A former Playboy model has gone public about her alleged affair with Donald Trump after she claims a magazine bought her story in order to bury it.
Karen McDougal claims she began an affair with the future US president after meeting him at a Playboy Mansion party in 2006, shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron.
Ms McDougal’s handwritten account of the affair has been unearthed by Ronan Farrow, the journalist who was instrumental in exposing the allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The former model said she could not discuss details of her relationship with Mr Trump, for fear of violating the agreement she reached with AMI, the National Enquirer’s publishing company, but said she regretted signing the contract.
"It took my rights away," she told Farrow in his report in the New Yorker.
However, the New Yorker has obtained a hand-written account of the alleged affair, which Ms McDougal confirmed she wrote.
What we learned from the hand-written letters
In the eight-page document she details how Mr Trump "immediately took a liking" to her, saying that one person at the party told her "wow, he was all over you – I think you could be his next wife".
Ms McDougal said they began a nine-month affair during which she visited him at a private bungalow in the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he always ordered steak and mashed potatoes.
Following their first sexual encounter, Ms McDougal claimed Mr Trump offered her cash.
"We talked for a couple hours – then, it was ‘ON’! We got naked + had sex," she wrote, adding that afterwards he offered her money.
"I looked at him (+ felt sad) + said, ‘No thanks – I’m not ‘that girl.’ I slept w/you because I like you – NOT for money’ – He told me ‘you are special.”
The former model claimed she was even introduced to Mr Trump’s sons at a party.
Trump’s ‘crude comments’
Ms McDougal said she ended the relationship nine months later in April 2007, after becoming frustrated with Mr Trump’s inappropriate comments.
She claimed he made racially charged comments about black men as well as making sexually crude comments about a friend.
Ms McDougal, who has since become religious, also worried about what her mother would think of her lifestyle.
She was persuaded to sell her story to AMI around the time Mr Trump was seeking the Republican party’s nomination because a former friend began publicly discussing the alleged affair.
Denise Truscello
In a report last year, Mr Farrow claimed AMI colluded with Weinstein to silence his accusers by buying up exclusive rights to their stories and refusing to print them.
Ms McDougal, a former ‘Playmate of the Year’, said she was offered $150,000 for the information on her alleged affair with Mr Trump but the National Enquirer never published her story.
Mr Farrow, whose journalism late last year has contributed to 75 allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein, claims this is a regular tactic used by AMI’s CEO, David Pecker, who describes the president as "a close personal friend".
A spokesman for AMI told The Telegraph: “The New Yorker and Ronan Farrow’s suggestion that AMI engages in any practice that would allow it to hold influence over the President of the United States is laughable.”
Ms McDougal said that poor health and the emergence of the ‘Me Too’ movement had prompted her to speak publicly despite her agreement with AMI.
“I know it’s a different circumstance but I just think I feel braver,” she said. “Every girl who speaks is paving the way for another.”
A White House spokesperson denied the allegations, saying: "This is an old story that is just more fake news. The president says he never had a relationship with Ms McDougal".
In a separate development, Donald Trump’s lawyer earlier this week admitted paying an ex-porn star who has previously claimed she had an affair with Mr Trump.
Matt Sayles
The actress, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 (£95,000) by Michael D Cohen, Mr Trump’s long-term personal lawyer, before the US presidential election.
Mr Cohen has previously said Mr Trump "vehemently denies" the sexual encounter occurred but refused to say what the payment was for.
Click Here: los jaguares argentina