as the press swarmed, jim mcdougal, susan mcdougal, and jim guy tucker, the sitting arkansas governornt on trial for fraud and conspiracy. >> that was a classic white-collar-crime fraud case. >> the fact that an alternate juror insisted on showing up each day in a "star trek" uniform certainly added to the media circus. >> i always wear my outfit. >> she was later dismissed. the prosecution's star witness was david hale, who had just been sentenced to 28 months in prison for defrauding the small business administration. >> he had some credibility challenges. let's put it that way. >> he was facing a lot of years in prison. you are a rat in a corner, and the only thing you can come up with is giving them somebody they want more than you. >> just after hale was indicted months earlier, he began lengthy secret negotiations with prosecutors. >> at the first official hearing, during the break, asked him if he wanted to go talk. and we went and got in a broom closet. that was the only place we could get away from the media. >> the broom-closet chat would lead to weeks of talks between hale

does this end up being a contract with mcdougal to silence her? story to anybody else, and just us. is this a protection against any potential blackmail? how do you see this arrangement? >> well, actually, i thought that it was going to be a very exciting freedom of the press case where mr. pecker, and that is his name, and he is the publisher of the "national enquirer" and he bought the story from karen mcdougal for $150,000 according to the "new yorker" and the idea is and the glorious work of journalists here you go. you pay for the story and a great publication, and except that this is what is called the "catch and kill" meaning that what the publisher did was to take the story and gave the money and never published anything, because mr. peck ser a friend of mr. trump and the question is can you do something like that and one of the constitutional rights, fredricka is the right to contract. and in other words, did karen mcdougal give up her right to tell this extraordinary story about donald trump for $150,000 and can mr. pecker now bring a su

mcdougal silent. the news of this broke today.rst lady did appear together arriving in florida. she did take a separate car on the way to that flight instead of getting in the helicopter with the president. cnn's kate bennett joins me now. do we know when the first lady decided to head to andrews air force base separately from the president instead of choppering there, which doesn't seem to make much sense in terms of getting there. >> we heard very late that the two would be leaving from the white house together. we learned on cnn shortly before that she would be taking the car due to her schedule being an easier trip to drive there. there is nothing public on her schedule today, however. we're certainly used to seeing the first couple walk across the south lawn to marine one before they leave on these trips to mar-a-lago. so it was certainly a last minute and somewhat unusual decision. >> it also comes on the heels of the first lady riding separately to the "state of the union" address just a couple of week z ago. >> that's righ

in 2015 at the time of a republican debate, mcdougal tweeted this old photo. according to "the new yorker," "the national enquirer," run by david pecker, who calls president trump a personal friend, paid karen mcdougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story, but they never printed it. journalist ronan farrow, who broke the story, says the enquirer's motive was clear. >> people in tabloid business call this catch and kill. and it's, you know, acquiring a story to bury it. >> reporter: farrow's report claims the affair happened around the same time mr. trump allegedly became involved with adult film actress stormy daniels. this week the president's longtime personal attorney acknowledged he paid daniels $130,000 just before the election. michael cohen says neither the president's business nor his campaign was part of the transaction. but he has not said whether the president knew about the payment. daniels, staying mum. >> do you have a non-disclosure agreement? >> do i? >> reporter: and tonight in florida, the president and first lady walked off air for

but mcdougal wasn't attracted to trump because of his money.her notes, she writes, "i was into his intelligence and charm, such a polite man." okay, now this story's falling apart. ( laughter ) and according to the article, trump complimented mcdougal by saying that she was similar to his daughter, ivanka. okay, now this story is starting to seem real again. and all of trump's affairs are family affairs, because mcdougal recalls that at one party, trump said he asked his son eric "who he thought was the most beautiful girl here, and eric pointed at me." well, first, eric pointed at a particularly curvy lamp. and-- ( laughter ) and-- smart guy. and it gets weirder. mcdougal goes on, "eric pointed at me. mr. t. said 'he has great taste,' and we laughed!" now, it's likely that by "mr. t.," she means trump. but doesn't it feel just as likely that mr. t. was somehow involved? "i pity the fool-- i pity the fool who doesn't ask his son which bunny to bang." i also approve of stephen colbert's impression of me. through a friend, mcdougal reached out to

