When the National Enquirer is talking to the Feds about your mistresses, you're pretty well hosed.

[Miles Archer]

MSNBC
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@MSNBC

JUST IN: WSJ reports that David Pecker, CEO and Chairman of AMI, provided information to prosecutors about payments Michael Cohen made to women who alleged sexual encounters with President Trump and about Trump's knowledge of those deals.

Link to tweet

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to breaking campaign finance laws, after he helped arrange a payment to a former Playboy model with David Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc.

Though American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, went unnamed in court documents, The Wall Street Journal reported four days before the 2016 presidential election that the publisher bought the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about having an affair with Trump and refused to publish it, a tactic known as “catch and kill.” Pecker is a longtime friend of Trump’s.

In Manhattan federal court, Cohen admitted his and Trump’s role in making payments to two women—McDougal and adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, more commonly known as Stormy Daniels—ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep them from talking publicly about their alleged affairs with Trump.

While Cohen paid Clifford directly, he worked with American Media for the payout to McDougal.

https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/what-michael-cohens-plea-deal-means-for-david-pecker-and-american-media/

[GusBob]

1. It might be good for sales

Think of the headlines and not too mention the photos

Good for their business

[Freethinker65]

2. When a sanctimonious Mormon Senator is fine with your adultry/lying/pussy grabbing/self dealing...

You will be just fine. The GOP will protect Trump.

[calimary]

3. Euuwww! The body language in that photo!

trump and Ivanka sooooooo close together.

Just EEEEEUUUUWWWWWW!!!!

[iluvtennis]

23. And his hand on her butt. What an a-hole.

[HuskyOffset]

24. His back to his wife,

his tiny vulgarian hand on his daughter’s ass, that’s totally Trump.

Edit: I stand corrected (a few posts down), it’s apparently not his hand. In my defense, it does seem like something he would do.

[Raine]

25. Look more closely, that hand is actually is one of the PB Bunnies hands

she has her arm around the waist of the bunny next to her.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. My question is....why would this guy run for POTUS?

It's not like he has any oner reaching vision for this country. He has not a clue how to fix the structural problems of this country going forward. Fact is, he had a pretty goddam nice life being Don "Art of the Deal" Trump, trading his name for sweet $ deals. The guy is 70+ with no idea how to be POTUS....why would he put his brand, and himself, in such a destructive position?

The only answer is...because Putin told him he had to.

[Miles Archer]

8. Ego.

That's it. Ego, and maybe the fact that Obama pissed him off at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but that's still ego.

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. I get the Obama deserved humiliation.

But, that's not enough to make him want the Office with all of his baggage. Yes, he hated Obama for making him a joke at the dinner...but he also knew he had a lot of legal baggage he couldn't hide. Either he thought he could overpower the JD or he was pushed by foreign interests to run for POTUS. I truly think the bill came due and he had no other option but to run for POTUS.

[Wounded Bear]

28. I figure he always thought of it as a "get out of jail free" card...

Working on that self pardon.

[Frustratedlady]

5. Wow! The gal next to Trump (the one where his hand is on her butt) looks like a younger Ivanka.

The similarities are eerie...

[Frustratedlady]

10. Well, damn. It IS Ivanka. I just noticed Melania on the other side.

She doesn't seem to mind her father's hand being on her butt cheek. Sicko!

[Miles Archer]

11. That IS Ivanka

From left to right, it's McDougal, Sara Jean Underwood, and Ivanka.

If you look closely at the photo, McDougal and Underwood have their hands on each others' waists. It's not Trump's hand on her butt.

Photo link:

McDougal appears in photo with Trump family
Anderson Cooper 360

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal describes meeting Melania Trump in an exclusive interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/03/23/karen-mcdougal-meeting-melania-trump-ac-sot.cnn

[Frustratedlady]

14. I stand corrected. eom

[PJMcK]

13. Two things I see

First, I’m pretty sure that is Ivanka standing next to Trump. It’s creepy, right?

Second, it’s not Trump’s hand on her ass. If you zoom in on the photo, it’s actualy the right hand of the brunette woman (in the light-colored bunny suit) and she has her right arm around the blonde woman in the dark bunny-suit.

Is that Melanie to the left of Trump? It sure looks like her.

[Frustratedlady]

15. Yes, I'm sure it's Melania.

I stand corrected on the hand. Knowing how much of a pervert he is, I could see him glomming onto the opportunity and mistook the hand as his. Better get my eyes checked.

[PJMcK]

17. Save your money!

I originally thought the same thing and posted similarly to you, Frustratedlady! When I re-examined the picture I realized I was wrong and self-deleted my post above.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t your eyesight or mine that misled us since we expect Trump to behave that way. Sometimes, our brains tell us what we expect to see. As I wrote, save your green!

[Frustratedlady]

18. Well, at least you re-examined the photo, you caught your mistake.

I would have sworn on the Bible that it was his hand. That pretty much measures my impression of Trump and what he's capable of.

What are we going to do when he is finally out of office?

[PJMcK]

20. An answer to your question

When Trump is out of office, you might have to change your DU screen name!

Also, we’ll have to partay!

[Cha]

6. Pecker's a turncoat! Never thought I'd see

that?

[RockRaven]

19. Don't know how true it is, but I saw a lawyer opining that AMI/Nat Enq/Pecker have a huge problem

in light of Cohen saying he coordinated with Nat Enq to pay off McDougal b/c it amounts to a political campaign directing a company to act on their behalf. Massive legal/financial liability. Enough to make Pecker squeal.

Under this theory, thiscoordination voids AMI/Nat Enq's "media exemption" from campaign finance/contribution laws. In other words, when media companies act in a fashion which happens to benefit a candidate, so long as it is in the normal course of journalism or entertainment those actions are NOT considered an in-kind contribution. But acting in coordination with a campaign specifically to benefit the candidate voids the media exemption, and all of the coverage of Trump in the Nat Enq during the campaign -- quite a lot of front page crap over 1-2 years) counts as an in-kind contribution (in the amount which Trump would have had to pay to purchase such coverage) which massively exceeds contribution limits and was unreported in any case. Plus the conspiracy to violate campaign finance law. Oh, and RICO. Ouch, ouch, ouch, OUCH.

That said, I have no idea how legit this legal argument is, but if it is half-right then Pecker better be spilling or things would get very hard for him once Cohen cooperates.

[Cha]

22. Well, it's makes good sense considering

how Pecker's reacting.

Thank You for that, RockRaven.. I appreciate it!

[Funtatlaguy]

27. Trumps small pecker problem blew up into a HUGE PECKER problem.

[sarcasmo]

7. A Pecker can really screw up your life.

[Funtatlaguy]

26. Not the first time that Pecker fucked me.

[TheBlackAdder]

21. Will the National Enquirer run an expose on David "The RAT" Pecker and his criminal conspiracy?

.

I won't hold my breath.

.