‘Woman-1’ in Trump indictment is Karen McDougal, not Stormy

Karen McDougal (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Playboy)

According to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the “catch and kill” scheme — killing a message — that led to the historic impeachment against a president began, not with Stormy Daniels.

“Under this program, Donald Trump and others made three payments to individuals who claimed to have negative information about Mr. Trump,” Bragg said at a news conference Tuesday.

The first payoff was stopping former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who Bragg dubbed “Woman No. 1,” from revealing in a TV interview what she believed was a 9-month affair with the married president. Brian Ross, ABC News’ chief correspondent at the time, and I were the reporters Trump wanted to silence in order to “catch and kill” our story.

It wasn’t until 2020 that McDougal finally broke her silence and spoke to Ross about the “Catch and Kill” operation, now at the Abrams Media Law & Crime Network.

Brian Ross: As you recall, prior to signing, you spoke to me and Rhonda Schwartz about an interview when we were working at ABC News. And then it was cancelled.

Karen McDougal: The deal was canceled because we signed a contract with AMI so I would work and never talk about it again. We’ll never talk about the relationship again.

In October 2016, just days before she was due to be interviewed by Ross on ABC about a 9-month affair that began shortly after the birth of his son Baron, McDougal called it off “due to family reasons.” It was just a few weeks before the presidential election.

Brian Ross: Karen, as you look back on this four year saga, do you wish you had done the interview with us and called it over?

Karen McDougal: Actually, yes. It was a big ordeal. I just wish I had gotten in from the start. Let it out and kind of relax afterwards because it was kind of a nightmare for a while. Literally and from A to Z it was an absolute nightmare.

Karen McDougal: Brian, it was very scary. I actually went into hiding for a while. Even though it’s hiding, I was followed by strange people knocking on my door.

We had spent months corroborating McDougal’s story by speaking to her friends and her then-attorney Keith Davidson, who provided us with McDougal’s detailed and contemporaneous diary — sex with Donald Trump was labeled “DT.” Davidson then represented Stormy Daniels in a similar trial, which was also part of the indictment.

But perhaps the most intriguing detail were photos of gifts Trump gave her that McDougal shared with us. McDougal, a religious woman, described them as “cheap religious artifacts”. Trump told her they were from a Beverly Hills home that he planned to buy for their dates.