mcdougal's case, this was not with trump's lawyers, it was with this media story. >> mcdougal and trumpy at the playboy mansion. a taping from the apprentice. she talks about being impressed with his politeness, by charmed by him, impressed by his intelligence. she describes a relationship where she was not mistreated and is clear that it was consensual. >> i appreciate you talk to us. the story is in "the new yorker". thanks very much. >>> told in early january. somehow. failed to pass on the information. details ahead. expedia, one clik gives you access to discounts on thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. like the occidental at the xcaret destination for 32% off. everything you need to go. expedia. everything you need to go. i accept i don't i even accept i i used thave a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but no matter where i ride, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding

jim mcdougal was found guilty on 18 different charges.former whitewater business partners were in solitary confinement in separate prisons in two different states. jim mcdougal had cut a deal with ken starr, a shortened prison sentence on bank fraud charges in exchange for cooperating and implicating the clintons. susan mcdougal had refused to cooperate and was being held in criminal contempt. >> susan has got to get the all-time award for loyalty. >> still refusing to talk, susan was constantly shuttled between prisons. >> one of the things they do to weaken the resolve of people who are in for contempt is to move them to different prisons. >> they call it the diesel therapy. they put you on this diesel van, and they move you around, and you're in shackles and handcuffs and waist chains. it's meant to be a torture. >> it's amazing that she didn't crack under that. >> jim's time was supposed to be easier. after all, he had cooperated with prosecutors. >> sure. i'm going to go -- go through that gate and try my best to do exactly what thes

then mcdougal wrote, he offered me money.and felt sad, said, no thanks, i'm not that girl. afterward she went to see him every time he was in l.a. which was a lot. and he hid the fact that he paid for her travel. every time i flew to meet him, she wrote, i booked paid for flight and hotel and he reimbursed me. she also wrote that an affair between trump and stormy daniels began while he and mcdougal were together as well. and according to "the new yorker" mcdougal's affair lasted nine months. mcdougal notes say she ended it in april 2007. the white house says this is old news and deny the affair. ronan farrow, thanks for coming back. so "wall street journal" just a couple days before the election wrote about "the national enquirer" paying $150,000 for this. you have brand-new stuff including the handwritten notes. >> right, so this is new on a couple of levels. one is the underlying chronicle of the affair reveals a lot of patterns we're now seeing in the multiple accounts of either consensual affairs or alleged nonconsensual

in 2015 at the time of a republican debate, mcdougal tweeted this old photo. according to the new yorker, the national enquirer run by david pecker who calls president trump a personal friend, paid mcdougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story. but they never printed it. journalist ronan farrow who broke the story says the enchoir err motive it was clear. >> people in tabloid business call it catch and kill, acquiring a story to bury it. >> farrow's report claims the affair happened around the a same time mr. trump allegedly became involved with adult film actress stormy daniels. this week's the president's long-term personal attorney acknowledged he paid daniels $130,000 just before the election. michael cohen says neither the president's business more his campaign was part of the transaction. but he has not said whether the president knew about that payment. daniels staying mum. >> do you have a non-disclosure agreement. >> do i shoo. >> tonight in florida the president and first lady walked off air force one together. cecilia vega, the white house

