Judge Juan Merchan ruled during jury selection in Donald Trump’s secret trial against Stormy Daniels that former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had a long-term affair with the GOP front-runner in 2016, could testify .
Trump is accused of paying $130,000 to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to keep silent about the couple’s alleged extramarital affair.
Five months before the 2016 presidential election, American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, paid McDougal, 53, $150,000 in exchange for his story. The interview was never published.
The alleged affair became public during a subsequent interview McDougal gave to The Wall Street Journal in 2016.
Trump denies McDougal’s allegations. His payment is not the subject of a criminal investigation, but prosecutors say it will establish a pattern of behavior by Trump, something Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche has tried to argue against.
Judge Merchan said the jury did not need to hear about the timing of the so-called McDougal affair, which under the old model occurred when Melania Trump was pregnant with Barron Trump.
McDougal says she and Trump had an intimate relationship over a 10-month period.
Donald Trump and Karen McDougal pictured together in 2006, the GOP frontrunner has always denied having a relationship with the Playboy model
Trump has always denied having an affair with Karen McDougal while his wife Melania was pregnant with their child
A native of Gary, Indiana, McDougal was spotted by a Playboy photographer after booking several modeling gigs in the Detroit area in the 1990s.
In 2023, McDougal told MailOnline that his relationship with Trump was not coincidental.
“I was in love with him. He was in love with me. I know because he told me that all the time. He would say “You are my baby and I love you.” He showed me to his friends.
“I am portrayed as a disgruntled woman, but I am not that woman. I ended it,” she continued.
She was thinking of ways to end this relationship: “A family member came to town and we went to a bar and I met a lovely man named Bruce.”
The Bruce she is referring to is Die-Hard actor Bruce Willis, with whom she was photographed holding hands on vacation in Italy a few months later in 2007, and with whom she dated for six months.
“I wasn’t cheating on Trump, but Bruce and I were already talking on the phone a lot, which made it easier to end it.” Why would I stay with a married man when Bruce was a nice single guy?’ she continued.
The editor of the National Enquirer suppressed McDougal’s story until after the election, a questionable journalism practice known as “catch and kill.”
American Media Inc. acknowledged that its payments to McDougal were made specifically to support Trump’s election bid and were made “in concert” with his campaign.
Trump and McDougal embarked, she claims, on a consensual affair, meeting five or more times a month
Trump first met McDougal at a Playboy party at the infamous mansion in 2006. Here, McDougal is pictured with magazine founder Hugh Hefner.
McDougal said Trump tried to pay her after their first sexual tryst at a Beverly Hills hotel bungalow in 2006. McDougal said she continued the relationship with Trump for about 10 months and broke it off in April 2007 because she felt guilty.
Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, another key player in the trial, made a recording of the two men discussing McDougal’s payment.
At one point, Trump said, “What are we going to pay for this?” One hour fifty?
Prosecutor Alvin Bragg said Trump “explicitly” ordered lawyer Michael Cohen, then working for the Trump Organization, to reimburse the US media in cash, and then Cohen indicated to Trump that the payment should instead be made by a shell company.
The alleged relationship between McDougal and Trump remained hidden until a Wall Street Journal report was published days before Election Day 2016.
In 2018, McDougal settled a lawsuit with AMI in which she claimed she misled her into signing an agreement that prohibited her from publicly discussing the relationship.
“My goal all along was to restore my rights, not to make a financial gain, and that is exactly what this settlement does,” McDougal said at the time.
“I’m relieved to be able to tell the truth about my story when asked, and I look forward to being able to return to my private life and focus on what matters to me.”
Karen, one of five children raised in a working-class family, was teaching four-year-olds at a preschool when, after having her breasts surgically augmented from 34B to 34D, she entered a swimsuit competition. bath.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called the actions of McDougal and Stormy Daniels “a classic case of extortion.” McDougal then sued Carlson, but the case was dismissed.
Karen, one of five children raised in a working-class Michigan family, was teaching four-year-olds at a preschool when, after undergoing surgical augmentation of her breasts from 34B to 34D, she entered a breast competition. swimwear.
The competition took her to Playboy magazine where she was named Playmate of the Month for December 1997, Playmate of the Year in 1998 and in 2001, the magazine’s readers voted her second Playmate of the 90s, behind Former Baywatch star Pamela. Anderson.
Her implants were removed in 2016 for health reasons.
In 2006, Trump, who was then the star of the reality TV show Celebrity Apprentice, attended a pool party at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles, hosted by Hugh Hefner for the show’s contestants.
He had been married to his wife Melania for less than two years at the time and she had just given birth to their son Barron.
“He followed me around like a puppy, trying to get my attention,” she said. “He liked me so much that the Bunny Mother said, ‘Wow, he really has a thing for you.'”
“I was saying goodbye to him and he was standing next to his bodyguard Keith Schiller and he said, ‘Keith, take his number.’
“He called me a few days later and asked me to have dinner with him at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” she says.
“I’m ashamed of it now because I knew he was married, but at the time it was out of sight, out of mind.” Back then I was a different girl, having fun and not thinking too deeply about things.
McDougal said Trump regularly took her to his various properties and she met his sons, Eric and Don Jr.
However, in 2007, McDougal said she abruptly ended the relationship over the phone. “The phone call ended on bad terms,” she said.
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