Karen McDougal, a Playboy ex-model who claims to have had an affair with the president, Donald Trump, announced today that she has reached an agreement with the tabloid The National Enquirer to settle a lawsuit on a pact that certified that she would remain silent on that issue.
“I am delighted to have reached an agreement with American Media Inc. (owner of The National Enquirer) on my own terms, which restores my rights to the story of my life and frees me from this contract that I signed deceived almost two years ago. years, “McDougal said in a statement reproduced by US media.
American Media Inc. (AMI), in a separate press release, also expressed its satisfaction at having reached a friendly resolution.
The agreement between McDougal and AMI establishes that the exmodel can keep the 150,000 dollars, while the company will retain 10% of the rights over its history if it were sold to a third party up to a limit of 75,000 dollars.
McDougal filed a lawsuit in March against AMI, a company that in 2016 had paid $ 150,000 for the exclusive rights to its story and that ultimately chose not to publish it.
AMI, owner of The National Enquirer, is headed by David Pecker, Trump’s friend.
McDougal, in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claimed that Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, was covertly involved in his negotiations with AMI.
He also argued that both AMI and the lawyer who represented her at the time did not correctly explain the details of the agreement.
On April 9, the FBI searched Cohen’s offices for evidence of the alleged payment of $ 130,000 by the lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, so as not to disclose details about her alleged relationship with Trump.
Both McDougal and Daniels tried to sell their stories to the media in the final stretch of the 2016 elections, when Trump’s image was badly damaged by sexist comments and accusations of harassment by several women.
However, they were silenced and, in the case of Daniels, the person in charge was Cohen himself, who paid the actress $ 130,000 not to reveal his story.
McDougal, who claims to have maintained a relationship with Trump for several months, revealed his version of events in an article published by The New Yorker magazine.
According to their testimony, both met at a party at the Playboy Mansion in June 2006 and, after having regular contact by phone for a while, they met at a hotel in Los Angeles.
The exmodelo said that on that first date they had sex and that the New York mogul tried to give her money, something she rejected.
The relationship continued for nine months, during which they saw themselves in Los Angeles and other cities, until she put an end to it.
Back then, Trump was already married to his current wife, Melania, and his youngest son, Barron, had been born a few months earlier.
