Legal analyst Lisa Rubin revealed that former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s dissatisfaction with a writing contract exposed alleged hush money payments made by Donald Trump. McDougal was promised a job as a National Enquirer columnist if she remained silent about her affair with Trump, but the articles were never published, leading McDougal to file a breach of contract lawsuit. This lawsuit brought to light the payments orchestrated by Enquirer publisher David Pecker, a close associate of Trump. Pecker had offered McDougal the columnist position as a way to suppress her story and potentially influence the 2016 election.
McDougal was also offered to work as a columnist and do red carpet interviews for Radar Online, another AMI-owned property. However, Rubin revealed that this was all part of a plan to silence McDougal, as Pecker attempted to circumvent campaign finance laws by offering her these positions. Despite taking the offer seriously, McDougal eventually grew disillusioned with the lack of follow-through, leading to the exposure of the payments made to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. Pecker’s actions were part of an effort to promote Trump’s election by suppressing damaging information.
The alleged payments to McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels were part of a broader scheme to prevent them from disclosing their affairs with Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Trump, who denies having affairs with either woman, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. The prosecution is seeking to prove that Trump paid or discussed paying these women to keep quiet about their relationships with him. McDougal’s lawsuit against AMI and the subsequent revelations shed light on the efforts to cover up these alleged affairs and pay hush money to those involved.
AMI reportedly paid McDougal $150,000 in 2016 for a non-disclosure agreement that prevented her from publicly discussing her affair with Trump. As part of this contract, she was promised a columnist position that was never fulfilled. Pecker testified during Trump’s hush money trial that he assured Trump of McDougal’s silence, indicating that she was “writing her articles” and was fine with the arrangement. However, McDougal later sued to be released from the agreement, citing breach of contract. This legal action, along with Stormy Daniels’ similar lawsuit, brought further attention to the alleged hush money payments and attempts to suppress damaging information about Trump.
