David Pecker is a big fan of Donald J. Trump. Normally that would be no big deal because, as we've learned, there are plenty of trailer park Nazis out there who love the guy. The major difference is Pecker isn't some run of the mill truck driver, or plumber convinced the Mexicans are coming for his job. He runs America Media Inc.
The flagship of AMI's publishing empire is the National Enquirer, a tabloid most notable for its point of sale positioning in practically every grocery store in the land and its lurid and many times suspect headlines and stories. You know, like the one which ran during the 2016 presidential campaign telling readers, Hillary Rodham Clinton was taking a witch's brew of narcotics not just to sustain her during the race, but to literally survive from one day to the next.
The Enquirer's sources for such breaking news are murky and many times steeped in hearsay. They are also almost always uncorroborated in any true journalistic sense. In addition these sources are usually paid in cash after the story is published in order to keep them on the hook before it appears.
Hey, it is tough to track down a couple of actual witness who will testify Mrs. Clinton is, "a secret sex freak," as the Enquirer once reported. After all, if people blabbed about something like that to reporters it wouldn't be much of a secret would it? However, if you don't mind using a source who heard from a friend his, or her cousin once had drinks with someone who admitted to having participated in a back room lesbian orgy, then what the hell, America has the right to know doesn't it?
All of which brings us to one, Dino Sajudin. The AP reported today that Mr. Sajudin once held the information sensitive position of doorman at one of Don Trump's buildings. Before the 2016 presidential campaign began he called the Enquirer's tip line with the hot news that he had heard El Donald had an affair with one of the building's employees and fathered a child with her.
The AP writes the Enquirer strapped him into a polygraph machine and Sajudin was able to pass the test when questioned about, not the veracity of the story, but who he'd heard the rumor from. Enquirer senior editor, Dylan Howard. almost immediately cut the former doorman a check for $30,000 and had him sign a contract giving the publication exclusive rights to his information in perpetuity. There was also a clause which said if Sajudin told anyone else his salacious tale he would have to pay AMI $1,000,000.
The story died right there. Howard, claimed it was killed because it couldn't be verified and therefore didn't meet the Enquirer's suddenly rigorous investigative standards. Former employees claim the reality is no one even followed up on the gossip. In other words, these employees said there was never an attempt to investigate, or verify what our man Dino told them.
Their assertion was AMI had made what is known as a, "catch and kill," payment. In short the company paid Sajudin the $30 grand in order to bury the rumor before he took it to someone with even less scruples. The AP noted the former employees stated "catch and kill," is normally used by the Enquirer either as a favor to the person who is subject of the tip, or as leverage to get information out of him, or her at a later date--an act which some of us might describe as blackmail. Additionally the same employees told the AP that during the campaign, when it came to articles disparaging Trump's political foes, reporters didn't have to verify didly squat before the Enquirer would run them.
Ah yes, high standards indeed.
A few months after Sajudin approached the Enquirer, AMI used a variation of, "catch and kill," when it hired former Playboy Playmate, Karen McDougal. Ms. McDougal was claiming she had an affair with Trump. AMI gave her a job as a columnist for a fitness magazine it owned, paying her $150,000. Once she took the cash she became an employee and was bound by contract to keep her mouth shut about the affair. After running only a couple of her columns she was left sitting at a desk with nothing to do. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, her story broke days before the election, but by then things were circling the drain for Clinton.
Dino Sajudin, on the other hand, was released from his contract after the election when it was assured his bull shit story couldn't do any harm.
Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, admits he spoke to Enquirer employees about both McDougal and Sajudin in his capacity as a Trump representative. Despite the meetings Cohen insists he neither encouraged or knew of the pay offs made by AMI amounting to $180,000.
Right. Just like he gave Stormy Daniels $130,000 of his own cash without the knowledge of his client.
Now we have a hint why the FBI was kicking in the doors of Cohen's hotel room, home, and office the other day. Let's face it, when $310,000 is paid to three different people so they won't squeal about a presidential candidate's sordid sex life--real, or fantasized--it tends to look like you've broken a few federal campaign laws.
Beyond Cohen's possible felonies, it is becoming increasingly obvious the results of the past presidential election were deeply influenced by media such as FOX News and AMI who served as mouthpieces for the Trump campaign, not just eviscerating Hillary Clinton on a daily basis, but by shamelessly covering up their man's grievous sins. That's in addition to Cambridge Analytica dissecting the psyches of Facebook users then selling the results to people like Steve Bannon. It's also before we get to Mark Zuckerberg's indifference to the outrageous lies being plastered throughout his site by the fucking Russians even as their bots infested Twitter like a swarm of plague carrying fleas.
Given this monstrous shit is it any wonder Trump won? No there isn't. In fact, after looking at these revelations, the only question right now is how Mrs. Clinton kept it as close as she did.
sic vita est
4-12-18
We have been told for some time now not to trust a guy named Putin. Hmm, well now, perhaps that also holds true for a guy named Pecker. You can't make this stuff up. You just can't!
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