Trump pal puts Playboy model on magazine cover in attempt to take heat off ‘catch and kill’ probe by feds

The tabloid publishing mogul accused of running a "catch and kill" scheme to prevent former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal from telling her story about Donald Trump will be featuring the adult star on a magazine cover, The Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday.

David Pecker is the publisher of American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer and a long-time friend of the Trump family.

The company paid McDougal $150,000 for her story about an alleged affair with Trump, but never ran the story. That payment is being investigated by federal prosecutors investigating longtime Trump friend Michael Cohen.

"Current and former employees of publisher American Media Inc. said they believe Karen McDougal’s planned appearance on the cover of September’s issue of Men’s Journal is intended to protect the company from a federal criminatl (sic) investigation in New York," The Journal explained.

McDougal is not cooperating with the magazine.

During the most recent 18 covers of the magazine, men were featured on 12 of the covers, vehicles on four, along with a beach and a dog. On none of the covers was a woman featured.

Pecker apparently believes putting McDougal on the cover would disprove the “catch and kill” scheme, even though he never published a report about the alleged affair prior to the 2016 election.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pecker had been subpoenaed in the Cohen investigation.