Ex-Playmate Sues to Spill Beans About Trump

A former Playboy model filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Tuesday seeking to nullify a 2016 agreement preventing her from discussing an alleged affair she had with Donald Trump before his presidency.

McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year, says American Media worked with Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, to broker a deal for her silence.

But when she began talking to ABC News, AMI returned to her with the $150,000 payment for the objective of buying her story, "but it would not publish the story" because of Pecker's relationship with Trump, according to the lawsuit. They promised instead to run columns, articles and at least two covers featuring McDougal and pushed her to sign the deal without delay.

Ex-Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald Trump is suing media company to speak out, according to the 'New York Times'. Though McDougal said she didn't love the idea of signing the contract, she eventually did.

McDougal became the second woman this month to challenge efforts by associates of Trump's to block them during the presidential campaign from talking about alleged past extramarital relationships with the real estate developer-turned-president. Her lawyer then told her that the company wasn't interested in her story but that "he and AMI updated Mr. Trump's representatives about Ms. McDougal".

McDougal contends AMI is keeping her quiet and avoiding publishing her content, but the company said she was featured on the cover of its highest-selling issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers in 2017.

In a statement obtained by Law&Crime, McDougal said, "AMI lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me". The 2016 agreement did not require the Enquirer to run the story but effectively muted McDougal on the matter. And both women's suits could provide more fodder for federal complaints from the watchdog group Common Cause that the payoffs were, effectively, illegal campaign contributions.

"The lawsuit filed today aims to restore her right to her own voice", he said, adding, "We intend to invalidate the so-called contract that American Media Inc. imposed on Karen so she can move forward with the private life she deserves".

The White House has declined to say whether Trump knew about Cohen's $130,000 arrangement with Daniels, though the notion that Trump would have been unaware strains credulity. The lawyer said her story was "worth millions" and connected her with American Media, the suit says. McDougal was paid $150,000 in 2016 for the rights to her story but AMI, led by Trump's friend David Pecker, never published a word. The objective of the lawsuit is to "restore" Karen McDougal's right to "her own voice", Stris wrote in an email to the Times.