Who Is Karen McDougal? All About the Former Playboy Model Tied to Donald Trump's Indictment

Donald Trump's hush money investigation involves a second woman who alleges she had an affair with the former president in 2006

Two women may be involved in the hush money case against Donald Trump that starts on April 15, 2024.

In addition to the former president's role in the alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was a presidential candidate in 2016, the Manhattan District Attorney's office is also investigating another payment made to Karen McDougal who claims to have had an affair with Trump.

Also a former Playboy model, McDougal is said to have been paid $150,000 by the politician to keep her from speaking out about her alleged relationship with him before the 2016 presidential election. Meanwhile, Daniels had allegedly been given $130,000.

While Trump and his longtime lawyer and key witness Michael Cohen initially denied the claims of an affair, Cohen later admitted that there was a payment made to Daniels and pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations in August 2018.

Related: Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34 Felony Counts as Details of Indictment Are Unsealed

Calling it "a private transaction," Cohen told The New York Times that he paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket in 2016. He said Trump had not reimbursed him but has since admitted he authorized the $130,000 payment. (Trump has continued to deny having an affair with both women and that the payments were connected to his campaign.)

The ongoing Manhattan investigation reportedly involves McDougal's alleged payment, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Judge Merchan has given attorneys the green light to call her as a witness in the trial.

If McDougal appears in court, she could provide the jury with helpful background about what she claims happened with Trump back in 2006, and how he and his allies attempted to stop her from coming forward a decade later.

Trump became the first-ever U.S. president to face criminal charges last spring, when a grand jury indicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Here's everything to know about McDougal and her possible involvement in Trump's hush money case.

She is a former Playboy model

McDougal was a model for the majority of her career, widely known for her varying appearances in Playboy Magazine. She was named Playboy of the Month in December 1997 and was voted runner-up of "Sexiest Playboy of the 1990s" in 2001.

An Indiana native, McDougal's modeling career spanned outside Playboy and into the fitness space. She made strides as a fitness model, becoming the first woman to cover Men's Fitness magazine in March 1999.

In addition to modeling, McDougal pursued a career on screen. She landed a few gigs in television commercials (considered risqué by the media) and made appearances on shows like E! True Hollywood Story in April 2006.

Related: Secret Tape Reveals Donald Trump and Michael Cohen Discussing Payment to Former Playboy Model

She sold American Media Inc. the rights to her alleged affair with Trump

McDougal made headlines before and after the 2016 United States presidential election when the revelation of her alleged affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007 surfaced.

The Wall Street Journal reported shortly before the presidential election that McDougal sold American Media Inc. (AMI), the company that owns The National Enquirer, the rights to the story of her alleged affair with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current wife Melania.

The alleged affair lasted between 10 months to a year and included a trip to the 2006 Miss Universe pageant where she was seated in the front row, her friend told the outlet. She and American Media Inc. reportedly reached an agreement in early August 2016 for what she thought would be an exposé on their alleged affair, according to a contract obtained by the outlet.

Related: 'National Enquirer' Paid to Kill Story of 'Playboy' Model's Affair with Donald Trump: Report

However, AMI CEO David J. Pecker — who has described Trump as a "personal friend," according to The New Yorker — never published it. WSJ claimed the publishing company pulled what is known as a "catch and kill" on the story – buying the rights to McDougal's story forever without obliging to publish it.

"It told The Journal at the time that it had paid to run fitness columns by Ms. McDougal and for 'life rights' to any relationship she may have had to a married man. It denied it had paid to lock down a story that would have been damaging to Mr. Trump," reported The New York Times in 2018.

Per the contract (which didn't specifically mention Trump's name) reviewed by WSJ, McDougal had been barred from telling her story elsewhere. Sources familiar with the matter also told WSJ that the magazine never had the intention to run her story, while AMI said it "has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump."

Her alleged affair with Trump happened while he was married

An explosive report published by The New Yorker on Feb. 16, 2018, claimed that Trump had a consensual sexual relationship with McDougal while married to his wife Melania.

The piece — titled "Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity" — came from journalist Ronan Farrow, who helped expose the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein. (Farrow is also the son of actress Mia Farrow and estranged father Woody Allen.)

In addition to detailing the elaborate cover-up scheme set up by Trump to hide and protect his extramarital affairs before his presidency, it included an eight-page handwritten account of McDougal's alleged sexual relationship with Trump (which she confirmed she had written).

In that account, McDougal also claimed she met Trump in 2006 during a taping of The Apprentice at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. (This was less than two years after Trump married Melania and a few months after the birth of the couple's son, Barron.)

Related: Donald Trump Reportedly Had 9-Month Affair with Playboy Model While Married to Melania

She apologized to Melania Trump for her affair with Trump

McDougal shared details of her alleged affair with Trump, while also showing her remorse for his wife Melania during a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper on March 22, 2018. "What can you say except, I'm sorry? I'm sorry. I wouldn't want it done to me, I'm sorry," she began.

"Going through it when I look back where I was back then, I know it's wrong, I am really sorry for that. I know it's the wrong thing to do," said McDougal, who claimed she had the affair with Trump beginning in June 2006, three months after he welcomed his son Barron with Melania.

"There was a real relationship there. There were real feelings between the two of us, not just myself, not just him … Deep inside, I did have a lot of guilt but I still continued," the former Playmate said.

McDougal shared that she thought "maybe" their relationship would end in marriage. As for Trump, she believed he had "real feelings" for her. "Of course, he did. I know he did. … I was in [love with him] … He always told he loved me," she said.

Related: Former Playboy Model Tearfully Says 'I'm Sorry' to Melania Trump for Alleged Affair with Donald

She sued American Media Inc. to break her silence in 2018

In March 2018, McDougal sued American Media Inc. so she could break her silence about the alleged 2006 tryst. According to the suit filed in the Los Angeles Supreme Court, she claimed the company paid her $150,000 for her story and then withheld it from publication.

McDougal alleges that she was misled by American Media Inc., who worked secretly with "Mr. Trump's personal 'fixer' " — his lawyer Cohen — and her lawyer, Davidson, to buy her silence with the "false promise to jump-start her career as a health and fitness model."

She also says that she was warned by AMI after she spoke with The New Yorker that "any further disclosures would break Karen's contract" and "cause considerable monetary damages," according to court documents.

Related: Secret Tape Reveals Donald Trump and Michael Cohen Discussing Payment to Former Playboy Model

At the time, McDougal said in a statement to PEOPLE that American Media Inc. "lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me." She added, "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."

As part of the Southern District of New York investigation that resulted in Trump's lawyer, Cohen, behind bars, AMI admitted to "catching and killing" (paying $150,000 for and burying) McDougal's story to "prevent it from influencing" the 2016 election.

"I blame myself for the conduct which has brought me here today," Cohen said after receiving his three-year prison sentence, "and it was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man" — Trump — "that led me to choose a path of darkness over light."

Related: Everyone Who Might Testify in Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial, Which Begins April 15

She can testify in Trump's hush money trial

Trump's trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case begins with the jury selection process on April 15. More than 500 New Yorkers will report for jury duty to find a dozen worthy Manhattan residents to seat on the jury.

Trump was indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan last spring, becoming the first-ever sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges. He then earned three more indictments in 2023 — two of which were at the federal level — though neither of those cases have gone to trial yet.

A few high-profile witnesses are expected to take the stand in the first trial. Many of the names on the proposed witness list haven't been made public yet, but are likely to include McDougal — in addition to people who worked closely with Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Although she's been less visible than Daniels in recent years, McDougal's perspective is relevant to the charges. Judge Merchan has therefore given attorneys the green light to call her as a witness.

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