>> karen mcdougal met donald trump at a party at the playboy mansion in 2006.air of many months. this was bear in mind several months after the birth of barron trump. >> it was a taping of the episode of the apprentice and you can look up the footage where she appears in some of these group shots. she talks about him treating her well and her being impressed and finding him polite and smart. this was a consensual affair. however, it illustrates commonalities between allegations of consensual affairs and other women claimed non-consensual advances. >> very similar to the allegations by stormy daniels. >> many commonalities. >> many. >> offering money for sex shows up in a number of claims by women. offering purchases of real estate shows in a number of of them and also the mcdougal story. >> she alleges she wrote down her account he offered her money after sex and she said what. >> she said i'm not that kind of girl. and was hurt by this. >> you also wrote that karen mcdougal met members of the president's family and gave a tour of the trump properties. and you

the president says he never had a relationship with mcdougal. we're back with the panel. let's start with the national enquirer. he makes it clear that the enquirer headed by trump's buddy bought mcdougal's story in order to kill it. there is a term for this catch and kill, shut up her up with nondisclosure, made all these promises, most of which unfulfilled. >> i think first off, there has been amazing work this year uncovering a lot of stories. >> started with harvey weinstein reporting >> there's no question this story isn't taking offer. it is interesting to see why it isn't taking off. for one thing donald trump bragged about his use and misuse of women for decades, the story itself is old, 12 years old, the more recent update of this payment doesn't involve anything illegal, and then also the media are not well positioned to litigate this in that they don't have a strong ethic to come rain down on donald trump. also they show uneven interest in sexual stories of this nature. we saw even recently in the 2016 campaign where there was much more interest in donald trump

the president says he never had a relationship with mcdougal.o how did the new yorker come up with the sordid tale? a friend of mcdougal supposedly gave the magazine eight handwritten pages. >> she wrote a detailed chronicle of this a fair in the course of selling this story. >> the story did sell to the company that owns the "national enquirer" for $150,000 days before the election. according to the wall street journal and the new yorker. why didn't you read it? because "national enquirer" did not publish story blocked anyone else from coming out with details. "national enquirer" has made no comment on that part of the story. >> we reached out to mcdougal and we heard no more. many allegations bins trump of other affairs, sexually behavior, disrespectful, including a racist comment. so is all of this getting to the first lady? we don't know. all she appears to be keeping some distance from the president, she is also keeping quiet. ana. >> tom foreman, thank you. >>> so black panthers breaking records on opening weekend, but more than a movie, i

mcdougal notes say she ended it in april 2007.this is old news and deny the affair. ronan farrow thanks for coming back. soy "wall street journal" just a couple days before the election wrote about the national enquirer paying $150,000 for this. you have brand-new stuff including the handwritten notes. >> new on a couple of levels. one is the underlying chronicle of the affair reveals a lot of patterns we're now seeing in the multiple accounts of either consensual affairs or alleged nonconsensual activity with trump. >> one of the things we know just recently have seen this payment, $130,000 to stormy. >> so this is the other i think systemic thing revealed by the account of this story from karen mcdougal. she feels she was trapped into an ex-employ tay tiff contract that bound her to silence and that's something she finds frustrating. >> let's talk about this pattern and what the national enquirer did, catch and kill. you pay for the writes of a story and don't run it. they say because they didn't find it credible. >> six former

susan mcdougal refused to answer three questions and held in contempt and jailed for 18 months for failure to answer those questions. there's not an option if there's a subpoena for the president to sit back and say i plead the fifth and not doing anything. that's not an option on the table for him. >> a political friend of mine moon in philadelphia once said if you're not going to run again for office, take the fifth. he will run for re-election, ken. isn't that a risk to say you took the fifth, you would incriminate yourself if you told the truth? you're saying you're guilty to the vote he, not to the jury necessarily. to the voter you say i don't want to at the truth because that will get me in trouble. >> there are certainly political implications to that for sure. you're not going to plead the fifth amendment if you're going to tell the truth and there's zero implications if you do tell the truth.

