When the indictment against former President Donald Trump was revealed in April of this year, it became evident that there was more to the story than just the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. Another woman who had been paid for her silence emerged as a key figure: Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office had been investigating a scheme involving hush money payments to two women before the 2016 election. These payments, as per the indictment, were part of a larger strategy to prevent these women’s claims about Trump from negatively impacting his chances of winning against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, reported CNBC. These payments were made not only to Stormy Daniels but also to Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Donald Trump was accused of having an affair with McDougal between 2006 and 2007, a period when he was still married to his first wife, Ivana. McDougal reportedly received a payment of $150,000 after Trump began his presidential campaign. The prosecution asserted that these payments were part of a ‘catch and kill’ effort by Trump and others to sway voters and keep damaging information hidden from the public.
As per the same CNBC article, American Media Inc., a publishing company supportive of Trump, also paid $30,000 to a former doorman for Trump Tower who claimed to possess information about Trump fathering a child outside of his marriage. Former Trump attorney and legal fixer Michael Cohen testified that he followed the president’s instructions in arranging the payment to McDougal and a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for their silence, as reported by The Guardian. Cohen and at least one other campaign member met with David Pecker, the CEO of AMI (American Media Inc.), in August 2015.
Pecker reportedly ‘offered to help deal with negative stories’ about Trump throughout the campaign and suggested buying the rights to damaging stories to prevent their publication. This plan was put into action when McDougal’s lawyer submitted her story to the National Enquirer. Prosecutors claim that in August 2016, AMI gave McDougal $150,000, a sum ‘substantially more money than AMI otherwise would have paid,’ for the rights to the story of ‘her relationship with ‘any then-married man.”
Although it was agreed that AMI would feature McDougal on magazine covers, the company had no intentions of actually publishing her story. “Despite the cover and article features in the agreement, AMI’s main purpose was to suppress the model’s story to prevent it from influencing the election,” prosecutors alleged.
Under US law, corporations are prohibited from spending money in collaboration with a candidate or campaign to influence elections. According to the prosecution, AMI’s payment to McDougal amounted to a concealed in-kind donation to Trump’s campaign. Trump faced 34 felony counts of falsifying company records when he was charged with all counts on April 4. He entered a not-guilty plea at that time.
