Nat'l Enquirer

4 24 maddow has natl eng ft pages hit man lesbo dying of cancer etc etc

trump hush trial

an 621

Knowingly and willfully': Another Trump ally gets caught by the law in the hush-money case

June 03, 2021

The tabloid publishing company that owns the National Enquirer will be fined $187,500 by FEC for a hush money payment to a woman with whom Donald Trump had an extramarital affair – a transaction which the FEC argues is in clear violation of campaign finance law.

The transaction occurred back in 2016, when American Media Inc. (presently known as A360 Media LLC) transferred $150,000 to former model Karen McDougal, who in exchange for the funds, relinquished the rights to tell her story about the affair. The transaction was first made public back in 2018 amid the prosecution of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance violations.

The FEC found that America Media chief executive, David J. Pecker, a Trump ally, "knowingly and willfully" broke campaign finance laws in conjunction with various Trump campaign officials as well as Cohen, who has for years been positioned as Trump's right-hand man in the coverup.

American Media has openly admitted that it routed the money to McDougal, though it disputes it broke any campaign finance laws, claiming that "payments for silence are not contributions or expenditures because silence is not a 'thing of value,'" according to the settlement agreement. Though, back in 2018, America Media had already agreed to a non-prosecution deal in which it acknowledged that hush money was intended to influence the results of the 2016 general election.

"The available information supports the conclusion that AMI's [American Media, Inc.'s] payment constituted an in-kind contribution to Trump and the Trump Committee," the FEC wote in an analysis obtained by Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "AMI and Pecker appear to have violated the Act by making and consenting to making a corporate contribution in the form of a payment from AMI to McDougal. As explained below, the record indicates that there is reason to believe that this violation was knowing and willful."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Saudi Arabia ‘had access’ to Jeff Bezos’ phone: Investigator drops bombshell allegation against the Middle East kingdom

Bob Brigham / Salon

Renowned celebrity private investigator Gavin De Becker “concluded with high confidence” that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had access to the cell phone of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner…

https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/federal-prosecutors-are-now-probing-national-enquirers-reported-blackmail-in-light-of-its-role-in-trump-campaign-crimes-report/

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are reviewing the conduct of the National Enquirer and its parent company, American Media, Inc., after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos alleged Thursday that the tabloid attempted to blackmail and extort him by threatening to publish his nude selfies, according to Bloomberg.

The Associated Press has also confirmed Bloomberg’s report.

Bezos said that a lawyer for AMI had formally demanded that he publicly denounce the suggestion that the National Enquirer’s recent coverage of his extramarital affair was driven by political motivation, perhaps because of coverage from the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, about the Trump administration or Saudi Arabia.

AMI and its CEO David Pecker have entered into a non-prosecution deal for their role in the campaign finance crimes carried out by Michael Cohen,President Donald Trump’s former lawyer. Cohen pleaded guilty to the crimes and said in court that Trump himself had directed him to arrange criminal hush money payments. Trump has a long history of a mutually beneficial relationship with AMI and Pecker.

It’s not clear if AMI’s reported blackmail attempt of Bezos would violate the law, but if it did, it could nullify the non-prosecution agreement with SDNY and open up the company and Pecker to potential criminal charges.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/ronan-farrow-says-he-and-other-journalists-got-national-enquirer-blackmail-threats-related-to-trump-reporting/

no lnx

Ronand Farrow and at least one other journalist have allegedly received blackmail threats from the National Enquirer after reporting on the tabloid and President Donald Trump.

Farrow revealed the threats Thursday evening after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos published emails from the tabloid threatening to publish explicit photos taken from his phone if the Washington Post, which he also owns, did not stop investigating the publication, the Post reported.

Ronan Farrow

@RonanFarrow

I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer’s arrangement with Trump fielded similar “stop digging or we’ll ruin you” blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.)

Jeff Bezos

@JeffBezos

I’ve written a post about developments with the National Enquirer and its parent company, AMI. You can find it here: https://medium.com/@jeffreypbezos/no-thank-you-mr-pecker-146e3922310f …

37.4K

5:57 PM - Feb 7, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

12.2K people are talking about this

Farrow published a story in April about the Enquirer‘s “catch and kill” practice,” which involves paying off sources and then burying the stories, that helped Trump during his 2016 campaign.

Former Associated Press editor Ted Bridis also tweeted that the media organization had been warned that AMI, the Enquirer’s publisher, hired private investigators to target AP reporters looking into their efforts to help Trump, although he never saw evidence this took place.

The Daily Beast reported that attorneys for AMI aggressively responded, including unspecified threats, to two stories published last week about Bezos and the Enquirer.

The Post obtained documents that show AMI attorneys tried to pressure The Daily Beast not to publish reports suggesting that Trump’s allies were involved in efforts to reveal the Bezos affair.

The tabloid threatened to sue if the website used any material from a former Enquirer executive who has been hired by the website.

Bezos shared threatening emails purportedly from AMI officials, including chief content officer Dylan Howard, who also played a notable role in the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal.

Farrow helped break the Weinstein story into widespread circulation in November 2017.

wapo

Journalist Ronan Farrow poses at the 25th Annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Celebration in October 2018. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

By Allyson Chiu and

Kayla Epstein

February 8 at 11:38 AM

Ronan Farrow said Thursday that he and “at least one other prominent journalist” who had reported on the National Enquirer and President Trump received blackmail threats from the tabloid’s parent company, American Media Inc., over their work.

Farrow’s allegation came just hours after Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos published a remarkable public post on Medium accusing the National Enquirer of attempting to extort and blackmail him by threatening to publish intimate photos unless he stopped investigating the publication. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.[twits]

ast April, Farrow published an article in the New Yorker about the Enquirer’s “catch and kill” practice — in which stories are buried by paying off sources — that benefited Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

AMI did not immediately return a message from The Post about Farrow’s claim.

The allegations from Bezos and Farrow have since prompted other journalists and media outlets to come forward with claims that they, too, had been targeted by AMI for reporting on the Enquirer.

[Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer of extortion over intimate photos]

In response to Farrow, former Associated Press editor Ted Bridis tweeted a similar story[twits]

Bridis claimedin a separate tweet referencing Bezos’s Medium post that AMI, the Enquirer and its lawyers “tried to shut down public interest reporting on tabloid’s work on behalf of Trump.”

The Daily Beast also reported that attorneys for AMI responded aggressively to two reports published last week that detailedBezos’s investigation into the Enquirer. In its article about Thursday’s Medium post, the Daily Beast disclosedthat during the process of that reporting, the publication “and a member of its staff were threatened by AMI’s attorneys.”

The Beast didn’t describe the threats in more detail, and AMI has yet to respond to their report. On Tuesday, The Post’s Marc Fisher, Manuel Roig-Franzia and Sarah Ellison reportedthe following:

Documents obtained by The Post show that attorneys for American Media sought to persuade the Daily Beast not to publish its initial report suggesting that Trump’s allies may have been involved in the effort to expose the Bezos affair. According to a draft legal complaint, Enquirer attorneys threatened to sue the Daily Beast if it used any information provided by a former Enquirer executive who had been hired by the website.

