The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow · Pineapple Street Studios and Audacy

Episode 9: The President

February 13, 2020·51 min·2 clips

Karen McDougal says Trump was “already undressing” after a Beverly Hills Hotel dinner in 2006.

The episode opens with a content warning for sexual and domestic violence, strong language, and discussions of consensual sex. Karen McDougal recalls accepting a dinner invitation from Donald Trump in 2006. She says she expected a restaurant, but instead found herself at his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She remembers the meal, the setting, and her hope that the night might lead to work in the modeling world. Farrow uses that account to frame the broader pattern the series has been tracking. The story then returns to the publisher and its relationship with Trump. The episode recalls that the publisher had already paid off Dino Sejudin, the Trump Tower doorman, to keep him quiet about a rumored Trump love child. It then moves into spring 2016, when an anonymous Jane Doe filed suit alleging that Trump raped her in 1994, when she was 13 years old. She claimed the incident took place at a party hosted by Jeffrey Epstein. The woman posted a video with her face obscured and her voice altered. The episode makes clear that her claim was hard to verify. It also notes that a former Jerry Springer producer with a history of pushing dubious celebrity scandals was involved in filing the suit. Farrow does not oversell the evidence. He lays out the weakness of the claim and the response around it. The publisher did not buy this story the way it had bought others. Still, it acted. Dylan Howard, the publisher's chief content officer, called Michael Cohen and said not to worry. He told Trump's attorney that the company was looking into the matter. A reporter was sent to the address listed in the lawsuit, but no one was found there. The episode underscores that there was no chance to purchase silence in the usual way. Even so, the tabloid began running headlines exonerating Trump while the facts remained unresolved. Lisa Bloom, who had taken on Jane Doe's case, then became part of the same pressure field. Howard called Bloom and warned her away from the matter. Bloom eventually canceled a planned press conference with Jane Doe and dropped the case. The episode includes the moment Bloom says the woman is too afraid to show her face. The press conference was never rescheduled. Jane Doe never spoke publicly again. Howard later said he did call Bloom, but characterized it as advice. The episode closes by returning to the larger reporting project and reminding listeners that there are more stories to tell.

As heard by us

A careful account of how the story was handled, and what it left unresolved.

The episode starts with Karen McDougal's dinner with Donald Trump and builds a clear account of allegations, tabloid handling, and legal pressure.

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Why you'd press play

You want the paper trail behind a story that kept trying to disappear.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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