https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...a7f68bff0fc_story.html?utm_term=.38c26234cdcd
Former Playboy model on alleged affair with Trump: ‘After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me’
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal said in a CNN interview that Donald Trump hurt her feelings by offering her money after they were “intimate.” (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Playboy)
By Beth Reinhard, Emma Brown and Mark Berman March 22 at 7:33 PM Email the author
In her first television interview about her alleged affair with Donald Trump, former Playboy model Karen McDougal said Thursday that he hurt her feelings by offering her money after they were “intimate.”
McDougal said she rejected the money in an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN, two days after she sued to void a $150,000 confidentiality agreement about the alleged relationship more than a decade ago.
“After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn’t know how to take that,” she said, according to an excerpt of the interview released before the broadcast. “I looked at him and said, ‘That’s not me. I’m not that kind of girl.’ And he said, ‘Oh,’ and he said, ‘You’re really special.’ ”
McDougal added that “it hurt me that he saw me in that light.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the interview, McDougal was expected to discuss her relationship with Trump and her new lawsuit against American Media (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer, which bought the rights to her story three months before the 2016 election but did not publish it. The suit claims that her former attorney, Keith Davidson, worked secretly with AMI and Trump attorney Michael Cohen as “part of a broad effort to silence and intimidate” her.
The complaint also alleges, without providing specifics, that Davidson had helped “catch and kill” other stories that would have been damaging to Trump.
Hours before the CNN interview, Davidson demanded that McDougal stop accusing him of mishandling her case and said he was poised to defend himself publicly.
In a letter to her new attorney, Peter K. Stris, Davidson said, “The complaint and various media appearances portray an incomplete and misleading depiction of the facts, circumstances and communications related to my prior representation of Karen.” Any further disclosures, Davidson said, “will be deemed to be a complete express waiver of the attorney-client privilege.”
Stris responded Thursday in writing: “We disagree with multiple statements in your letter, but are writing to acknowledge that we have received it. We hope that you will comply with your ethical responsibilities.”
AMI has denied any wrongdoing and has said the contract with McDougal is valid.
McDougal is asking the court to declare her contract with AMI void, saying her story about Trump “is core political speech entitled to the highest protection under the law.”
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, comes two weeks after another woman, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, sued Trump to invalidate her own confidentiality agreement. Daniels’s deal was with Cohen, who has said he “facilitated” a payment of $130,000, using his own money. Cohen has sought to keep Daniels quiet through private arbitration, alleging in a court filing that she could owe as much as $20 million for violating the agreement.
Attorneys for Daniels on Thursday demanded that the Trump Organization and two banks preserve messages, documents and financial records they say relate to that payment.
“We intend on using all legal means at our disposal to uncover the truth about the cover-up and what happened,” Michael Avenatti, Daniels’s attorney, said in a statement. “And this is but one of many tools we will use. When we are done, the truth will be laid bare for the American people.”
Why efforts to silence Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are failing
In a letter to the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, Avenatti argued that the company has “unmistakable links” to the lawsuit. He asked the business to retain any messages Cohen exchanged regarding Daniels, along with banking records, account histories and text messages or emails that could relate to Trump and Daniels’s alleged relationship.
Garten did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. Cohen has said the Trump Organizaton was not involved in the deal with Daniels.
The letter to the Trump Organization also claimed that in February, Cohen “attempted to interfere” with Daniels’s ability to hire Avenatti, who has sought to push the deal into the public eye. Avenatti declined to comment further, and Cohen did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the letter or Avenatti’s claim.
Avenatti also on Thursday asked First Republic Bank and City National Bank, the banks involved in the $130,000 transaction, to retain records relating to the payment. Representatives for the banks declined to comment.
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The lawsuits by McDougal and Daniels are not the only court cases involving Trump and women that could present the president with legal and political challenges. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that a defamation lawsuit brought by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos could proceed, potentially allowing her attorneys to collect evidence supporting her claim that Trump forcibly kissed and groped her years ago.
Read more:
The one claim in Karen McDougal’s lawsuit that could spell trouble for Trump.
Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are talking to one reporter: Anderson Cooper.