This is not the first time journalists have had brushes with the media company.

In a 2017 op-ed for The Post, “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough claimed that “top White House staff members warned that the National Enquirer was planning to publish a negative article about us unless we begged the president to have the story spiked.”

“We ignored their desperate pleas,” the hosts wrote. The piece caused a media uproar.

They provided more detailson their show that day. “We got a call that hey, the National Enquirer is going to run a negative story against you guys,” Scarborough said. He claimed “three people at the very top of the administration” called him and told him “if you call the president up, and you apologize for your coverage, then he will pick up the phone and basically spike this story.”

Brzezinski added that the National Enquirer was “calling my children, they were calling close friends.”

Then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer saidhe was “not aware” of any such threats or requests made by White House staffers, and Trump tweetedthat the hosts’ claim was “FAKE NEWS.”

Scarborough replied to the president that he had “texts for your top aides and phone records” to back up his claim.

The National Enquirerpublished an article about Brzezinski and Scarborough earlier that monthwith salacious details about their relationship, and that noted their contentious relationship with Trump. In a statement to CNN, the Enquirer said: “At the beginning of June we accurately reported a story that recounted the relationship between Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the truth of which is not in dispute. At no time did we threaten either Joe or Mika or their children in connection with our reporting on the story. We have no knowledge of any discussions between the White House and Joe and Mika about our story, and absolutely no involvement in those discussions.”

On Thursday, Bezos wrote on Medium that he launched an investigation into the Enquirer after it published an article, complete with text messages, that revealed his relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez. The investigation is an attempt to figure out how Bezos’s private information was leaked. In an interviewwith The Post earlier this week, Bezos’s security consultant Gavin de Becker said the Enquirer article came from a “politically motivated” leak intended to embarrass Bezos.

[Gavin de Becker, Bezos’s security consultant, has spent years studying celebrity threats]

In his post, Bezos cited emails that he said were from AMI officials, including the company’s chief content officer Dylan Howard, and alleged that the tabloid wanted him and de Becker to make a false public statement that they “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”

On Friday, American Media, LLC released a statement that it “believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos. Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him."

But the statement continues: "Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”

Howard also played a notable role in the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal. In November 2017, Farrow published an article in the New Yorker referencing emails between Howard and Weinstein discussing efforts to dig up dirt on Rose McGowan, one of the first actresses to accuse the Hollywood producer of sexual assault.

The New York Times also reported in 2017 that Harvey Weinstein unsuccessfully attempted to enlist Howard in preventing the bombshell investigation into his history of sexual assault and harassment.

"The day before The Times published its article [that] fall, Mr. Weinstein was planning to make his last defense. He wrote an urgent email to Mr. Howard, instructing him to meet outside the newspaper’s headquarters in Manhattan. American Media said that Mr. Howard did not show.

The emails shared by Bezos appeared to show Enquirer executives threatening to publish a series of revealing photos of him and Sanchez if the demands were not met.

Bezos and Farrow both said they did not bend to the alleged threats, but Bezos noted that his investigation revealed that many others had. On Medium, Bezos wrote that “numerous people have contacted our investigation team about their similar experiences with AMI, and how they needed to capitulate because, for example, their livelihoods were at stake."

[vid]

Washington Post’s Carol D. Leonnig reports that the National Enquirer in 2015 paid a source who claimed to know an embarrassing rumor about President Trump. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

The relationship between the Enquirer and Trump has been repeatedly scrutinized by the media, given the president’s long friendship with AMI chief executive David Pecker. Beyond Pecker’s directing the Enquirer to publish favorable articles about Trump in 2016, AMI admitted last year to paying $150,000 in hush money to Karen McDougal, a woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump, to prevent her story from “influencing the election.” Federal prosecutors in December announced an agreement with AMI that they would not prosecute the company for its role in attempting to skew the race in Trump’s favor if it cooperated and admitted to paying off the woman.

If Bezos’s allegations are accurate, AMI may be in violation of the non-prosecution agreement, which is in part contingent upon the company not committing any crimes, The Post reportedThursday.

More from Morning Mix:

He’s studied thousands of threatening letters. Now he’s at the center of Bezos’s blackmail claims against a tabloid.

===

https://www.alternet.org/jared-kushner-was-key-player-trumps-national-enquirer-blackmail-scheme-against-msnbcs-scarborough

Kushner reportedly took part in an attempted blackmail scheme against his former friends Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law, who also serves as a senior White House adviser, took over for former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen as the main conduit between the president and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, reported The Daily Beast.

Both Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to charges filed by the special counsel and federal prosecutors, and Pecker have agreed to cooperate with investigators regarding potential wrongdoing by the president and his associates.

Pecker had hoped Cohen would continue serving Trump in the White House, but when he was left behind the American Media Inc. publisher settled on Kushner as his point person for business dealings with the president after the inauguration.

He and Kushner discussed everything from international relations to media gossip, according to four sources, and Pecker boasted to associates that he had regular contact with the senior White House adviser.

Both Pecker and Kushner forged close relationships with the Saudi royal family, and they also discussed possible dirt the Enquirer had dug up on the "Morning Joe" co-hosts.

Scarborough and Brzezinski revealed in late June 2017 that three senior Trump aides had urged them to "grovel" before the president or the tabloid would publish negative stories about them.

Brzezinski said the tabloid sent reporters to harass her family and friends as White House officials begged them to call the president to apologize.

The White House denied the MSNBC broadcasters' claims, but Trump essentially confirmed he had the ability to stop the Enquirer from publishing stories.

Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

The Daily Beast later reported that Kushner was involved in that matter, but Scarborough did not know that his friend had been in regular contact with the Enquirer's publisher.

Trump was reportedly angry that Kushner had offered in January 2017 to officiate a wedding between Scarborough and Brzezinski, who had been friends with the president but later became outspoken critics.

Shortly after the Scarborough-Brzezinski drama, Pecker visited Trump and Kushner at the White House, and Kacy Grine, a French businessman with ties to the Saudi business elite and royal family.

Scarborough said the president called him during the campaign and boasted that he was friends with Pecker, and suggested the tabloid was planting stories to attack his political enemies.

“He’d say, ‘Have you seen the Ben Carson story? Have you seen the Ben Carson story? Have you seen the story in the Enquirer,’ and then he’d talk about it,” Scarborough said.

Federal investigators are now questioning Pecker about those articles, which include payments to Trump's alleged mistresses and a story implicating Sen. Ted Cruz’s father in the Kennedy assassination, as possible campaign finance violations.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/here-are-5-wildest-wackiest-most-outlandish-things-david-peckers-american-media

During its 92-year history, the National Enquirer has never been known for its journalistic integrity. But the supermarket tabloid (founded in 1926) has had plenty of readers over the years, whether it was publishing pro-fascist and anti-Semitic articles in the 1930s and 1940s (many of them disparaging President Franklin Delano Roosevelt) or publishing accounts of flying saucers and zombies in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

And in 2015 and 2016, the National Enquirer (which is now owned by American Media Inc.) lived up to its terrible reputation by serving as a propagandist for the Donald Trump campaign and publishing a long list of outlandish articles attacking Hillary Clinton. But two of the key players at American Media, CEO David Pecker and Vice President/Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard, have potentially flipped on President Trump — and federal investigators have reportedly agreed to give them immunity from prosecution.

