Karen McDougal, 45, an American model and actress, and the National Enquirer are linked to a damaging report for Donald Trump, 72 hours before most citizens of this country head to the polls.
The Republican nominee for president, who is in a close race with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, reportedly had an affair with McDougal from 2006 to 2007. The business giant married his third wife, Melania Trump, in 2005.
The alleged cheating story was interesting enough, but the involvement of the National Enquirer took things to a different level. The publication reportedly bought the story for $150,000 but opted not to publish it. The CEO of the celebrity gossip titan, David Pecker, is a friend of Mr. Trump.
The controversial tabloid endorsed the reality star earlier this year and has spent a lot of time attacking his political opponents. American Media Inc., the company behind the National Enquirer, is denying doing something wrong in this situation. In a written statement, it shared: “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump.”
According to Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, they were not involved in blocking the story. She said: “We have no knowledge of any of this.” Hicks also added that the cheating allegations are “totally untrue.”
Sources close to McDougal said that she thought that her story was going to get published and was surprised by the recent developments.
Experts do not believe that a rumor like this one will have any impact on the outcome of this election. Moreover, the news did not get much coverage on cable television since The Wall Street Journal broke it Friday night.
Trump has been surging in national polls in recent weeks, but most pundits do not think the late surge will be enough to overcome Clinton’s structural and demographic advantages. She has a 3-point lead in the most recent surveys from respected pollsters.
