Playmate Karen McDougal isn’t the only one who was paid off by the National Enquirer’s publisher in exchange for keeping quiet about President Trump’s personal life.
The company made a $30,000 payout to a former doorman at a Trump building—preventing the employee from sharing a racy story about love-child rumors that could have jeopardized the reality-TV star’s presidential run, according to a bombshell AP report.
The AP reports the doorman agreed to keep quiet about allegations that Trump fathered an illegitimate child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a residential skyscraper near the United Nations.
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The revelation comes weeks after McDougal sued to be released from her NDA with the Enquirer—and after porn star Stormy Daniels’ own nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s camp was revealed in a lawsuit.
Indeed, one part of Daniels’ contract has raised eyebrows in recent weeks and ignited speculation about paternity rumors. A review of Daniels’ confidentiality agreement shows she’s barred from discussing Trump’s family, including “any alleged children.”
The NDA also stops Daniels from revealing details on Trump’s “alleged sexual partners, alleged sexual actions or alleged sexual conduct,” and “related matters or paternity information.”
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell caused a stir last month when he tweeted about the “paternity” language in Daniels’ contract.
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, told The Wrap that mentions of “paternity” were “boilerplate language” and common in NDAs. He said Daniels was never impregnated by Trump and didn’t know if he fathered any love children.
Still, both McDougal and Daniels said in interviews that the future president didn’t use a condom during intercourse.
The woman in the Trump love-child rumor hasn’t been named—although she denied the story to the AP last August—and it’s unclear how the doorman became privy to the sordid detail. “This is all fake,” she told the AP. “I think they [the National Enquirer] lost their money.”
The former doorman, Dino Sajudin, reportedly received $30,000 in exchange for relinquishing the rights to the rumor he’d heard about Trump.
Sajudin snagged his hush money eight months before McDougal signed her contract with American Media Inc. in August 2016, the AP revealed.
AMI’s payments in the run-up to Election Day are now part of a federal inquiry. The FBI raided the office and residence of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, seeking records about the National Enquirer’s part in silencing McDougal.
The feds are also pursuing documents on Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, as well as the infamous Access Hollywood tape. (Daniels is suing Trump and Cohen to invalidate the “hush agreement” about her alleged 2006 romp with The Donald.)
Sajudin would have faced a $1 million penalty for divulging the rumor or terms of his NDA, the AP reported. He was released from the contract after the 2016 election, and after The Wall Street Journal began asking questions about it.
AMI Editor Dylan Howard told the AP the doorman’s tip could have sold “hundreds of thousands” of magazines, but the story was killed because it “lacked any credibility.”
David Pecker, AMI’s chairman and CEO, is close friends with Trump. According to a New Yorker report, one former AMI editor said the company “never printed a word about Trump” without Pecker’s approval.
The National Enquirer didn’t shy away from publishing stories and photos relating to allegations of illegitimate children of other politicians.
In October 2016, the Enquirer ran one piece under the headline “Bill Clinton Love Child — Shocking New Revelations.” The subheadline read, “Abandoned son asks Hillary: ‘Was it because I’m black?’”
Another story the Enquirer published that month had the title: “Bill Clinton Love Child: Prostitute Mom Tells All.”
In December 2007, the publication exposed married North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ affair and child with Rielle Hunter after a “months-long” investigation.