Here are five of the wildest and most outlandish things Pecker and American Media did in support of Trump and his associates.

1. Pecker Agrees to Suppress Negative Information on Trump’s Alleged Extramarital Affairs

In August 2015, Pecker made Cohen an offer: American Media would “catch and kill” any negative stories it found about Trump’s relationships with women. A “catch and kill” agreement, in the world of supermarket tabloids, is when one agrees to pay for exclusive rights to negative stories, then suppress them. And according to the Wall Street Journal, Pecker and Howard employed the catch-and-kill method when, in June 2016, they informed Cohen that Playboy model Karen McDougal was trying to sell American Media a story about an extramarital affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Cohen asked Pecker and Howard to purchase the story from McDougal, offering to reimburse them — and in August 2016, American Media offered McDougal $150,000 for the story it agreed to suppress.

2. The Enquirer Claimed That Hillary Clinton Gained 103 Pounds

One of the many ways in which the Enquirer, under Pecker’s direction, defamed Clinton in 2016 was publishing an article claiming that she had “gained 103 pounds and was eating herself to death.” It was a ridiculous claim: if Clinton had gained that much weight during her campaign, the major media would have noticed—and no “exposé” from Pecker and his colleagues would have been necessary. But then, credibility never was the Enquirer’s strong point.

3. The Enquirer Reported That Hillary Clinton Had Terminal Lung Cancer

In 2016, the Enquirer gave readers a long list of “reasons” to vote for Trump over Clinton, and one of them was a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. Pecker and friends reported that Clinton, thanks to lung cancer, had only six months to live. Of course, Clinton was never diagnosed with lung cancer; it was a fabrication. And two years later, she’s alive and well — although she obviously regrets the fact that her 2016 campaign was unable to prevent the disaster that has been Trump’s presidency.

4. The Enquirer Claimed That Hillary Clinton Suffered 2 Strokes

During the 2016 presidential race, the Enquirer not only claimed that Hillary Clinton had terminal lung cancer — it also reported that she had suffered “two secret strokes.” Naturally, the strokes were as mythical as the lung cancer diagnosis; there were no signs of speech impairment when Clinton was on the campaign trail and was speaking publicly night after night after night. But facts were not high on Pecker’s list of priorities in 2016.

On August 23, Chelsea Clinton used Twitter to comment on the Enquirer's coverage two years ago, humorously posting, “I’d missed the lung cancer cover, the stroke story, the one about my mom @Hillary Clinton’s hitman (possibly my missing alien sibling?!) and goodness, I think all of them actually. As always, thankful for my mom’s enduring health, grace, grit & goodness.”

5. The Enquirer Alleged That Hillary Clinton Blackmailed the FBI

Trump repeatedly referred to Clinton as “crooked Hillary” during his 2016 campaign—and one of the examples of that alleged corruption, according to the Enquirer, was blackmailing the FBI. The Enquirer claimed that the FBI, under James Comey’s direction, was being blackmailed by Clinton. With that wacky conspiracy theory, Pecker and his colleagues managed to give Alex Jones a run for his money.

2. David Pecker

American Media publishes the National Enquirer, which has been a bastion of trash “journalism” since 1926. Back in the 1930s, the Enquirer published pro-fascist anti-Semitic propaganda and vilified Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency—although in the 1970s and 1980s, it was better known for goofy accounts of Americans encountering zombies or being kidnapped by flying saucers. Pecker was a major supporter of Trump’s 2016 campaign, publishing a series of over-the-top anti-Hillary Clinton articles—and in the 1990s, he had promoted Trump’s business interests by published the quarterly magazine Trump Style. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that in 2015 and 2016, Pecker and American Media had a “catch and kill” agreement with Cohen, meaning that the Enquirer would purchase exclusive rights to negative stories about Trump but wouldn’t publish them. According to federal prosecutors, Pecker offered, in August 2015, to help Cohen find negative stories about Trump’s relationships with women and kill the stories.

3. Dylan Howard

Federal prosecutors allege that in June 2016, Pecker and Howard contacted Cohen to inform him that McDougal was trying to sell them a story about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006/2007—and Cohen asked them to purchase the story and agreed to reimburse American Media. In August 2016, American Media agreed to pay McDougal $150,000 for the story, and Cohen created a dummy corporation called Resolution Consultants in order to purchase the story from American Media for $125,000. Now, with Howard agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors in exchange for immunity, it’s in his best interests to be as forthcoming as possible about his dealings with Cohen during the Trump campaign.

trump:

http://mediamatters.org/research/2017/01/02/media-outlets-poised-become-trump-s-personal-propaganda-machine/214773

The National Enquirer

CONNECTION: OWNED BY DAVID PECKER, TRUMP’S LONG-TIME FRIEND

The National Enquirer is owned by David Pecker, Trump’s close friend, and was, along with his son-in-law’s paper and Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, the only other national outlet to endorse Trump. New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman reported that while Trump’s “scandal-filled personal life would be yuge! for the supermarket tabloid,” he has been “exclusively celebrated in the Enquirer’s pages.” Trump himself has even written op-eds exclusively for the Enquirer, where he explained “I am the only one who can make America great again!”

The National Enquirer also undertook a strange and savage campaign against Trump’s electoral opponents. With thin sourcing, often only from noted liar/Trump supporter Roger Stone, the Enquirer alleged that Jeb Bush celebrated his father’s presidential win with a cocaine binge, that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton “covered up Bill’s cocaine rehab,” and that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had affairs with multiple women. Their most outrageous pro-Trump lie was that Cruz’s father was somehow involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Enquirer made this claim based on one blurry photograph, but that did not stop Trump from touring cable news shows to hype the absurd smear.

Breitbart News

trump cites in cruz dad jfk assassination

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/25/sean-hannity-gives-platform-to-man-who-claims-hillary-is-evil-bisexual-secret-sex-freak.html

no links

Sean Hannity Gives Platform to Man Who Claims Hillary Is ‘Evil,’ Bisexual ‘Secret Sex Freak’

Before interviewing Mike Pence and Kellyanne Conway on Monday night, the Fox News personality had an ‘EXCLUSIVE’ interview with Jeff Rovin, a man with a shocking ‘secret.’

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG

BETSY WOODRUFF

10.24.16 10:00 PM ET

On Monday night, unpaid Donald Trump adviser and current Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcasted his “EXCLUSIVE” interview with Jeff Rovin, novelist and self-identified “fixer” for Hillary and Bill Clinton. Rovin first told his story to supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer last week, opening up about his alleged past as a Clinton ally who would help the powerful couple manipulate the press and (also!) set up secret, extramarital sexual liaisons.

