-The richest man in the world says, "America Media Inc.
is threatening to release his private photos.
-Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and, oh,
by the way, the richest man in the world.
-Amazon CEO accusing the parent company
of The National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail.
' -American Media Inc.
or AMI is at the center of extortion allocations
made by billionaire Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos.
The allegations involve lewd photographs
and potentially even associate of President Trump.
New-York-City based AMI
publishes a range of lifestyle and entertainment titles,
including The National Enquirer, Us Weekly, and In Touch.
The company says its publications reach
a combined 47 millions people each month.
AMI's flagship publication, The National Enquirer,
became the first weekly celebrity news
and gossip magazine in the 1960s.
Today it maintains it's reputation for outrageous
stories and salacious celebrity gossip.
It's influence has waned in the last decade.
Ten years ago, circulation peaked
at about 900,000 copies per week.
In more recent years,
that number has fallen to less than 300,000.
It's still stocked at supermarket checkout lines
throughout the country, meaning many non-readers
are still exposed to its front page.
The Enquirer has broken some
significant stories over the years.
Its reporting exposed former Senator
and Presidential candidate John Edward's affair
with film producer Rielee Hunter.
The two had a child together and the scandal ultimately led
to the end of his political career.
-I made a very serious mistake.
A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else.
-The Enquirer also ran an exclusive
on Bristol Palin's pregnancy,
which caused former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin,
to preemptively break the news about her then,
teenage daughter. And all of this happened
while she was the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate.
-News that Governor Sarah Pailn's teenage daughter
is pregnant came in a written statement.
Palin stating, "We're of Bristol's
decision to have her baby
and even prouder to become grandparents."
-In 2005, the magazine ran a story
alleging that Bill Cosby assaulted two women.
This happened nearly a decade before other media outlets
reported on Cosby's repeated sexual misconduct.
The Enquirer's Bezos exposé goes beyond regular tabloid scandal
because of its political hit job allegations.
Bezos' private security consultant,
Gavin de Becker said the Enquirer's scoop
was a politically-motivated smear.
Potentially involving key figures
in President Trump's 2016 campaign.
The publication is known for its loyalty to Trump.
-In April of 1999, was when we acquired American Media.
-AMI's chief executive, David Pecker,
is a long-standing friend of the President.
Their relationship began when Pecker was CEO
of Hachette Filipacchi Media in the '90s.
The publisher produced Trump Style magazine,
which Trump distributed at his properties starting in 1997.
Pecker has a history of publishing pro-Trump stories.
He directed the Enquirer to write favorable stories
about Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
AMI was also behind the $150,000 payment
made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The payment was made during the 2016 campaign
to quiet McDougal's claim
of a long-running affair with Trump.
AMI admitted to the payment in December 2018,
as part of an agreement to avoid federal prosecution.
Pecker himself was granted immunity by federal prosecutors,
investigating Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen
and his role in hush-money payments.
Pecker's immunity comes in exchange
for providing information on these deals.
After Bezos published the statement
detailing his allegations, reporter Ronan Farrow said
that he and another prominent journalist
have received similar blackmail threats from AMI
over their reporting.
Farrow has written about The Enquirer's
catch-and-kill practice,
that benefited the Trump campaign,
where stories are squashed by paying off sources.
In a February 8th statement,
AMI said it would thoroughly investigate
Bezos' extortion claims.
The company said it believes it has,
"acted lawfully" in its reporting.
And engaged in "good faith negotiations to resolve
all matters" with Bezos.