CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Reveals Melania Trump Was ‘Deeply Upset’ About Alleged Affair With Playboy Model — More Than Stormy Daniels

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins revealed that then-First Lady Melania Trump was “deeply upset” by ex-Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal’s alleged affair with former President Donald Trump, more so than the Stormy Daniels saga.

During CNN’s branded “Trump Hush Money Trial” coverage Tuesday, Collins and chief legal correspondent Paula Reid talked about the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker in the Stormy Daniels hush money-election interference trial.

Collins told Reid that Pecker’s testimony about McDougal — whose alleged affair with Trump the National Enquirer publisher admitted to covering up “in concert” with Trump’s campaign — would be especially sensitive for Trump:

KAITLAN COLLINS: And obviously this is going to be a really sensitive moment in this trial, which is how personal this will be for Donald Trump.

Karen McDougal is one of the most personal parts of this because she alleged not only that they had an affair, she said they had a relationship.

And this was something that when, I know from covering the White House and covering Melania Trump, it was deeply upsetting for the first, the former first lady, Melania Trump, and it created a rift in the relationship between her and Donald Trump.

Everyone talks about Stormy Daniels and yes, that certainly was there as well. But Karen McDougal I, we were told at the time, agitated Melania Trump more so, actually, than Stormy Daniels had.

PAULA REID: And you can understand that because the Stormy Daniels relationship and she says publicly in her new documentary, it appeared to be quite transactional. There were some sexual encounters, but she kept up the relationship, talking to him because she wanted to be on The Apprentice.

And once it’s clear that wasn’t going to happen, she sort of dropped him.

The Karen McDougal — as she tells the story, it was, you know, from her viewpoint, a romantic relationship that went on for some time, traveling together. It was much more of an intimate relationship, again, according to her account of events.

So it’s completely understanding why that would be frustrating and annoying to Melania and something that Trump would not want out in the public.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah. And David Pecker says that Howard, who as a reminder, was the editor in chief of the National Enquirer, called him in June 2016, a notable month and year, obviously, about a Playboy model who is trying to sell a story about a relationship that she had with Donald Trump for a year.

As I noted, it was a longer relationship, not just simply a one time affair. Jake, obviously, this is a critical moment here in this, because this is one of the key stories that they can zoom in on that. David Pecker has an immense amount of knowledge about. I mean, they sent emissaries to go and meet directly with Karen McDougal about this story.

JAKE TAPPER: Right. So this is a catch and kill story that, there seems to be more grounds to believe it to be true than the doorman’s story.

Watch above via CNN’s live Trump Hush Money Trial brand coverage.

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