In a story that dropped late Friday night, the
Wall Street Journal reports that
a Playboy model who says she had an affair with Donald Trump got a $150,000 paycheck from the
National Enquirer, which curiously sat on the story after buying it.
The
Journal, citing documents and “people familiar with the matter,” reports that in August, the tabloid paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year who said she enjoyed a consensual relationship with Trump in 2006—a year after his wedding to his third and current wife, Melania.
The
Journal categorizes the exchange as a “catch and kill,” where the tabloid bought her story to silence her. A source tells the
Journal that despite paying out six figures for the story, the
Enquirer’s parent company, American Media, “didn’t intend to run it.”
The company confirmed in a statement to the
Journal that the money was for the “exclusive life rights to any relationship she has had with a then-married man,” but it declined to identify the man and denied killing the story. The
Journal filled in the blanks, identifying Trump as her partner.