Comments made by Tucker Carlson on his show last December just got Fox News hit with a lawsuit.
Karen McDougal, the model who alleges she had an affair with President Trump beginning in 2006, has filed a slander lawsuit against Fox News after Carlson said on his show last year, "Two women approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn't give them money," Variety reports. "Now that sounds like a classic case of extortion." The New York Times notes Carlson didn't use McDougal's name, but he put a picture of her on screen later in the segment.
In the lawsuit, McDougal says she did not approach Trump and threaten to ruin his career like Carlson said but instead sold her story to the National Enquirer for $150,000. Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, has said he reimbursed American Media Inc., the owner of the National Enquirer, in order to keep McDougal quiet about the alleged affair.
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In the segment, Carlson's guest took issue with his characterization of events, saying, "We don't know that there was actual extortion here ... that hasn't been proven yet, nor has it even really been alleged." Carlson responded, "I'm alleging it because it's obvious ... it clearly is extortion."
"Carlson's statements were intentionally false and made with reckless disregard for the truth," the lawsuit says. Fox News says it will "vigorously defend Tucker Carlson against these meritless claims."
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