American Media, Inc., the company that owns pro-Donald Trump publication National Enquirer, made arrangements in August to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year, $150,000 for a story about an alleged affair she had with Trump back in 2006, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. At the time, Trump was married to his current wife, Melania Trump.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal that was made a few months prior never materialized, due to American Media’s refusal to publish details of the supposed consensual romance McDougal shared with the Republican presidential nominee.
The company released a statement that explained, “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump.” WSJ reports that American Media denied paying $150,000 for a particular story, but rather, “two years worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers, as well as exclusive life rights to any relationship she has had with a then-married man.”
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, also disputed the story in a statement: “We have no knowledge of any of this.”
She added that Ms. McDougal’s allegations were “totally untrue.”
Sources disclosed to WSJ that McDougal was under the impression that her story was going to be published, but other sources refute the fact that American Media had intended to run the story.
