Woman Pushes Back Against Trump Friend's "Catch and Kill" Strategy

A supermarket tabloid magnate had what he thought was the perfect strategy for squelching a negative story about his friend, President Donald Trump: buy the exclusive rights to that story for $150,000, then sit on it. Forever.   

That's what he did when a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, said she had an affair with Trump.

But now McDougal is suing to be released from the legal agreement so that she may share her story publicly.

The New Yorker staff writer Jeffrey Toobin has interviewed American Media CEO David Pecker, and written about how he has repeatedly used his properties, including The National Enquirer, to protect the president from the taint of scandal.

"He was, I suppose you could say, admirably candid," Toobin told WNYC's Jami Floyd. "He said, 'Donald Trump is a friend of mine. I wanted to help him, so what I did was make a deal with Karen McDougal so that her story would never see the light of day.'"

McDougal is the second woman this month to challenge efforts to bury stories about Trump's extramarital affairs. The other woman is adult film star Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels. The president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid her $130,000 to keep quiet. She filed a lawsuit earlier this month.

Trump has denied the affairs, which both women have described as consensual.

If McDougal and Daniels are not released from their contracts, Toobin said the women are taking a considerable risk by giving interviews to members of the media.

Clifford is scheduled to speak on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" in late March. CNN has said it will air an exclusive interview with McDougal on Thursday.