Hannity emphasized that Fox News could not “independently verify” Rovin’s story. He also noted that the Clinton presidential campaign—“shockingly”—did not respond to his team’s multiple requests seeking comment.

“I was fixing [for the Clintons], I really don’t like that term, but there it is,” Rovin told Hannity. “I was fixing something for an actor who was in their inner circle.”

Hannity proceeded to gently and credulously ask Rovin about his explosive claims about working to kill negative Clinton stories in the press, and about the Clintons’ “open marriage” and how he’d “help them hide their scandals.”

Rovin, who said he wanted to appear on Hannity’s program to offer a “less hyperbolic” version of the Enquirer cover story, was awfully cagey for someone who was outing himself as a notorious Clinton “fixer.” He did assert that it was an “open secret” among his fellow Clintonite cohorts that Hillary Clinton had a romantic relationship with Vince Foster,the former White House aide who committed suicide and has since become a fascination of Clinton conspiracy theorists. Rovin said he’d been at the Clinton White House “twice.” He discussed how “the world is upside down [and] we have to set it right, again.”

He apparently identifies as a libertarian, who is ABSOLUTELY NOT doing this to help the Trump campaign. When pressed by Hannity on who he’d be voting for in November, Rovin demurred but conceded, “I like Trump, sure.”

…OK, there’s a lot to unpack here.

First, the Enquirer “bombshell,” of which Rovin was the star subject, is a “WORLD EXCLUSIVE 9-PAGE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION.” The story breathlessly details how the former secretary of State and first lady is a sex-crazed, “evil,” “polyamorous,” bisexual (or at least bi-curious), and “ruthless power-hungry” supervillain, one prolific in the dark arts of criminal conspiracy and character assassination aimed at Bill’s “bimbos.”

The Enquirer article is jam-packed with clandestine sex romps, mysterious death, prostitutes, “LIES AND SPIES,” and a woman (now the Democratic presidential nominee!) hell-bent on manipulating her sex-crazed self all the way to becoming leader of the free world.

Rovin—who was interviewed anonymously by the Enquirer and labeled Hillary’s “BAGMAN”—spilled his guts to the tabloid about the Clintons’ alleged sex-hypocrisy, detailing an “endless string of sexual stories arising from what effectively was the Clintons’ open, polyamorous marriage.”

“[Her fixer] arranged a lesbian romp for bisexual Hillary with a prominent Hollywood identity!” the Enquirer reported. “[He] squealed about a lusty rendezvous he arranged for Hillary that FINALLY proves the lesbian rumors that have dogged her for decades!”

“I arranged a meeting for Hillary and a woman in an exclusive Beverly Hills hotel,” he told the publication. “From the moment the Clintons found their feet in Los Angeles and began to meet the stars, they became addicted to power… It’s ironic their own scandalous truths are worthy of a movie script!”

Compelling stuff.

Rumors that Hillary is a lesbian murderer—or that Bill is a cocaine-addled deviant—have proliferated in fringe corners of the internet and right-wing circles for ages. Authors Robert Morrow, Edward Klein, and Trump’s longtime adviser and political ally Roger Stone have written books making outlandish claims about supposed Clinton drug habits, sexual preferences, and bloody, bloody history. (Trump himself suggested this month that Hillary was screwing around on former president Bill.)

Rovin has had a decently impressive career as a fiction writer. He has co-authored sci-fi novels with William Shatner and X-Files star Gillian Anderson. He took over Tom Clancy’s Op-Center novel series after the author died in 2013.And his Penguin Random House author page notes he is “a student of the martial arts”—much like Hannity himself.

...

Rovin also edited theWeekly World Newstabloid for a time. As The Atlantic has noted, the publication “highlighted tabloid journalism’s thin line between fiction and nonfiction,” until its print edition folded in 2007. The tabloid pushed self-consciously outlandish stories, like the classic “BAT CHILD ESCAPES!” It also had its fair share of Hillary Clinton-related tall tales.

“BILL CATCHES HILLARY WITH SPACE ALIEN!” blared one headline.

“HILLARY ADOPTS ALIEN BABY,” read a 1993 cover.

When Rovin started editing the publication, he stressed the importance of its coverage of space aliens.

“National, international, and even interplanetary events are being suppressed,” he wrote in an editor’s note on May 2, 2005. “Newspapers, television, and the internet are feeding us what dolphins call ‘meep… meepahh… marp’—Literally, lies as deep as the ocean.”

“When the government tries to cover up visits from space aliens and time travelers, we’ll be there,” Rovin continued.“(Weekly World News will even tell you what investments, if any, people from the future are making in the stock market. You won’t find that in Forbes!)”

The Trump campaign did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on whether Republican nominee sees any merit in this Enquirerstory on his Democratic rival. However, the *Enquirer* (a Trump-endorsingtabloid long famous for printing unsubstantiated gossip and stories about space aliens and the Illuminati) and Hannity have become two of Trump’s most reliable allies in the media during this election—and sometimes in concert.

Hannity, for his part, has gone full-on conspiracy theorist during this presidential election, during which he has been doing everything in his power—including starring in an official Trump campaign ad—to get Trump elected president.

Earlier this year, when the Enquirer ran a baseless story suggesting that Ted Cruz’s dad, Rafael, was in New Orleans passing out pro-Castro pamphlets with Lee Harvey Oswald,President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Trump widely promoted the “news,” and got his allies in the mainstream media, including Hannity, to help him in the effort.

When Trump went on Hannity’s radio show in May, the host allowed Trump to give more oxygen to the Enquirer’s supposed JFK-Cruz scoop.

At the time, when asked by The Daily Beast if Hannity would comment further—and if he felt not pushing back bolstered criticism that he is too deferential to the GOP nominee—the host emailed back: “I was saying that photo was not verified.”

Asked if he believed the Enquirer is a reliable source, Hannity said, “If [you] want to interview me, contact Fox PR.” Hannity later emailed The Daily Beast, “So is the picture authentic or not? You don’t have a clue either. Lol.”

(Well, we do have a clue: Rafael Cruz did not play a role in JFK’s death, but Hannity and the Enquirerdid their thing, regardless.)

And now Hannity is back at it again, elevating National Enquirercontent, all in the service of targeting the Clintons and talking up Trump on national TV.

Hannity would not comment on the record for this story. Fox News public relations did not respond to emails seeking comment. The Clinton campaign similarly did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment, so WHAT ARE THEY HIDING???

Following the Rovin interview on Monday’s episode of Hannity, the Fox News personality interviewed Trump running mate Mike Pence and Team Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, two highly respected figures within the Republican Party who spent their Monday-night airtime talking about how great Trump is. Neither uttered one word about Rovin, the Enquirer’s story, or Hillary Clinton’s alleged past as a villainous sex freak.

Why would they, when they have a supermarket tabloid and Fox News to do their work for them?

