Twelve jurors and six alternates have been sworn in, and lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are preparing to question witnesses. Among them is likely to be former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for allegedly disguising a hush money payment issued to porn star Stormy Daniels as legal expenses. Michael Cohen issued the $130,000 payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, along with another $150,000 payment to stop McDougal from sharing her own story about Trump.
While Trump’s charges are not related to McDougal’s hush money payment, she could still take the stand.
Here is what to know about McDougal:
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Who is Karen McDougal?
McDougal is a former Playboy model.
McDougal said she had an affair with Trump that lasted 10 months started in 2006, which he denies.
Former Trump lawyer and convicted felon Michael Cohen negotiated a “catch and kill” arrangement for McDougal’s story with the National Enquirer in 2016. The tabloid paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story, which Cohen funded.
The National Enquirer, owned by American Media Inc. (AMI), was fined $187,500 by the Federal Election Commission for issuing the payment with the intent of influencing the election. McDougal has also sued the company, and has since spoken out about the affair.
“AMI lied to me, made empty promises and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me,” McDougal said in a statement previously provided to USA TODAY. “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 could be part of David Pecker’s testimony
David Pecker, the former head of the National Enquirer’s parent company, is expected to be the first witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Pecker’s testimony is expected to focus on the company’s tactic of routinely paying for scandalous stories that it didn’t publish, under what others called a “catch-and-kill” strategy.
Pecker was president and CEO of AMI in August 2015, when he met with Trump and his personal lawyer, Cohen, to “help deal with negative stories about Trump” by purchasing them and not publishing them, according to a Federal Election Commission agreement with the company.
After a lawyer for McDougal contacted the company, Pecker and Dylan Howard, the company’s vice president and chief content officer, notified Cohen, according to the FEC agreement.
In August 2016, the company paid McDougal $150,000 for her life story, including about any relationship with “any then-married man” and then didn’t publish the story, according to the FEC agreement.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Karen McDougal, potential witness in Trump’s hush money trial?
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