The story of Karen McDougal, the second woman in the Trump case, and her experience with “Catch and Kill” tactics.

Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, has claimed that she had an affair with former US President Donald Trump, which lasted for 10 months. Trump denies the allegation. McDougal signed a deal worth $150,000 with the National Enquirer to share her experience exclusively ahead of the 2016 presidential elections. The agreement banned her from talking publicly about the alleged affair. The National Enquirer did not publish the article, which led McDougal to believe that she was tricked into silence regarding her relationship with the former president. The National Enquirer’s action of purchasing a story to bury it deliberately is known as “catch and kill”. The US Federal Election Commission in 2021 fined the National Enquirer $187,500 for violating election laws by paying McDougal for the rights to her story but never publishing it. McDougal has since apologized to Donald Trump’s wife, former first lady Melania Trump, for her affair with the former president.