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-trump-national-enquirer/

An army of crazed monkeys. John Belushi’s drug dealer. Lee Harvey Oswald’s autopsy photo. The contents of Henry Kissinger’s trash cans. A woman who used her son’s face as an ashtray.

The presidential candidacy of Donald Trump.

Over the years, an array of jaw-dropping oddities has drawn readers to the National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid that pioneered the paying of sources and subjects for salacious scoops. Now it is the real estate developer’s turn on top.

“Our readers have a great affection and fondness for Donald Trump,” editor-in-chief Dylan Howardsaid in a recent interview. “It’s a readership that is disenfranchised. They do not like the political establishment. They see Donald Trump as someone who will champion their cause, just like the National Enquirer has championed their cause for many decades.”

That affection for Trump from a readership that has long accepted the Enquirer’s blurring of truth and fiction—and never tired of its stories of get-rich-quick schemes—is a mutual one.

In 2011, shortly after Trump announced he would not run for the Republican nomination for president, the Enquirer published an article headlined, “Millions Implore Donald Trump to Reconsider New Presidential Run.” Eventually, Trump obliged. And soon after he declared his candidacy last summer, he gave Enquirer readers a world exclusive, in which he explained why he was running. “I am the only one who can make America great again!” he wrote.

More first-person essays from Trump followed. So did a flurry of articles from the Enquirer’s staff knocking his Republican primary opponents:Ben Carson was a “bungling surgeon,” Jeb Bush had “sleazy cheating scandals,” Ted Cruz’s father was linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (Each of the candidates, or their surrogates, quickly disputed the Enquirer's reporting.) In March, the Enquirer endorsed Trump for president—its first endorsement in its 90-year history.

And when the Enquirer throws itself a 90th birthday party Thursday night, it will do so, naturally, at the Trump SoHo hotel in Manhattan.

It wasn’t always thus. Back in the 1980s and ’90s, Trump was just another of the countless celebrities whose affairs, scandals, and weight gains make up the paper’s weekly coverage. In 1990, the Enquirer ran a cover story headlined, “Trump’s Mistress Cheats on Donald with Tom Cruise.”

That coverage has since shifted—a change some news reports have suggested may be linked to Trump’s friendship with David Pecker, who has been chief executive officer and chairman of the Enquirer’s publisher American Media Inc. since 1999. “I have known Donald Trump for 25 years and I am proud to call him a friend. I support his candidacy for President and greatly admire what he has achieved in a relatively short period of time as a non-politician,” Pecker said in a statement. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Howard, named editor-in-chief of the Enquirer in 2014, said that the paper’s readers, not his boss, have steered the Enquirer into Trump-friendly waters.

DICK MORRIS, 69, THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER’S CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND CORRESPONDENT, AT THE PUBLICATION'S OFFICES IN NEW YORK, JUNE 27, 2016.

MICHAEL KIRBY SMITH/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Howard said that not long ago the Enquirer conducted an extensive poll of its readers’ political preferences. The results came back overwhelmingly in favor of Trump. “My duty is to my readers,” said Howard. “I made the decision to endorse Donald Trump. Nobody influences the editorial decision-making process at the National Enquirer other than myself and our editors. We have not been told, at any point, to go easy on Mr. Trump.”

If the Enquirer digs up a titillating scoop on Trump, the paper will publish it, Howard said—if, that is, the tip can live up to the paper’s standards of truth. “What we do, that the mainstream media doesn’t do, is that we put people through lie-detector tests to prove the validity of their information,” said Howard.

No juicy revelations about Trump have thus far managed to pass the Enquirer’s polygraph test, he said. “The reality is we’ve been approached by a significant amount of people who claim nefarious stories on Donald Trump,” Howard said. “I’ve investigated every single one of them. Many of them are without foundation.”

(Not all the paper’s Trump coverage has been overtly rosy. The Enquirer published one story about people styling their pets’ fur to resemble Trump’s comb-over. “We can only imagine The Donald is unhappy that he didn’t cash in on this billion-dollar idea himself,” noted the article.)

The paper has had no trouble digging up dirt on Hillary Clinton, particularly on her health. According to its recent reporting, Clinton is suffering from frequent fainting spells due to blood clots in her brain—and possibly from brain cancer. She's also, it reported, suffering from depression. And post-concussion syndrome. And alcoholism. And paranoia. And lung cancer. And the early stages of multiple sclerosis. One story said the “desperate and deteriorating 67-year-old won’t make it to the White House—because she’ll be dead in six months.” That was 11 months ago. (Clinton released a letter from her personal physician this month revealing that she was alive and not suffering from any of the ailments the Enquirer had reported.)

In July, the Enquirer hired its first-ever political columnist in Dick Morris, former Clinton adviser turned unremitting critic. He has churned out a steady barrage of columns pillorying Clinton since. “This followed the research into our readership,” said Howard. “To me, Dick Morris was a significant hire, because it underscores our commitment to investigating political candidates.”

Clinton hit back last month during a speech in Reno, Nev., in which she accused Trump of spreading “dark conspiracy theories” taken from the pages of “supermarket tabloids” and the “far, dark reaches of the Internet.”

“This is what happens when you treat the National Enquirer like gospel,” she said.

Howard said he felt flattered by the call-out. “It’s not just Hillary Clinton,” he said. “We have a long and proud history of unmasking presidential candidates.”

For decades, the Enquirer ignored politics entirely, favoring stories with more universal appeal—gory accidents, freak shows, miracle cures, aging actresses, get-rich-quick tricks, celebrity divorces, deadbeat dads. But by the '80s, politicians' scandals bordered on relevant to the tabloid.It made its first major political splash in 1987, when it published a photo of Gary Hartsitting on a dock with a woman named Donna Rice on his lap. When the photo was published, Hart had already suspended his presidential campaign.

The photo was a sensation. The Enquirer, which had paid $50,000 for the shot, sold the secondary rights to papers the world over, according to Jack Vitek’s book about the history of the paper. Henceforth, politics would appear in the Enquirer's pages.

THE JUNE 2, 1987, COVER OF THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER, SHOWING DONNA RICE WITH GARY HART, RIGHT.

In 1996, the Enquirer uncovered and interviewed a former mistress of then-presidential candidate Bob Dole. A few years later, the paper broke a story revealing that Jesse Jackson had fathered a child outside his marriage. It broke the biggest politics story in its history between 2007 and 2009, revealing that then-presidential candidate John Edwards was having an extramarital affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter and that they had secretly had a baby together.

During the Enquirer’s subsequent victory lap, there was speculation that the paper could win a Pulitzer Prize. Then-editor Barry Levine told the New York Times it was considering opening a full-fledged Washington bureau.

The Enquirer never got around to that. Nevertheless, Howard said, the paper has dedicated serious resources to its political coverage and is still paying for scoops he promises “will shake the election to its very core.”

Readers, he said, are reacting well to the political stories, which often result in a 20 percent to 30 percent bump in sales. Two of the Enquirer's three bestselling issues so far this year featured politics on their covers: “The Donald Trump Nobody Knows!” and “What They’re Hiding.”