a playboy model karen mcdougal.ational enquirer" bought the rights to it and spiked it just weeks. david is the publisher of the "national enquirer." these stories, he silenced they will for now but that gives him influence, i imagine. he can unsilence them at some point. >> yes. if he is able to help the president or his other famous friends by keeping stories quiet, the logic says he could hurt the president or his other famous friends. and by the way, on this list it is people like harvey weinstein and arnold schwarzenegger. there are a number ofho said tht friendship. david pecker tries to take care of his friends through these catch and kill technique. you buy a story and then you bury a story. >> so let's connect the dots. we know twice in the days and weeks leading up to the election. you have stormy daniels, it at least looks questionable. and now this in the days leading up to the election there. this really seems to be a pattern that we're talking about. >> it does. and ronan farrow is reporting is it show

the president says he never had a relationship with mcdougal.the new yorker come up with this sorted tale? a friend of mcdougal's supposedly gave the magazine eight handwritten pages. >> she wrote a detailed chronical of the affair in the course of selling the story. >> reporter: the story did sell to the company that owns the "national enquirer" for $150,000, days before the election. according to "the wall street journal" and the new yorker. so why didn't you read it? because the enquirer which is run by a friend of trump's did not publish mcdougal's story. by paying for it legally blocked anyone else including her from coming out with details. the enquirer has made no comment on that part of the story. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> all right. next, the olympics. an update on the medal count. corey wire joins us to talk about gus kentworthy who has his eyes on gold tonight. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... .

it is based on a hand-written document from karen mcdougal.he says months after the affair, a tabloid sympathetic to mr. trump bought her story, in order to kill it. brian has more. >> reporter: donald trump and former playboy model, karen mcdougal. in a bombshell story, the new yorker is detailing evidence of a nine-month affair that started in 2006 and a pay-off scheme to keep the story from going public. >> she feels she ultimately was cornered into a set of contracts she finds ownerous and exploitive. she's frustrated with her inability to speak, in her view and has regrets about this. >> reporter: the national inquirer paid $150,000 for the rights to mcdougal's story in 2016, then never published it. the company in charge of the tabloid, which is pro-trump, said they did not find her story credible. former employees of media inc. says it is a catch and kill. the story unfavorable to trump and kill it, bury it. >> it takes the story out of the market so it won't see the light of day. >> reporter: why? david pecker is a long-time personal f

. >> you detailed in affair on businessman, a playboy playmate, the karen mcdougal.this. the bigger part of the story is about how donald trump and his allies tried to keep it out of the press. >>s in a system of clandestine meetings and intermediaries in the media and legal packets that kept stories quiet. in this case there is a woman at the heart of it that signed up for the silence but says that's been on russ she didn't understand the implications and regrets that. >> apparently they paid her $150,000 at the national enquirer, paid for the story so they wouldn't have to run it. it's called catch and kill. >> catch and kill is a term commonly referred in the tabloid media with the intention of burying a story. i talked to former employees of ami where the media company for this. and they talk about the flunls that provides over the person whose dirt is ainquired. >> they promised to do certain things for her and that never came to fruition. >> that's a matter of dispute between mcdougal and the can. . shelves there were unfulfilled promises. but one thing that se

crisis it's all debian into corner me is in tatters and there has been widespread anger of the mcdougal's handling of soaring inflation and recession all of that has been made much worse by crippling sanctions . the impact has been staggering according to a new study conducted by three universities been as well and lost an average of eleven kilograms in body weight last year almost ninety percent live in poverty a jump from forty eight percent in two thousand and fourteen and about a quarter of the population was eighteen two or fewer meals a day. more than one hundred people were killed last year in weekly demonstrations against due to its government but that's largely quieted down. with the opposition out of april's presidential race is almost guaranteed to be reelected now the opposition must consider how to respond to mcdougal's proposal for a major election if they boycott that they risk losing the national assembly which is the only branch of government mcdougall does not control me down the hall and al jazeera. tavris take a look at the top stories here at al-jazeera amnesty intern

