Playboy Model Refused $150,000 Hush Money From Trump: "Don't Want to Be the Next Monica Lewinsky"

Former President Donald Trump is caught in yet another hush money situation with Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump and McDougal had an alleged 10-month affair which began in June 2006. As per The NYTimes, they first met at the Playboy Mansion, Trump later denied the affair. In 2016 the National Enquirer magazine purchased the rights to unfavorable stories about Trump and withheld them from publication to conduct a "catch and kill" operation before the presidential election. As per The Daily Mail, among them was McDougal's account, in which the model stated about her affair with Trump from 2006–07. McDougal turned down a $10,000 payment for her story because she didn’t want her story to be published. "She didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky. She wanted to restart her career," David Pecker, former boss of the National Enquirer stated while being a witness during the recent trial.

Pecker testified that he had sent magazine executive Dylan Howard to California in 2016 when McDougal's allegations first surfaced. He said that "constantly calling me while Dylan Howard was in this meeting interviewing Karen McDougal" was Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer and "fixer." Later, Pecker scheduled a three-way conversation with Cohen and Howard. Pecker said: "Dylan mentioned ABC was interested in acquiring the story. He also mentioned a Mexican group made an offer for the story for $1 million. Michael and I both said they didn’t believe there was a Mexican group that was going to buy the story. ABC offer, they were offering Karen a slot on Dancing with the Stars." 

McDougal likened herself to Lewinsky, who became embroiled in the adultery scandal that rocked Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s while she was an intern in the White House. According to Pecker, McDougal was a fitness model who preferred to start an athletic clothing business and write for tabloids over getting her tale published. The publisher testified that he spoke with Trump in New Jersey in June 2016. "I was making a presentation and an update on our business,' he told the court. "The assistant in the office came into the conference room and said there’s a call from you from Donald Trump. I left and took the call. Mr Trump said to me "I spoke to Michael. Karen is a nice girl. Is it true that a Mexican group is looking go buy the story for $8 million? I said I absolutely don't believe it. He said 'What do you think I should do?'. I said I think you should buy the story and take it off the market." 

"I believe that when Mr Trump said she was a nice girl, I believe he knew who she was." Pecker continued to testify in court: "I believe this story was true. I think it would have been very embarrassing for himself and also to his campaign." The former boss of National Enquirer said Cohen called the next day and asked him to buy the story. Pecker inquired who would pay for it. He confessed Cohen told him: "Don’t worry, I’m your friend, the boss will take care of it." When asked who the 'boss' was Pecker told the court: "Donald Trump. I would be either reimbursed by the Trump Organization or Donald Trump." Pecker added while testifying, "I know he (Cohen) didn’t have any authorization to disperse any funds from the Trump Organization. Every time he even went out for lunch, I paid. I didn’t think he had authorization to spend any monies without Mr Trump’s approval." Early August 2016 Pecker's company agreed to pay McDougal $150,000 for the rights. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass questioned Pecker on Thursday about whether The Enquirer ever planned to publish Ms. McDougal's claims. He said, "No, we did not."