Even so, the popularity of the paper’s print edition is far diminished from what it once was. During the first six months of this year, it had an average weekly circulation of 342,071 readers, according to the Alliance for Audited Media—down from 5 million to 6 million copies a week in the late 1970s. In August, the paper attracted 851,000 unique visitors on the web, according to ComScore.

Now, in the final weeks before the presidential election, Howard suggests his paper’s lie-detector machines could get plenty of action.

“We do good old-fashioned boots-on-the-ground reporting that much of the mainstream media doesn’t do today,” he said. “My checkbook is big, and it is open.”

!!!!!

National Enquirer’s New ‘Bombshell’: Hillary’s an ‘Evil,’ Bisexual ‘Secret Sex Freak’

The National Enquirer truly outdid itself on Wednesday with its torrid tale of Grandma Hillary’s secret life.

Asawin Suebsaeng

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG

10.19.16 2:30 PM ET

On the day of the third and final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Trump-aligned supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer published its latest alleged scoop: and, as luck would have it, it’s a “bombshell.”

The “WORLD EXCLUSIVE 9-PAGE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION” breathlessly details how the former Secretary of State and First Lady is a sex-crazed, “evil,” prolifically “polyamorous,” bisexual (or at least bi-curious), and “ruthless power-hungry” supervillain, with a taste for criminal conspiracy and character assassination aimed at enemy “bimbos.”

It’s a story that has everything you could want in a sleazy, so-bad-it’s-good Hollywood production—like the plots of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct and the intrigue and open-marriage-ness of House of Cards were rolled into one story, but with even cheesier dialogue, somehow. It has clandestine sex romps, mysterious death, dirty tricks, prostitutes, “LIES AND SPIES,” secret plots, and a woman hell-bent on manipulating her sex-crazed self all the way to the White House.

It also has exclamation points! Lots and lots of exclamation points!!

The Enquirer’s conspiracy-theory-mongering investigation (some of which you can read below) is divided into four chapters, including “THE BOMBSHELL PROOF HILLARY SILENCED BILL’S SEX VICTIMS,” “HILLARY’S PLOT TO KILL MONICA” (via smear campaign), “HILLARY’S GAY LOVERS & THE VINCE FOSTER DEATH COVER-UP—THE TRUTH AT LAST,” and concluding with “CONFESSIONS OF A CLINTON BAGMAN! IN HIS OWN WORDS.”

The centerpiece of the cover story is Hillary’s “BAGMAN”—a “fixer” who has seen the errors of his Clinton-loyalist ways, and spilled his guts to the Enquirer about the Clintons’ sex-hypocrisy, describing an “endless string of sexual stories arising from what effectively was the Clintons’ open, polyamorous marriage.”

“I am coming forward now because of the endless attention the alleged indiscretions of Donald Trump have received,” the source says, explaining the convenient timing of this Enquirer yarn. “Nothing I have heard comes close to the sexual and moral corruption of the Clintons.”

And why hasn’t the full scope of Hillary Clinton’s sexual corruption reached the front page of The New York Times, yet??

Money, of course. Loads and loads of filthy Clinton hush money.

“Hollywood superstars, busty bimbos, strippers, hookers and shady figures from America’s underworld have all been SECRETLY paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money for more than two decades in a sordid scheme to help Hillary Clinton become president!” the story begins. “The women received the sleazy payoffs through Hillary’s political ‘hitman’ recruited from the ranks of Hollywood’s devious fixers by a top film and television executive.”

The juiciest part of the Enquirer’s cover story lies in the alleged revelations on “amorous Hillary’s” wild, swinging sex life.

“[Her fixer] arranged a lesbian romp for bi-sexual Hillary with a prominent Hollywood identity!” the Enquirer blares. “[He] squealed about a lusty rendezvous he arranged for Hillary that FINALLY proves the lesbian rumors that have dogged her for decades!”

“Hillary Clinton is a secret sex freak who paid fixers to set up illicit romps with both men AND women!” the report continues.

Oddly enough, rumors that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian murderer—or that Bill Clinton is a cocaine-addled deviant—are nothing new. Authors Robert Morrow, Edward Klein, and Trump’s longtime adviser and political ally Roger Stone have written books making such outlandish claims about the Clintons’ supposed drug habits, sexual preferences, and blood-splattered history. Trump himself suggested earlier this month that Hillary was also screwing around behind Bill’s back.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether Trump sees any merit in the Enquirer’s latest “bombshell” on his rival’s torrid lesbian dalliances and sexual corruption.

And much in the same way that the rise of Trumpism has helped push leading conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his team at Infowars more and more into the American mainstream consciousness, the success of the Trump presidential campaign has elevated the National Enquirer, a publication long famous for printing unsubstantiated gossip and ridiculous stories about the Illuminati and space aliens.

Early this year, the Enquirer officially endorsed Trump, making it one of the very few printed news sources in the country to do so. In the same March issue that “TRUMP MUST BE PREZ!” the Enquirer also bashed Trump’s primary opponent Marco Rubio as “nerdy.”

The Republican presidential nominee has long been a fan of the pro-Trump supermarket tabloid, and has reportedly forged during this election a political alliance with his friend David Pecker—the CEO of American Media, Inc., which publishes the Enquirer.

Donald J. Trump ? @realDonaldTrump

Time magazine should name David Pecker of American Media to be its top guy...but they are not smart enough to do that!

10:14 AM - 3 May 2013 · New York, NY, United States

50 50 Retweets 31 31 likes

“They’re very close,” a source close to the Enquirer told New York magazine last October. The insider also told New York that Team Trump was the source behind a cover story on rival candidate Ben Carson, headlined, “Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s Brain!” (Both the Trump campaign and Pecker denied the allegations of collusion.)

“Trump is a big friend of Pecker,” a source told the Daily News, stating that the real-estate mogul is “protected” by the Enquirer. “So no John Edwards-type investigations … Some of the staff are furious. Trump’s such fertile ground, and it drives them crazy to not only be staying away from it, but running puff pieces for him.”

In March, when the Enquirer published a hit piece on Ted Cruz involving “A HOOKER, A TEACHER & COWORKERS: 5 romps that will destroy Ted Cruz!” and a “sex-in-closet” tale, Trump and his campaign used the article as a weapon against Cruz. “The National Enquirer did a story,” Trump said at the time. “It was their story…I have no idea if it’s right or not. They actually have a very good record of being right.”

Months later, when the publication ran a story suggesting that Cruz’s dad was in New Orleans passing out pro-Castro pamphlets with President John F. Kennedy’s assassin (sidenote: there is no actual evidence for this), Trump widely promoted the “news,” and got his allies in mainstream media, including Fox News host Sean Hannity, to help him to do so.

Now, with Trump’s rivals in the GOP primary long since vanquished, it is only rational that the Trump-loving tabloid would turn its attention to Hillary Clinton “BLOCKBUSTERS.”