. >> jim mcdougal bought madison guaranty savings and loan. >> savings and loans began to drop like flies. >> here was this young upstart governor from arkansas. came out of nowhere. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> president clinton canceled his public schedule after the tragic death of his white house lawyer vincent foster. >> there were all kinds of crazy theories. >> whitewater was complicated. >> the politically smart thing to do became the appointment of an independent counsel. >> the president, today, has directed the attorney general to appoint a special counsel. >> she basically said, "i won't be talking to you again until this is over." >> there were all sorts of rumors and allegations. if this is really all true, where are the women? ♪ ♪ >> amid the christmas cheer of 1993, the clinton white house was under attack by well-funded right wing aivistsetermined to take down the president >> there were certainly people, based on ideology, who wanted to knock bill clinton out. there's no question about that. >> what a wild cast of aracters it was, and particularly his ene

at this party, donald trump, according to this report, met karen mcdougal.nia for two years. and that they then began a nine-month affair. what is interesting about this is that apparently mcdougal, according to this report, wrote at some point an eight-page account of what had happened, when she gave to a friend, a handwritten account, which she allegedly has verified to the "new yorker" saying i did write that account. it gets a lot more complicated because the story also talks a great deal about the degree to which her meetings with donald trump, while frequent, according to this report, were also kept hidden in many ways. they were arranged in such a way it was always deniable, never a paper trail to show, you know, that travel had been booked for her, that sort of thing. beyond that, at some point, right before the election, the company that owns the national inquirer, according to this report, made a deal with her, to buy her story. but then did not publish the story. the suggestion here being that the publisher, the ceo of the company that owns the na

the president said he never had a relationship with mcdougal. did "the new yorker" come up with the sordid tale? a friend of mcdougal supportly gave the magazine eight handwritten pages. >> she wrote a detailed chronicle of the fair in the course of selling the story. >> reporter: the story did sell to the company that owns "the national enquirer" for $150,000 days before the election. according to the "wall street journal" and "the new yorker." why didn't she read it? the "enquirer," which was a friend of trump's, did not publish the story. by paying for it, it legally blocked anyone including her from coming out with details. "the enquirer" has made no comment on that part of the story. cnn, washington. >> as you saw, the first couple did not leave the white house together for their trip to florida, but they did leave air force one at the same time when they landed in west palm beach. gabbi martin iehlo joining us from "the washington examiner." >> we don't hear a lot from melania trump, but we are seeing these sort of visual cues so to speak

mcdougal met trump while she was working in the -- alleged affair with trump which mcdougal claimed was written in her own handwriting. the president claims he never had an affair with mcdougcdouga. "the national enquirer's" chief, is described by president as catch and kill method. "the national enquirer" didn't publish the story. >> these dirty stories by high profile individuals would be used as leverage against those individuals. >> ami said the suggest than that they would engage in any practice that allow them to hold influence over the president laughable. while the white house called this fake news, just this week, president trump's personal attorney made a big admission, he paid an adult film star $130,000 from his own pocket to sign a nondisclosure agreement about her affair with president trump. >>> now chief of staff john kelly is ordering changes to the white house security clearance process. that move today comes after allegations of domestic violence against ex-aid rob porter. >>> well, did you wash your hair today? if so, you may have washed away your luck. >> celebratin

mcdougal is a former playboy play mate. and the centerpiece of the story is 8 pages of her handwritten notes. mcdoug alps notes were written a decade later during the 2016 cam pawn or since then. first there was a tale that it was written on a notebook written on a notebook that wasn't manufactured until 2016. the article makes clear the idea to sell her story to american media first occurred in 2016. and her written account is supported by additional sourcing and representation in the article. it seemed like these were contemporaneous notes as "the washington post" put it. the "enquirer" agreed to pay her for the rights to her story about an affair with a married man. the new york quoted ex-staffers. and that he buys a story to kill it. and it bars her from talking about trump. so her friend gave her scribbled notes to the "new yorker." >> she fully admits she voluntarily signed the agreements, and the reason the written testimony exists, in the course of selling the story, a friend of hers coaxed her into sitting down and

julia, is there something different with karen mcdougal's story that could change the ho-hum nature oflegations against president trump? >> well, i think that karen mcdougal essentially came out and gave quite a bit of details about the alleged affair. but it's interesting, because it will be interesting to see how the evangelical and conservative right responds to this. they've stood by president trump in the face of a lot of these allegations. they keep piling up. >> alexi, republicans, are they willing to look the other way, because despite the access hollywood tape and previous allegations president trump still won the election. so what's their argument going to be during the midterms when they're faced with questions of moral responsibility and the me too movement? >> i think the me too movement is significant in this time. but as you mentioned, trump won the presidency despite being accused by dozens of women of sexual assault and harassment, after the access hollywood tape we heard how he talked about women. i don't think republican voters are going to press republicans on this.

