President Trump had an extramarital affair with a Playboy model in 2006 and worked to cover up that affair that took place just months after his marriage to his wife Melania, according to a new report.
A New Yorker report from Ronan Farrow said the model, Karen McDougal, had a consensual relationship with Trump, but said Trump would often offer her money after sex.
The affair took place just months after the birth of his son Barron, and Trump took elaborate steps to keep it quiet. For example, McDougal had to pay for her own flights and then get reimbursed by Trump later, so there would be no paper trail.
Later, American Media, Inc., paid $150,000 for her story and never published it. The New Yorker said this “catch and kill” practice is a way of burying stories so they never see print, and the CEO of AMI, David Pecker, has said Trump is a “close personal friend” of his.
“It took my rights away,” McDougal told Farrow of her agreement to sell her story to AMI. “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.”
The White House has called Farrow’s report “fake news.”
