I have a right to know what your arrangement is with your spouse? My priorities differ from most. I'm interested in what you can teach me that will help improve my life and those around me.
I know I know, character right?
A man developed a cure for cancer. Are we going to refuse to use his treatment because he cheated on his wife? HELL NO!
I would think she has to be thinking about a divorce and taking half of everything he owns...problem is, on paper, Trump might be broke.
You guys ever heard of a prenup?
This isn't funny. Trump used to do radio spots during the mid day news break that would air on 610 here in Columbus. One of them was on the necessity of a prenup, because HE KNEW HIS MARRIAGE TO MELANIA WOULD END.
What a guy...
WE DON'T NEED A QB BEFORE WE GET A LINE THAT CAN PROTECT HIM my two cents...
Ted, ALL wealthy people have prenups. You're a fool if you don't. C'mon man, do you really think Melania is married to Don because she loves him? Hell no! I have a question, what's the divorce rate in this country?
Some marriages are for appearances only. Case in point Bill and Hillary
Ted, ALL wealthy people have prenups. You're a fool if you don't. C'mon man, do you really think Melania is married to Don because she loves him? Hell no! I have a question, what's the divorce rate in this country?
Some marriages are for appearances only. Case in point Bill and Hillary
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
You know the really sad part of all of this? When I was a Republican, Reagan was the standard. He portrayed a wholesome life, loving marriage, faith not only in God but the goodness of mankind.
Trump has taken what was a shambles of these values already and completely turned them on their heads! Love of and duty to country over party or self, out the door. Wholesome anything, out the door. Loving marriage, Trump doesn't even know what that is. Faith in God, Trumps is questionable; faith in the goodness of man, trump places his bets on the other side of that coin.
I can't imagine Reagan liking or promoting Russia/Putin. I can't imagine Reagan complementing the world's tough men dictators. I can't imagine Reagan giving up the role of world leadership to China and Russia. The GOP couldn't be much farther away than the one I believed in back then.
I honestly think Reagan would be a liberal leaning fiscal conservative today. I think Rand Paul is the closest example of this.
In the time of Reagan, Russian's and russian sympathizers were commies AND enemies of the State.
Did he also buy her furniture? Women love it when guys buy them furniture. It’s the best seduction method out there.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Let's not consider Trump a Republican, please. He has always been a Dem, and only ran as a Repub because it was the easiest path.
Pretty sure Trump doesnt represent any party's values. Only his own.
Trump has always been for Trump. He's not acting like most Dems I know. He acts like a an idiot white supremacist from the edges of a tea party rally that managed to slip into power.
Loving marriage, Trump doesn't even know what that is
Very true. I feel sad for him and ALL wealthy people these days. How can you know what love is? Gold diggers throwing themselves at you.
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Faith in God, Trumps is questionable
Shame shame shame OCD, he's been consistant his entire life on his faith.
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I can't imagine Reagan complementing the world's tough men dictators.
Different times, different approach. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I understand exactly what he's doing here. BTW, did you like Obama's apology tour better?
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In the time of Reagan, Russian's and russian sympathizers were commies AND enemies of the State.
Back when we could call a spade a spade (no, that is not a racist comment) Nowadays, we can't say anything that doesn't offend someone.
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I honestly think Reagan would be a liberal leaning fiscal conservative today
Let's not consider Trump a Republican, please. He has always been a Dem, and only ran as a Repub because it was the easiest path.
Pretty sure Trump doesnt represent any party's values. Only his own.
I agree 100% with what you stated. However, the Republican party is enabling him and standing by him. So while I agree with your post - the reality is that Trump is doing (imo) enormous harm to the legacy of the GOP, and they will rightly get painted by history and own what Trump achieves or doesn't achieve as POTUS.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
