A former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, claims to have had an affair with Donald Trump. She sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence about the relationship. This makes McDougal the second woman this month to challenge Trump’s allies’ efforts to bury stories about the president’s extramarital relationships, reports The New York Times. McDougal is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 for her silence. The chief executive of the company is known to be a friend of Trump’s. Earlier this month, adult entertainment star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, filed a suit. She was paid $130,000 to stay quiet by the president’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. Both women are arguing that their contracts are invalid and are trying to get around clauses requiring them to resolve disputes in secretive arbitration proceedings rather than in open court. Trump has denied both affairs.
In her lawsuit, McDougal claims that Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with AMI and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal. She also claims she spoke with The New Yorker last month after it obtained notes she kept on Trump, and AMI warned her that “any further disclosures would breach Karen’s contract” and “cause considerable monetary damages.” Her new lawyer, Peter K. Stris, accused A.M.I. of “a multifaceted effort to silence Karen McDougal,” in an email to The Times. McDougal filed her suit just days before Clifford was to appear on 60 Minutes to discuss her relationship with Trump and the efforts Cohen undertook on his client’s behalf to pay for her silence. Last week, Trump joined a legal effort seeking some $20 million in penalties tied to Clifford’s agreement. Clifford and McDougal tell very similar stories about their experiences with Trump, which include alleged meet-ups at the same Lake Tahoe golf tournament in 2006s, dates at the same Beverly Hills hotel and promises of apartments as gifts.
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