McDougal tells CNN she had sex with Donald Trump ‘dozens of times’ during a year-long affair, including at his family home in Trump Tower
A former Playboy model has given her first televised account of the affair that she alleges she sustained with Donald Trump for almost a year, beginning just three months after the birth of his and Melania’s son Barron.
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By going public, Karen McDougal disregarded legal risks relating to a $150,000 deal she had signed shortly before the November 2016 election that in effect bought her silence. In an hour-long interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN, she gave intimate details of the alleged affair that involved her having sex with the then New York businessman “many dozens of times”.
In details that could prove especially discomforting for Trump and the First Lady, McDougal said that in the course of the relationship he took her into the couple’s Manhattan home in Trump Tower. Trump pointed out a room which he described as “Melania’s room”, saying “she likes to have her alone time” there.
The rights to McDougal’s story were bought in August 2016, just three months before the election, by American Media Inc (AMI), owner of the National Enquirer, though no article was ever published. AMI’s chairman David Pecker and Trump are longstanding friends, and McDougal said she thought that the deal had been a “catch and kill” – in other words an attempt to protect the then Republican presidential candidate by burying the tale.
Earlier this week AMI contacted CNN denying that there had been any attempt to silence McDougal. “She has been free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with President Trump since 2016,” the company claimed.
Trump has denied the alleged affair.
McDougal’s appearance on CNN is something of a test run for what is expected to be a more incendiary broadcast on Sunday when the adult film actor Stormy Daniels – real name Stephanie Clifford – is scheduled to be interviewed, also by Cooper, on CBS’s 60 Minutes. She was paid $130,000 to keep her silence about an alleged affair with Trump by his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he made the payment out of his own funds.
Play Video 1:13 Stormy Daniels on Jimmy Kimmel: porn actor casts doubt on denial of Trump affair – video
Three women – Daniels, McDougal, and Summer Zervos, an Apprentice contestant who says she was sexually harassed by Trump – are all suing the president.
In her CNN interview, McDougal said that Trump had conducted the affair in many locations, including at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, in his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as in Trump Tower where she was brought in through the back entrance. Their first date in June 2006 was in his bungalow rooms at the Beverly Hills hotel.
After they had sex, she alleged, he had offered her money. She said that hurt, and she told him: “I’m not that kind of girl.”
“Oh, you’re really special,” Trump replied.
A former Playboy model, who claims to have had a sexual affair with Donald Trump over a decade ago, apologized to first lady Melania Trump in an interview on CNN Thursday, admitting she knew he was married during the alleged tryst.
Karen McDougal talked about her alleged affair on Anderson Cooper 360 and the lawsuit she filed Tuesday to be freed from a deal she said she made to remain silent about their alleged relationship.
"What can you say except I'm sorry?" she told CNN's Anderson Cooper, apologizing for the alleged affair to Melania Trump. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't want it done to me."
McDougal admitted that she knew Donald Trump was married during the alleged affair, saying she was reluctant to bring it up because "she felt guilty."
She also said that Donald Trump offered to pay her after they had been intimate for the first time in 2006 and that it made her cry.
"After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn't know how to take that," McDougal said. "I've never been offered money like that. I looked at him and said, 'I'm not that type of girl."
"And he said, 'Oh,' and he said, 'You're really special,'" McDougal said, adding: "It hurt me that he saw me in that light."
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According to McDougal, the relationship lasted for about 10 months. She says she broke it off in April 2007 because she felt guilty. She recalled traveling to meet Trump at his properties in New York, New Jersey and California and said she had sex with him "many dozens of times."
McDougal had feelings for Trump, but the affair was "just tearing me apart," she said. "There was a real relationship there. There were real feelings," she added. "He would call me baby or he would call me beautiful Karen."
Trump married his current wife, Melania Trump, in 2005, and their son, Barron, was born in 2006.
McDougal is just the latest to come forward about alleged affairs with Trump or unwanted sexual advances. At least 19 women have made accusations, including most recently with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is in the middle of a lawsuit with Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen. She alleges she was paid $130,000 and signed a "hush" agreement to keep quiet about her 2006 affair with the President.
McDougal filed a suit Tuesday targeting American Media Inc., the company that owns the National Enquirer, which allegedly paid her $150,000 not to speak about her affair.
"AMI lied to me, made empty promises and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me," McDougal said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. "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."
The company, in a statement, said McDougal has been allowed to speak about her relationship with Trump since 2016 and their contract with her only gave the company discretion over whether they would publish the story.
It also allowed for her to write columns for the company and to appear on magazine covers.
The Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission have been asked by a watchdog group to investigate the alleged payment to McDougal.
Image copyright Dimitrios Kambouris Image caption Karen McDougal says she was tricked into staying silent about the alleged affair
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006, has apologised to his wife Melania Trump.
In a CNN interview, Ms McDougal said she would tell the first lady she was sorry for the alleged 10-month affair and she "wouldn't want it done to me".
She also said she cried on the way home after Mr Trump offered her money during their first encounter.
The president and the White House have both denied the alleged affair.
"I'm sorry. I wouldn't want it done to me," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday.
"When I look back, where I was back then, I know it's wrong," she said in an emotional plea. "I'm really sorry for that. I know it's a wrong thing to do."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Legal problems mount for Trump
Ms McDougal signed a deal worth $150,000 (£106,000) to tell her story exclusively to the tabloid newspaper, the National Enquirer, in 2016.
However, the article was never published and Ms McDougal insists she was tricked into silence about the relationship.
She is now suing the publication to end the deal.
Ms McDougal is one of three women who have launched law suits over affairs or sexual assault claims involving the president.
These are the other two:
The porn star: Stormy Daniels
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, says she also had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006
Porn actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says she and Mr Trump had a sexual relationship lasting several months in 2006.
She says that she was paid $130,000 (around £92,000) by Mr Trump's lawyer to remain silent about the affair just before the 2016 election.
Ms Clifford has now filed a lawsuit which aims to scrap the agreement, which her lawyer says she was physically threatened into accepting.
Earlier this year, an interview she gave to InTouch magazine in 2011 about her alleged relationship with Mr Trump resurfaced.
A polygraph test from the interview obtained by CBS News concluded that she had been "truthful" in her account.
The president has denied any sexual relationship with the actress.
His lawyers are now suing Ms Daniels for $20m (£14m) for breaching the non-disclosure agreement.
An interview with Ms Daniels is due to air on CBS News on Sunday.
The Apprentice contestant: Summer Zervos
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Summer Zervos said she had no option but to sue Mr Trump to restore her reputation
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, was one of a number of women who made allegations of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential race.
She accuses Mr Trump of sexually assaulting her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007.
Ms Zervos says that he groped her and "began thrusting his genitals" during a meeting to discuss employment opportunities.
While president-elect, Mr Trump dismissed the allegations against him and said that Ms Zervos and other accusers were "sick" and driven by fame, money or politics.
Ms Zervos filed a defamation law suit against Mr Trump in January 2017, but his lawyers argued that as the president he could not be sued.
A judge in New York has now overturned that decision, meaning that Ms Zervos's case against the president will continue.
