National Enquirer paid Playboy model to keep her mouth shut about affair with Trump.

[RandySF]

he company that owns the National Enquirer, a backer of Donald Trump, agreed to pay $150,000 to a former Playboy centerfold model for her story of an affair a decade ago with the Republican presidential nominee, but then didn’t publish it, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the matter.

The tabloid-newspaper publisher reached an agreement in early August with Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year. American Media Inc., which owns the Enquirer, hasn’t published anything about what she has told friends was a consensual romantic relationship she had with Mr. Trump in 2006. At the time, Mr. Trump was married to his current wife, Melania.

Quashing stories that way is known in the tabloid world as “catch and kill.”

In a written statement, the company said it wasn’t buying Ms. McDougal’s story for $150,000, but rather two years’ worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers as well as exclusive life rights to any relationship she has had with a then-married man. “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump,” the statement said.

Hope Hicks, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said of the agreement with Ms. McDougal: “We have no knowledge of any of this.” She said that Ms. McDougal’s claim of an affair with Mr. Trump was “totally untrue.”


http://www.wsj.com/articles/national-enquirer-shielded-donald-trump-from-playboy-models-affair-allegation-1478309380

[wishstar]

1. Only surprise here is that Wall Street Journal is the source confirming this story!

Donald seems to have been constantly pursuing other women during his marriage to Melania

[Awsi Dooger]

2. Karen McDougal was awesome

I had a Playboy subscription for a few years. I don't know anything about this story but Karen McDougal was one of the standout Playmates from that late '90s-early '00s era, along with Kelly Monaco and Cara Wakelin and several others.

Years later I placed those magazines next to a dumpster. They were in like-new condition. Five minutes later I had second thoughts, sensing they might be worth something, then or eventually. Probably. When I returned to fetch them, they were already gone.