at the time of a republican debate, mcdougal tweeted this old photo.orker, the national enquirer run b davidy pecker, who calls trump a personal friend paid for the exclusive rights to her story. but they nifr presented it. the journalist who broke the story says their motive was clear. >> people in the tabloid business call this catch and skill. it's acquiring a story the bury it. >> reporter: the report claims the affair happened around the same time mr. trump allegedly became involved with adult film actress stormy daniels. this week the president's long time personal attorney acknowledges he paid her $130,000 just before the election. he says the president's business nor his campaign was part of the transaction. he has not said whether the president knew about that payment. daniels staying mum. >> do you have a non-disclosure agreement? >> do i? >> in florida, the president and first lady walked off air force one together. cecilia vega, abc news, the te lawmaker suspended due to a sexual misconduct allegation is suing the legislature for reinstatem

in 2015, at the time of a republican debate mcdougal tweeted this old photo.ing to the new yorker, the national enquirer, run by david pecker, who calls president trump a personal friend paid mcdougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story. but they never printed it. the journalist who broke the story says the enquirer's motive was clear. >> people in tabloid business call this catch and kichl it's acquiring a story to bury it. >> reporter: the report claims the affair happened around the same time mr. trump allegedly became involved with adult film actress stormy daniels. this week, the president's long time personal attorney acknowledged he paid daniels $130,000 before the election. he has not said whether the president knew about that payment. daniels staying mum. >> do you have a non-disclosure agreement? >> do i? >> in florida, the president and first lady walked off air force one together. cecilia vega, abc news. >>> a state lawmaker who was suspended due to a sexual misconduct allegation is suing arguing he is being treated differently than a wh

mcdougal sold her story only to have it never see the light of day, a common tactic called catch and me now to discuss, mark geragos. how common catch and kill as a strategy among lawyers? >> well, it is fairly common tragedstranl trage tragedy strategy. the story getting killed meaning it doesn't run or in this case where they specifically sayy st. the story getting killed meaning it doesn't run or in this case where they specifically say we'll give you a wellness column, we'll pay you for this, we have your rights. the more common kind of celebrity catch and kill is where if there is a story that there is a tradeoff so to speak. so i have a story about one client and they go to the pr person or publicist and say give me something juicier and i'll kill this story. that has been going on for decades. i've seen that in hollywood repeatedly over the years. and that is something that is kind of the currency of hollywood. >> that sounds more like blackmail, that i've got something on you, but let us take a good picture of you and put it on our cover so we can sell issues and we'll forget

. >> donald trump and former "playboy" model karen mcdougal.the new yorker is detailing evidence of a nine month affair that started in 2006. and a payoff scheme to keep the story from going public before the election. >> karen mcdougal feels she was cornered into a set of contracts that she finds onerous and exploitive. i think she's frustrated with her inability to speak in her view. and she has regrets about this. >> roan farrow said that "the national enquirer" paid for the rights and then never published it. the company in charge of the tabloid said it did not find the story credible, but this is a classic catch and kill. you buy a story unfavorable to trump, then you kill it. you bury it. >> what it really means it takes the story out of the market. so that it won't see light of day. >> why? well, american media's chairman david pecker is a long-time personal friend of trump's. >> these guys met many years ago and they have maintained a friendship for a long time and david pecker takes care of his friends. >> it's a back scratching relati

