CAUGHT, KILLED

National Enquirer Publisher Hit With $187K Fine for Catch-and-Kill Scheme

The tabloid bought the rights to the story of Karen McDougal’s alleged affair with Donald Trump and never published it.

The National Enquirer’s parent company agreed to pay the Federal Elections Commission $187,500 for violating election law in 2016 in a scheme to suppress the stories of women who alleged that they had affairs with Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reports. The agreement between A360 Media and the FEC stipulates that a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story, which was never published, was an illegal corporate campaign contribution. The Enquirer’s publisher admitted three years ago that it had worked with Trump’s campaign to pay McDougal via Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for the scheme. Trump denies making the payments and having the affairs.