Despite their extremely cozy relationship, the Enquirer hasn’t always been kind to to Trump. In years past, it would publish thinly sourced stories about Trump’s own sex life, particularly ones about him getting cuckolded or two-timed.

“TRUMP‘S MISTRESS CHEATS ON DONALD WITH TOM CRUISE,” a cover story, dated March 27, 1990, alleged, promising “sizzling details inside.” (Another issue from the same month declared that “TRUMP MISTRESS IS PREGNANT,” leading to Ivana Trump’s “heartbreak.”)

The love affair between the mogul and the tabloid is now, however, very much mutual.

“There have been few presidential candidates in recent history that have generated the kind of discussion that Donald Trump has,” Pecker told The Daily Beast back in March. “It’s no surprise that the readership of the Enquirer recently told us that they wanted to read more about Trump than any other 2016 candidate.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/19/national-enquirer-s-new-bombshell-hillary-s-an-evil-bisexual-secret-sex-freak.html

hired dick moriss

Hold hard! Back in the early 1970s, one of Rupert Murdoch's earliest ventures in America was starting The Star, a weekly rival to the best-selling supermarket tabloid, the National Enquirer. It paddled in the shallow waters of Hollywood gossip, gothic crime and stories about Bigfoot.

There was one huge difference. The National Enquirer and The Star were never reckoned to be part of the "national press" as the News of the World has been. They had zero political clout and inflicted no political endorsements on their readers. They sold in 7/11 stores and supermarkets to an audience that did not lay them aside to pick up The New York Times.

The respectable press ignored The Star and the Enquirer, even though they broke big stories. Sold by Murdoch in 1990 to the Enquirer's parent company, The Star was the first to expose Clinton's philandering, during his first run for the presidency in January 1992. He survived precisely because the scoop was in The Star and could be deprecated as being in a mere tabloid.

http://www.truth-out.org/all-publishers-men/1310135909

The very cozy relationship between Donald Trump and the National ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../the-very-cozy-relationship-between-donald-trump-a...

Mar 28, 2016 - Donald Trump is the National Enquirer's pick for president. ... Trump and Enquirer chief executive David Pecker are reportedly palsy — "very ...

Enquiring Minds Want To Know: Just How Cozy Are Trump And ...

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/donald-trump-national-enquirer-2016

### Trump, Omarosa and National Enquirer know the art of the deal - NY ...

www.nydailynews.com/.../trump-omarosa-national-enquirer-art-deal-article-1.2750938

Aug 14, 2016 - Instead, Donald Trump reached out to his good pal David Pecker at American Media Inc., which owns The National Enquirer, and the two ...

National Enquirer 'Caught! Trump & His Mistress' - The Daily Beast

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/.../national-enquirer-caught-trump-his-mistress.html

1. ### Trump, National Enquirer CEO 'Have Been Friends For Years' | The ...

dailycaller.com/2016/03/.../trump-national-enquirer-ceo-have-been-friends-for-years/

1. 1. ### Donald Trump's Alliance With the *National Enquirer*

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/.../trumps-alliance-with-the-national-enquirer.ht...

:{Oct 30, 2015 - :{Trump:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: and Enquirer CEO :{David Pecker:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: have been friends for years. “They're very close,” said a source close to the Enquirer. In July 2013 ...:(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

Donald Trump Boosts The National Enquirer As Likely Showdown ...

www.huffingtonpost.com/.../donald-trump-national-enquirer-hillary-clinton_us_572a...

1. 1. 1. ### Donald Trump has strong links to National Enquirer and David Pecker ...

https://winteryknight.com/.../**donald**-**trump**-has-strong-links-to-national-enquirer-and-...

1. 1. 1. 1. ### Donald Trump lands endorsement of The National Enquirer | MSNBC

www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-lands-endorsement-the-national-enquirer

1. 1. 1. 1. ### Trump's Journalistic Weapon Now Targets Hillary - Accuracy in Media

www.aim.org › AIM Column

1. 1. 1. 1. :{:{

}:}:

Jul 22, 2016 - It was Donald J. Trump's effective weapon against Senator… ... Chairman and CEO David Pecker is considered a close friend of Trump.

:{:{ :(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

:{The supermarket tabloid National Enquirer can’t be laughed at any more. It was Donald J. Trump’s effective weapon against Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and now it’s been unleashed against Hillary Clinton:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}::{. The issue currently on newsstands reveals “The Explosive 7-Step Plan to Destroy Hillary,” and predicts the demise of the Democratic candidate.:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}:

:{Don’t laugh. In 2007, the National Enquirer :(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:broke the story of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards’ “love child.” Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child in a Los Angeles hotel. Edwards denied the affair, but the truth came out. The National Enquirer was vindicated.

The New York Times reported, “By being the first and, largely, the only publication pursuing the Edwards story through his denials of the affair and of fathering a child out of wedlock, The Enquirer is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize, and it has strong support for its bid from other journalists.” The Enquirer’s staff became eligible for the Pulitzer in two categories, “Investigative Reporting” and “National News Reporting.” It fell short, however.

The National Enquirer became Trump’s favorite media weapon to smear Cruz. Here is a list of assaults on the rival Republican from the tabloid:

- - - - April 4: “Cruz’s 5 Secret Mistresses” and “Their Shocking Claims”
        
        April 11: “Furious Wife Confronts Cheating Cruz!”
        
        April 18: “Ted Cruz Named in Madam’s Black Book”
        
        May 2: “Ted Cruz Father Linked to JFK Assassination”
        
        May 16: “Ted Cruz, Go Home”

The attacks on Cruz, especially the attack on his father, Rafael Cruz, took their toll. The Texas senator cited Trump’s use of the smear in explaining why he wouldn’t endorse the New York billionaire for president. “I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,” Cruz said. Trump had tweeted a bad photo of Cruz’s wife Heidi next to a flattering picture of Trump’s supermodel wife.

On “Fox & Friends,” Trump had cited the Enquirer story about Cruz’s father as believable. Trump said, “Nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.”

By the time the patriotic July 4 issue of the National Enquirer had appeared, Trump had won and the publication ran the story, “Trump: How I will Save America From Terror.”

The publication had really moved on from attacking Cruz to going after Hillary by the June 27 issue, with the story, “Hillary Will Never Be President,” citing an alleged indictment of the candidate over her use of emails. It didn’t pan out. The FBI director didn’t recommend an indictment.

But the August 1 story, “How Trump Will Win,” explains how lesbianism and lies will eventually cause the campaign collapse of the former secretary of state. Among the revelations:

- - - - Hillary’s “lesbian shenanigans.”
        
        Bill Clinton has a secret son.
        
        Hillary spent time in a mental hospital.
        
        Bill and Hillary have a secret $100 million divorce pact.

Don’t think the National Enquirer doesn’t have high-level sources. The former Clinton aide Dick Morris, who once worked for Fox News, now has a regular column in the publication, under the headline, “The most feared voice in politics.” His most recent column, concerning the former secretary of state’s dealings with Russia and Vladimir Putin, is actually quite good. He notes that the emails released by Mrs. Clinton conveniently omit details about a deal Russia made to buy American uranium. The deal came after Bill Clinton was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a Russian firm for speeches.

