Throughout the 2016 campaign and even after the inauguration, President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen would regularly receive digital copies of National Enquirer articles and cover images related to Trump and his political opponents before they went to press, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post.
Trump is close to David Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. The stories passed along about Trump were always positive, the Post reports, and if Cohen made any changes, it was to pick a more flattering photo. Trump, several people said, would pitch stories to Pecker and also saw them before they went to print, including an article about Hillary Clinton's health and another about former GOP presidential primary rival Dr. Ben Carson allegedly botching operations.
Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign adviser, told the Post that the Enquirer was "such a help to Trump during the primary and even the general" that it was basically free advertising. The company's chief content officer, Dylan Howard, denied that the Trump camp had a say in the articles, adding that if the stories ever were shared, "it was not at the behest of me or David."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In April, FBI agents raided the office and home of Cohen, and people with knowledge of the matter say they took his records related to AMI, Pecker, Howard, and payments made to women who say they had affairs with Trump.
-
Should Labour break manifesto pledge and raise taxes?Today's Big Question There are ‘powerful’ fiscal arguments for an income tax rise but it could mean ‘game over’ for the government
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
To the point: the gender divide over exclamation marksTalking Point 'Men harbouring urges to be more exclamative' can finally take a breath – this is what using the punctuation really conveys
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