. >> donald trump and former playboy model karen mcdougal.orker is detailing a nine-month affair and the playoff scheme. >> she feels she ultimately was in a sense cornered to a set of contracts that she finds onerous and exploitative. >> ronan far row writing that the national enquirer paid for the story. and then never published it. the company said it did not find the story credible. this is a classic catch and kill. you buy a story unfavorable to trump and you kill it. >> it takes the story out of the market. >> why? david pecker is a long time personal friend of trumps. >> these guys met many years ago and david pecker takes care of his friends. >> reporter: it is a back scratching relationship. with trump sometimes praising the enquirer. >> i have always said why didn't the national enquirer get the pulitzer prize. >> reporter: he mentioned it that the father of senator ted cruz father was involved. >> crazy lee harvey oswald having breakfast. >> reporter: that was debunked. >> they said if you call the president up, and you apologize f

>> a friend of karen mcdougal's, john crawford was present when she wrote those notes and all the --was to sell the story. women sign into those contractucontrac contractual situations, and she feels a sense of regret, and she feels constrained in what she can say. she did a thing, and she believes this exposes a system of contracts to keep women quiet through trusted intermediaries like "the national enquirer" and this company, ami, and there are security implications when that system works in the favor of the president. >> they say that your assertion is laughable, and the idea that "the enquirer" could have any assertion over the president is laughable. what do you say? >> we gave them ample time to give their input, and those are in our story, and people with judge those as they wish. we quoted six ami stories and they are quoted on the record on this piece, and they say this is a common tactic and the way it plays out, brian, is when this company has dirt on a celebrity or in this case, the most powerful man in america, it is used for leverage. was a term they used over and over

karen mcdougall, the individual described in this story, in her chronicle of this affair talks aboutng offered money, something that appears in numerous stories, that after sex she was offered payment and declined that. she talks about the thelo tions a lot of these affairs took place and, in fact, some of that sexual activity tae ng pl shared events between her story and the accountf stormy daniels, for instance. this provides corroboration for a number of the stories but meor important is the fact you mentioned earlier which is this is about a system that was in place, judy, a way of silencing women though trusted intermediaries in the tabloid world, the secret payouts, secret meetings enforced by by oileds, this was a wel machine. >> woodruff: explain how that works. it stems, in part, between the close friendship thesident has with a man named david pecker the head of a media organization that owns the ?"national enquirer," rig >> there is a term called "catch and kill" which is where a company like the tabloid media company you just re to acquires a story with the intentn to bur

the report also alleges reports to keep mcdougal quiet.he president says he never had a relationship with mcdougal." it really put a chill on the beginning of the couple's trip to florida. the first lady decided to go to andrews air force base separately from the president, driving there. i believe the president took the helicopter. do we know why that was and when the decision was made? >> her office is telling cnn the decision was made because her schedule just made it easier to meet the president at the plane. however, there's nothing public on her schedule today. we learned about this change in the guidance for the two of them leaving the white house very quickly before it actually happened. not a lot of notice. so clearly this was a decision made at the last minute for the first lady to ride separately on a motorcade and for the president to hop aboard marine one doing that south lawn walk from his office to the helicopter by himself. >> and as we see there, they did appear together coming off the plane and at a hospital. it's impossi

jim and susan mcdougal, bill and hillary clinton. >> i did not testify before the grand jury becauseutors. >> the mcdougals and the governor of the state of arkansas, jim guy tucker, were convicted. >> today, the american people have spoken. >> there was this woman who used to work in the white house named linda tripp. >> linda tripp and monica lewinsky were friends. >> monica was in love with the president. >> she told me all sorts of things. >> linda tripp had been taping her phone calls. >> this is paula jones. >> it's just humiliating what he did to me. >> this case is going all the way up to the supreme court. >> the president was going into the ti