Stormy Daniels interview to air this weekend on “60 Minutes.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Former Playboy model on alleged affair with Trump: ‘After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me’
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal said in a CNN interview that Donald Trump hurt her feelings by offering her money after they were “intimate.” (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Playboy)
By Beth Reinhard, Emma Brown and Mark Berman March 22 at 7:33 PM Email the author
In her first television interview about her alleged affair with Donald Trump, former Playboy model Karen McDougal said Thursday that he hurt her feelings by offering her money after they were “intimate.”
McDougal said she rejected the money in an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN, two days after she sued to void a $150,000 confidentiality agreement about the alleged relationship more than a decade ago.
“After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn’t know how to take that,” she said, according to an excerpt of the interview released before the broadcast. “I looked at him and said, ‘That’s not me. I’m not that kind of girl.’ And he said, ‘Oh,’ and he said, ‘You’re really special.’ ”
McDougal added that “it hurt me that he saw me in that light.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the interview, McDougal was expected to discuss her relationship with Trump and her new lawsuit against American Media (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer, which bought the rights to her story three months before the 2016 election but did not publish it. The suit claims that her former attorney, Keith Davidson, worked secretly with AMI and Trump attorney Michael Cohen as “part of a broad effort to silence and intimidate” her.
The complaint also alleges, without providing specifics, that Davidson had helped “catch and kill” other stories that would have been damaging to Trump.
Hours before the CNN interview, Davidson demanded that McDougal stop accusing him of mishandling her case and said he was poised to defend himself publicly.
In a letter to her new attorney, Peter K. Stris, Davidson said, “The complaint and various media appearances portray an incomplete and misleading depiction of the facts, circumstances and communications related to my prior representation of Karen.” Any further disclosures, Davidson said, “will be deemed to be a complete express waiver of the attorney-client privilege.”
Stris responded Thursday in writing: “We disagree with multiple statements in your letter, but are writing to acknowledge that we have received it. We hope that you will comply with your ethical responsibilities.”
AMI has denied any wrongdoing and has said the contract with McDougal is valid.
McDougal is asking the court to declare her contract with AMI void, saying her story about Trump “is core political speech entitled to the highest protection under the law.”
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, comes two weeks after another woman, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, sued Trump to invalidate her own confidentiality agreement. Daniels’s deal was with Cohen, who has said he “facilitated” a payment of $130,000, using his own money. Cohen has sought to keep Daniels quiet through private arbitration, alleging in a court filing that she could owe as much as $20 million for violating the agreement.
Attorneys for Daniels on Thursday demanded that the Trump Organization and two banks preserve messages, documents and financial records they say relate to that payment.
“We intend on using all legal means at our disposal to uncover the truth about the cover-up and what happened,” Michael Avenatti, Daniels’s attorney, said in a statement. “And this is but one of many tools we will use. When we are done, the truth will be laid bare for the American people.”
Why efforts to silence Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are failing
In a letter to the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, Avenatti argued that the company has “unmistakable links” to the lawsuit. He asked the business to retain any messages Cohen exchanged regarding Daniels, along with banking records, account histories and text messages or emails that could relate to Trump and Daniels’s alleged relationship.
Garten did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. Cohen has said the Trump Organizaton was not involved in the deal with Daniels.
The letter to the Trump Organization also claimed that in February, Cohen “attempted to interfere” with Daniels’s ability to hire Avenatti, who has sought to push the deal into the public eye. Avenatti declined to comment further, and Cohen did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the letter or Avenatti’s claim.
Avenatti also on Thursday asked First Republic Bank and City National Bank, the banks involved in the $130,000 transaction, to retain records relating to the payment. Representatives for the banks declined to comment.
The story must be told.
Your subscription supports journalism that matters.
Try 1 month for $1
The lawsuits by McDougal and Daniels are not the only court cases involving Trump and women that could present the president with legal and political challenges. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that a defamation lawsuit brought by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos could proceed, potentially allowing her attorneys to collect evidence supporting her claim that Trump forcibly kissed and groped her years ago.
Read more:
The one claim in Karen McDougal’s lawsuit that could spell trouble for Trump.
Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are talking to one reporter: Anderson Cooper.
Stormy Daniels interview to air this weekend on “60 Minutes.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
22
Comments
