--- description: The National Enquirer bought the rights to a former Playboy model's story about her 2006 affair with Donald Trump and declined to publish it title: The National Enquirer Covered Up Story of Donald Trump's Extramarital Affair: Report image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5fcbb3ef2b97007/6988ad2abc6cfcc0b63df373/donald-trump-enquirer-affair.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The National Enquirer Covered Up Story of Donald Trump's Extramarital Affair: Report  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2016 7:26 PM CUT  Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign rally in Hershey, Penn. on Nov. 4, 2016. Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign rally in Hershey, Penn. on Nov. 4, 2016.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2016 7:26 PM CUT The _National Enquirer_ bought the rights to a former Playboy model’s story about her 2006 affair with Donald Trump and then declined to publish it, [according to a Wall Street _Journal_ report](http://www.wsj.com/articles/national-enquirer-shielded-donald-trump-from-playboy-models-affair-allegation-1478309380 "undefined"). American Media Inc., the company that owns the tabloid, agreed to pay $150,000 in August to Karen McDougal, who allegedly had a consensual romantic relationship with Trump in 2006, while he was married to his wife, [Melania](http://time.com/4556902/melania-trump-donald-first-lady-social-media/ "undefined"), the _Journal_ reported, citing interviews with McDougal’s friends, who say she told them about the affair. McDougal didn’t comment for the story. In a statement, the company said it had not bought the rights to a specific story about her affair with Trump, but rather had bought exclusive life rights to stories about any relationship she has had with a then-married man, the _Journal_ reported. The contract barred McDougal from telling the stories elsewhere and also included two years of her fitness columns and magazine covers. “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump,” the company’s statement said. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks also denied the affair claim as “totally untrue.” The _Enquirer_, which endorsed Trump and has published [negative stories](http://time.com/4316401/donald-trump-ted-cruz-father-john-f-kennedy/ "undefined") about his opponents, has not published anything about the affair, nor have any other American Media publications. The report comes after [multiple women have accused Trump](http://time.com/4531872/donald-trump-sexual-assault-accusers-attack/ "undefined") of inappropriately touching or kissing them in incidents spanning decades. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4559610/donald-trump-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4559610/donald-trump-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal/"},"headline":"The National Enquirer Covered Up Story of Donald Trump's Extramarital Affair: Report","datePublished":"2016-11-05T19:26:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:38:57.964Z","description":"The National Enquirer's company agreed to pay a former model for her story","url":"https://time.com/4559610/donald-trump-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5fcbb3ef2b97007/6988ad2abc6cfcc0b63df373/donald-trump-enquirer-affair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5fcbb3ef2b97007/6988ad2abc6cfcc0b63df373/donald-trump-enquirer-affair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Holds Pennsylvania Campaign Rally","caption":"Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Holds Pennsylvania Campaign Rally","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4559610/donald-trump-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal/","name":"The National Enquirer Covered Up Story of Donald Trump's Extramarital Affair: Report"}}]}] ```