for about nine months. >> mcdougall said it started when she met mr.he playboy mansion following the taping of his reality show "the apprentice." news reporter jackie almany is traveled with the president in florida. good morning. >> good morning. the time of the alleged affair puts it less than two years into donald trump's marriage to his wife. >> karen mcdougall in this written document stresses that her relationship with donald trump was entirely consensual but her story reveals commonalities with story after story that has now emerged from donald trump's either consensual relationship with women or alleged nonconsensual advance. the former playboy model tone ronan farrell that the "me too" movement emboldened him to come forward. >> she acknowledges it's a different type of case but it has the commonality of powerful men using elaborate systems to silence women and stories those women might tell about them and she said she didn't want to be silent anymore and she hoped this system that ensnared her might encourage other women to step forward. >>>

mcdougal sold her story to "the national enquirer" for $150,000.have it never see the light of day. a common tactic in a scandal story called catch and kill. joining me now to discuss veteran defense attorney mark geragos. how common catch and kill as a strategy among lawyers? >> well, it's a fairly common strategy. the catch and kill here is that they're actually paying somebody for the life rights and then the story gets obviously as the term implies killed meaning it doesn't run or in this case where they specifically say we'll give you a health and beauty or a wellness column. we'll pay you for this, we have your rights. the more common kind of celebrity catch and kill, there's a story and a trade-off so to speak. so i have a story about one client. then they go to the pr person or the publicist and say, give me something juicier. i'll kill this story. so that's been going on for decades. i have seen that in hollywood repeatedly over the years. that's something that is kind of the currency of hollywood. >> that sounds more like blackmail. like,

. >> karen mcdougal, the 1998 play mate of the year describe in an eight page account details of a nineth affair with trump beginning in 2006. the handwritten pages are obtained by the new yorker magazine published online today. she was paid $150,000 during the presidential campaign by the national inquirer that never ran the story. they bought it to keep it quiet. the publisher of the inquirer a personal friend of president trump. >> penn state thon going strong as they raise money for pediatric cancer. live at the scene is "action news" reporter chat pradelli. >> it's literally just a couple of minutes ago, a change came crashing down and hit one of the dancers in the head. there is a lot of concern in the immediate area. they have evacuated the area. there is blood on the ground. it appears the girl was able to go on her own, the female student. she was in a lot of pain. a chain came down from the top of the bryce gordon center. the thon event is a great event. it was a fantastic night until a couple of moments ago. >> and with that, thon 2018 was under way, 700 students making the j

jim mcdougal just died. two are in jail -- webb hubbell and susan mcdougal. in the white house. >> the creation of a draft indictment is not only ordinary, it's necessary. not to have a draft indictment would have been irresponsible. >> but we were obligated to follow justice department policy, and one of those policies is before you go to the grand jury federal prosecutor and present a proposed indictment, you have to be able to look the grand jurors in the eye and say, "we are satisfied that we have admissible evidence that can prove each element of this crime beyond a reasonable doubt." >> the investigation into whitewater and madison guaranty was out of steam. >> at this point, within the independent counsel, you have two arguments shaping up that are saying, basically, "hey, we have a live perjury-trap case on the president based on his statements regarding paula jones and monica lewinsky, or we have a decades-old, very complicated financial-fraud case which we're not sure we can win because mrs. clinton is a rather sympathetic character, so what do we d

in 2015, at the time of a republican debate, mcdougal tweeted this old photo.o the new yorker, the national enquirer, run by david pecker, who calls president trump a personal friend, paid mcdougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story. but they never printed it. journalist ronan farrow, who broke the story, says the enquirer's motive was clear. >> people in tabloid business call this catch and kill. it's acquiring a story to bury it. >> reporter: his report claims the affair happened around the same time mr. trump allegedly became involved with adult film actress stormy daniels. this week the president's longtime personal attorney general act snojed he paid mcdaniels $130,000 just before michael cohen says neither the president's business nor his campaign was part of the transaction and has not said whether the president knew about that payment. daniels staying mum. >> do you have a non-disclosure agreement. >> do i? >> in florida, the president and first lady walked off air force one togd. cecilia vega, abc news, the who is. >>> a state lawmaker who