Karen McDougal, ex-Playboy model alleging affair with Trump, speaks out
Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who allegedly had an affair with President Trump in 2006 and is now claiming in a lawsuit that his allies colluded against her to keep her silent, says that Mr. Trump attempted to pay her after they were intimate. In an interview with Anderson Cooper that aired Thursday night on CNN, Dougal said she was "in love" with Mr. Trump.
"Well after we had been intimate, he tried to pay me," McDougal said. "And I actually did not take that."
McDougal said that after she met Mr. Trump, she thought he was "brillant" and said she likes "smart minds." She said they met in 2006, shortly after his son Barron was born. She said he only talked about his young son when he mentioned his name.
"The conversations were like any other conversation you have with a nice person," McDougal said. "We got along great. We had respect for each other. We had fun. We were funny together. We had a good time."
White House communications director Hope Hicks called McDougal's allegations of an affair "totally untrue."
McDougal showed Cooper a journal she kept at the time, where she said she referred to Mr. Trump as "DT" or "T."
McDougal said she met first lady Melania Trump once at a party at the Playboy Mansion. Another time, she passed by Melania Trump's room at Trump Tower. She said she met some of his children.
"You know, he, he's very proud of Ivanka, as he should be," McDougal said. "I mean, she's a brilliant woman. She's beautiful. She's -- you know, that's his daughter, and he should be proud of her. He said I was beautiful like her and, you know, you're a smart girl. And there wasn't a lot of comparing, but there was some, yes. I heard a lot about her. Yes."
McDougal said she was disgusted when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out. "I had not seen that in him at all when our relationship was going on. I didn't see that side of him at all. That's not the man that I knew."
McDougal is suing American Media Inc., which owns several tabloids including the National Enquirer, claiming AMI attempted to stifle her from speaking out about the affair. McDougal purportedly accepted $150,000 from AMI. She sold her story, and in return, expected chances to write and model. But AMI never published anything about the alleged affair.
Asked to reiterate her claim that Mr. Trump attempted to pay her, McDougal reemphasized that to Cooper.
"He did," she said. "And I said, I just had this look, I just, I don't even know how to describe the look on my face, it must have been so sad, because I never have been offered money like that number one, and number two, does he think I'm in this for money, and that's why I'm here tonight?
Or is this a normal thing. I don't know. But I looked at him and said, that's not me, I'm not that kind of girl. And he looked at me and said oh, and he said you're really special. And I said thank you. So I left, and I got into the car...and started crying. I was really sad. It really hurt me, but I went back."
McDougal told CBS News in a statement earlier this week that AMI "lied" to her.
"AMI lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me. 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," McDougal said.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, also has filed a lawsuit relating to an alleged 2006 relationship with Mr. Trump. She has filed a lawsuit against the president and his personal lawyer over what she believes is an invalid non-disclosure agreement for her silence. She will appear on CBS News' "60 Minutes" Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET.
