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How President Trump is insulated from sex scandals President Donald Trump speaks about domestic violence during a working session regarding the opportunity zones provided by tax reform in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The New Yorker has obtained an eight-page, hand-written account written by a former Playboy Playmate who said she had a nine-month extramarital affair with Donald Trump beginning in 2006. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday Feb 17, 2018 at 11:30 AM Americans have known about Trump's history of adultery for years; first lady Melania Trump may be signaling her displeasure with the situation Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak, The Los Angeles Times Most politicians would have been swallowed up in scandal after new details emerged Friday of an alleged affair — with a Playboy Playmate, no less — that occurred the same weekend of a reported dalliance with a porn star. Not Donald Trump. In eight pages of handwritten notes published by The New Yorker, 1998 Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal recalled having sex with Trump in 2006, a few months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron. McDougal said one of their sexual encounters took place at the same Lake Tahoe golf tournament where porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, says that she had a tryst with Trump. The president denies both affairs, but both women received money to keep the matters quiet. Americans have known for years about Trump's history of adultery, most famously his 1989 cheating on his first wife, Ivana, with his soon-to-be second wife, Marla Maples. He won the presidency despite accusations of sexual harassment or assault by more than a dozen women, along with an "Access Hollywood" audiotape of Trump boasting that his star power allowed him to grab women by their genitals. "If you assume someone is a devoutly religious, family-values person, something like this will absolutely destroy their reputation and level their career," said Lara M. Brown of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. "If, on the other hand, you believe this is who they are going in, which, if you heard the 'Access Hollywood' tape or listened to interviews with Howard Stern, then this is more confirmation of your belief and your expectations." Also, Trump's checkered business career — bankruptcies and alleged real estate swindles, for example — inoculates him from some of the harm a more conventional politician might suffer as details emerge on hush money received by McDougal ($150,000) and Clifford ($130,000). "His business reputation is not necessarily one of high character," said Brown, an expert on political scandals. Still, Trump is weathering a rough patch in his presidency, and the McDougal distraction is no help. The White House's apparent overlooking of domestic abuse allegations against ousted aide Rob Porter could worsen Republicans' troubled standing among women at a time when the #MeToo movement threatens to fuel GOP setbacks in November's midterm election. McDougal, who confirmed the authenticity of her notes in an interview with New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow, said she was speaking out in part because of the #MeToo movement. "Every girl who speaks is paving the way for another," she told the magazine. The New Yorker article, citing previously undisclosed texts, emails and legal records, elaborates on a Wall Street Journal report in 2016 about a deal requiring McDougal to keep quiet about the alleged affair. It included the $150,000 payment to McDougal from American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, which never printed her story about Trump. David Pecker, chairman and CEO of AMI, is a close friend of the president. In the tabloid world, suppressing a story as a favor to a friend or gossip source is known as "catch and kill." The National Enquirer published harshly critical articles on Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign, but AMI denies paying anyone to protect Trump from damaging stories. McDougal's comments appeared to buttress the accounts of two other women who said Trump pursued them for sex in the early years of his marriage to Melania Trump. Both cases have sparked legal action against the president. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told The New York Times that he used "personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000" to Clifford just before the 2016 election. In return, Clifford reportedly agreed to keep quiet about the alleged affair. The watchdog group Common Cause has filed a Federal Election Commission complaint saying the payment was an illegal campaign contribution, which Cohen denies. Like Clifford, McDougal says she had sex with Trump at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. The other woman, Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice," has accused Trump of trying to force himself on her in 2006. She filed a defamation suit against him after he called her a liar. All three women say their interactions with Trump included encounters in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. All three also say they were escorted to the bungalow by Keith Schiller, a longtime Trump bodyguard who left his job in September as the director of Oval Office operations and deputy assistant to the president. Several hours after The New Yorker published the story Friday, first lady Melania Trump eschewed the traditional couple's walk across the South Lawn from the White House to Marine One to fly to Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported. She opted instead to drive separately, and out of media view, to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to catch Air Force One to Florida, a choice that raised questions on social media and elsewhere about her thoughts regarding the latest allegation that her husband had been unfaithful to her. CNN White House reporter Kate Bennett tweeted that it was "unusual for first couple not to walk together to Marine One for departure to Andrews." However, Melania Trump was seen descending the steps of Air Force One with the president when the plane landed in Florida on Friday evening. They quickly got into a waiting SUV. Earlier, John Dawsey, White House reporter for the Washington Post, reported a somewhat confusing scene that unfolded regarding Melania Trump's solo arrival at Joint Base Andrews. He tweeted that the press had been invited onto Air Force One before it left Maryland, then rushed off, but hurried back inside when Melania Trump's motorcade pulled up. Dawsey also said a White House press aide yelled at the press to take no photos of her arrival. Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's communications director, essentially told reporters to not read anything into her decision to arrive alone at the air base, before departing for Florida, CNN said. "With her schedule it was easier to meet him on the plane," Grisham said in a statement, according to CNN. With that, Grisham seemed to dismiss the notion that Melania Trump was signaling any thoughts or feelings with regard to the new allegations in The New Yorker. Meanwhile, since the Daniels' story broke in January, Melania Trump has made a number of choices, transportation or otherwise, that may have signaled her displeasure with the situation. Reportedly "blindsided" and "furious" over the Daniels reports, she abruptly decided to not accompany the president on his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. Her spokeswoman Grisham cited "scheduling and logistical issues." It turned out that those "scheduling and logistical issues" included an impromptu visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, followed by a whirlwind trip to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where she visited the spa, The New York Times reported. It also turned out that her quick spa trip to Mar-a-Lago, leaving on a Thursday and returning to Washington, D.C., the next day, possibly cost American taxpayers at least $64,000 in air travel, the Times said. For the president's Jan. 30 State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, Melania Trump broke another tradition. She arrived at the U.S. Capitol separates from the president. She also wore a creamy white Christian Dior pantsuit. Her sartorial choice prompted speculation about the message she may have been sending. That's because she was wearing an ensemble that reminded many of the white worn by suffragists, as well as the white pantsuit that became symbolic of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Things looked frosty between the first couple last week when the president's attempt at a public display of affection and unity appeared to be rebuffed by the first lady. The first couple were spotted, doing the couple's walk across South Lawn on Feb. 5, to get on Marine One and leave the White House for a trip to Ohio. A clip from NBC News showed the president reaching for his wife's right hand, and what people on Twitter say was a failure to connect. In an awkward moment, Trump instead got a handful of her coat sleeve. That's because the first lady wore her yellow coat draped over her shoulders. Trump's various awkward attempts at PDA with his wife have become something of a tradition of the Trump presidency. Most famously was the moment in May 2017, when the couple arrived in Tel Aviv, and Melania Trump appeared to swat away her husband's hand as he reached out to hold hers. Martha Ross of the East Bay Times contributed to this report.