Advertisement
Advertisement
Donald Trump
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
President Donald Trump, seen in March, is being sued by a former Playboy model who says she wants to talk about the alleged affair she had with him. Photo: AP

Ex-Playboy model sues so she can publicly discuss ‘affair with Donald Trump’

Playboy star Karen McDougal’s lawsuit came the same day a judge ruled Trump must face a defamation suit by ex-Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos

Donald Trump

Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with US President Donald Trump filed a suit in California on Tuesday in an attempt to end a legal agreement forcing her to remain silent on the topic.

McDougal is the second woman this month to contest arrangements not to disclose alleged extramarital relationships with Trump.

Karen McDougal is seem on January 8, 2011 at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Zuma Press via TNS

She filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against American Media Inc, publisher of the National Enquirer, which paid her US$150,000 in 2016 to keep quiet.

McDougal’s lawsuit came on the same day that a New York state judge ruled Trump must face a defamation suit by California restaurateur Summer Zervos, who accused him of sexually harassing her after she appeared on his former reality television show The Apprentice.

New Yorker magazine last month reported on McDougal’s alleged affair and a move by American Media to pay her for rights to her story, which it never published. American Media head David Pecker has described Trump as a “personal friend.”

In the lawsuit, McDougal said she and Trump engaged in a 10-month extramarital “romantic relationship” in 2006 and 2007, a time period that overlaps with his alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. 

Trump’s wife Melania Trump gave birth to the president’s youngest son Barron in 2006.

McDougal said her lawyer at the time, Keith Davidson, secretly negotiated with Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, on the AMI deal. Cohen has acknowledged arranging to pay Daniels US$130,000 for her silence during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued the president on March 6, stating Trump never signed an agreement for her to keep her quiet about an “intimate” relationship between them. 

McDougal is now asking the court to declare her agreement null and void, saying she was tricked into signing it, that it was intended to illegally influence the 2016 election and because it violates public policy against using threats of legal action to get someone to stay silent on issues of public concern.

She also called the agreement an illegal corporate donation from AMI to the Trump campaign that violated federal election law.

Porn star Stormy Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford (seen at a Florida strip club on March 9) is also suing to be able to talk about her own alleged affair with Trump. Photo: Getty Images via AFP 

AMI said in a statement the company has a valid contract with McDougal and looks forward to reaching an amicable resolution with her. 

It said she has been free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with Trump since 2016 and that the suggestion that AMI silenced her is without merit.

“AMI lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me.

“ I just want the opportunity to set the record straight and move on with my life, free from this company, its executives, and its lawyers,” McDougal, who was Playboy magazine’s 1998 Playmate of the Year, said in a statement.

Davidson declined to comment, citing lawyer-client privilege. Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has been accused by several women of misconduct, including after the release during the 2016 presidential campaign of an Access Hollywood recording in which he had spoken in vulgar terms about trying to have sex with women. 

He later said the comments were “locker room banter” and his campaign issued an apology from him if anyone was offended. 

Post