Morris did have a column in The Hill newspaper, which is distributed in Washington, D.C. But that paper dropped him when he signed on with The National Enquirer. Enquirer Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard said his hiring was proof of the publication’s “commitment to investigative journalism.”

Morris told the New York Post, “I enjoyed writing for The Hill for 20 years and I had a wonderful relationship with them, but the Enquirer’s circulation is many times The Hill’s. I think this move makes sense.”

The National Enquirer is part of the American Media, Inc. (AMI) empire and also includes Star, OK!, Globe, National Examiner, Soap Opera Digest, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Flex and Muscle & Fitness Hers. Chairman and CEO David Pecker is considered a close friend of Trump.

Ironically, as The New York Times pointed out, The Star, the sister publication of The National Enquirer, revealed Morris’s affair with a prostitute who claimed he had a penchant for sucking her toes. “The National Enquirer followed that bombshell with news of another mistress and a love child in Texas,” it said.

At the time, the paper reported that Morris had responded, “I will not subject my wife, family or friends to the sadistic vitriol of yellow journalism. I will not dignify such journalism with a reply or an answer. I never will.”

He later admitted the stories were true, the Times said.

His personal life aside, Morris is the author or co-author of some 20 books, includingCondi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race, about a match-up that did not occur in 2008.

In 2012, Morris, then a Fox News commentator, had predicted a Mitt Romney win. Morris’s prediction was Romney winning with 325 electoral votes, versus Obama’s 213. “That’s right,” Morris said. “A landslide for Romney approaching the magnitude of Obama’s against McCain.” Obama beat McCain 53-46 percent.

But Morris was not alone. Karl Rove, Fred Barnes, and Michael Barone had also predicted a Romney win.

This time, Morris has another book, Armageddon: How Trump Can Beat Hillary, described by Newsmax as “powerful and timely.”

But on the Dick Morris website, one person responded to the new book with the comment, “How Trump can beat Hillary? Well, the same way Romney and McCain beat Obama, I guess. Dick, you keep singing the same song over and over again.”

The trouble with the current anti-Clinton strategy, “The Explosive 7-Step Plan to Destroy Hillary,” is that people probably won’t believe it when they see it, since the information will be coming from a source that even Cruz has denounced.

However, in contrast to how the major media picked up the tabloid’s charges against Cruz, it’s doubtful that any controversial charges against Clinton, even with substantial evidence to back them up, would get the same kind of sympathetic coverage or traction.

In any case, Trump clearly has a journalistic weapon to use against Hillary. It would help, in his war against the Democrat, if he has what the tabloid had when it exposed John Edwards—eyewitnesses, photos and evidence.

Time will tell.

Cliff Kincaid

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org. View the complete archives from Cliff Kincaid.

David J. Pecker | American Media Inc

www.americanmediainc.com/about-us/executives/david-j-pecker

AMERICAN MEDIA, INC. NAMES NEIL GOLDSTEIN SENIOR VICE ...

www.americanmediainc.com/.../american-media-inc-names-neil-goldstein-senior-vice...

1. 1. 1. 1. ### American Media Inc. | New York Post

nypost.com/tag/american-media-inc/

David Pecker | New York Post

nypost.com/tag/david-pecker/

:{Trump said to have promised tabloid boss ambassador job ... Officer :{David Pecker:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, a well-known booster of Donald Trump, :{has been:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: promised an ambassadorship. ... National :{Enquirer publisher American Media Inc:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:. is teaming with two TV ... After weeks of denying the rumors, :{American Media Inc:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:. :{CEO David Pecker:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: ...:(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

Executive from National Enquirer parent joins Postmedia board ...

https://www.thestar.com/.../**executive**-from-national-enquirer-parent-joins-postmedia-...

1. 1. 1. 1. ### American Media, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek

www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=24749

The David J. Pecker Distinguished Professorship | DYSON COLLEGE ...

www.pace.edu/dyson/.../publishing/david-pecker-distinguished-professorship

1. 1. 1. 1. :{ :(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

The David J. Pecker Distinguished Professorship enables Pace University to recruit and invite chief executive officers of major publishing companies and other industry leaders to teach and lecture within the M.S. in Publishing Program. Lisa Sharkey, Senior Vice President and Director of Creative Development for HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, presently holds this position.

The Professorship allows Pace publishing students to learn from the most successful, innovative, and influential people in the publishing world; deepens the connection between students and the industry; exposes students to the latest insights, innovations, and trends in the business; enhances the Program’s already-glowing reputation and allows it to compete both locally and nationally.

	David J. Pecker became Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Media, Inc. (AMI) in May 1999, when along with Evercore Partners, he purchased the company. Today, AMI is the leading publisher of celebrity and health & fitness magazines including Star, National Enquirer, Shape and Men’s Fitness. The company’s holdings also include Distribution Services Inc. (DSI), the leading supermarket in-store merchandiser. Before acquiring American Media, Inc. Mr. Pecker was President and Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1992, after being named President of Hachette Magazines, Inc. in September 1991. Prior to September 1990, Mr. Pecker had served as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Hachette Magazines, Inc. formerly Diamandis Communications Inc. Mr. Pecker holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University and attended Pace University Graduate School of Business. In May of 1998, the university awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science. Mr. Pecker has been elected as a Trustee of the Pace University Board of Trustees. Mr. Pecker is deeply committed to publishing and publishing education.
The following executives have served as the David Pecker Distinguished Professor:	The following executives have served as the David Pecker Distinguished Professor:
	Lisa Sharkey (2016-2017) – Lisa Sharkey is the Senior Vice President and Director of Creative Development for HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, one of the world’s leading English-language publishers and a subsidiary of News Corporation. She joined the company in 2007 after more than two decades in television.

David J. Pecker became Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Media, Inc. (AMI) in May 1999, when along with Evercore Partners, he purchased the company. Today, AMI is the leading publisher of celebrity and health & fitness magazines including Star, National Enquirer, Shape and Men’s Fitness. The company’s holdings also include Distribution Services Inc. (DSI), the leading supermarket in-store merchandiser.

Before acquiring American Media, Inc. Mr. Pecker was President and Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1992, after being named President of Hachette Magazines, Inc. in September 1991. Prior to September 1990, Mr. Pecker had served as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Hachette Magazines, Inc. formerly Diamandis Communications Inc.

Mr. Pecker holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University and attended Pace University Graduate School of Business. In May of 1998, the university awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science. Mr. Pecker has been elected as a Trustee of the Pace University Board of Trustees. Mr. Pecker is deeply committed to publishing and publishing education.

The following executives have served as the David Pecker Distinguished Professor:

Lisa Sharkey (2016-2017) – Lisa Sharkey is the Senior Vice President and Director of Creative Development for HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, one of the world’s leading English-language publishers and a subsidiary of News Corporation. She joined the company in 2007 after more than two decades in television.