The Notorious “catch and kill" campaign: Turning the National Enquirer into an arm of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign

[Procrustes Stretched]

What people? Give us a name. Show us the transcript.

You are claiming to know Pecker's and Cohen's testimony, where did you come across these sworn statements?

Not so easy for you people to lie anymore.

https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrump-71543/transcripts/P.v%20Trump%20Transcript%20042244.pdf

 

[para bellum]

"Manafort worked with Kilimnik starting in 2016 on narratives that sought to undermine evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election" and to direct such suspicions toward Ukraine." -- Kilimnik the Russian intelligence officer.

Mueller's report contradicted that narrative.

From a piece published by the left wing The Nation:

"Mueller, of course, reached a different conclusion: He “did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort’s sharing polling data and Russia’s interference in the election,” and, moreover, “did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.” Mueller noted that he “could not reliably determine Manafort’s purpose in sharing” the polling data, but also acknowledged (and bolstered) the explanation of his star witness, Rick Gates, that Manafort was motivated by proving his financial value to former and future clients.

Mueller also gave us new reasons to doubt the assertions that Kilimnik himself is a Russian intelligence asset or spy. First, Mueller did not join media pundits in asserting such about Kilimnik. Second, to support his vague contention that Kilimnik has, according to the FBI, “ties to Russian intelligence,” Mueller offered up a list of “pieces of the Office’s Evidence” that contains no direct evidence. For his part, Kilimnik has repeatedly stated that he has no such ties, and recently told The Washington Post that Mueller never attempted to interview him."

The Mueller Report Indicts the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theory

The real Russiagate scandal is the damage it has done to our democratic system and media.

www.thenation.com

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Mueller's report contradicted that narrative.

From a piece published by the left wing The Nation:

"Mueller, of course, reached a different conclusion: He “did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort’s sharing polling data and Russia’s interference in the election,” and, moreover, “did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.” Mueller noted that he “could not reliably determine Manafort’s purpose in sharing” the polling data, but also acknowledged (and bolstered) the explanation of his star witness, Rick Gates, that Manafort was motivated by proving his financial value to former and future clients.

Mueller also gave us new reasons to doubt the assertions that Kilimnik himself is a Russian intelligence asset or spy. First, Mueller did not join media pundits in asserting such about Kilimnik. Second, to support his vague contention that Kilimnik has, according to the FBI, “ties to Russian intelligence,” Mueller offered up a list of “pieces of the Office’s Evidence” that contains no direct evidence. For his part, Kilimnik has repeatedly stated that he has no such ties, and recently told The Washington Post that Mueller never attempted to interview him."

The Mueller Report Indicts the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theory

The real Russiagate scandal is the damage it has done to our democratic system and media.

www.thenation.com

And? Lots of times the DOJ could not reliably determine that Whitey Bulgier or John Gotti were killers.

It's not a clean bill of health, and it's not the Nation writing the article -- it's this whack job:

Aaron Maté - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Aaron Maté

Aaron Maté is a contributor to The Nation and the host of Pushback, airing on The Grayzone.

www.thenation.com

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Mueller's report contradicted that narrative.

From a piece published by the left wing The Nation:

"Mueller, of course, reached a different conclusion: He “did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort’s sharing polling data and Russia’s interference in the election,” and, moreover, “did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.” Mueller noted that he “could not reliably determine Manafort’s purpose in sharing” the polling data, but also acknowledged (and bolstered) the explanation of his star witness, Rick Gates, that Manafort was motivated by proving his financial value to former and future clients.

Mueller also gave us new reasons to doubt the assertions that Kilimnik himself is a Russian intelligence asset or spy. First, Mueller did not join media pundits in asserting such about Kilimnik. Second, to support his vague contention that Kilimnik has, according to the FBI, “ties to Russian intelligence,” Mueller offered up a list of “pieces of the Office’s Evidence” that contains no direct evidence. For his part, Kilimnik has repeatedly stated that he has no such ties, and recently told The Washington Post that Mueller never attempted to interview him."

The Mueller Report Indicts the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theory

The real Russiagate scandal is the damage it has done to our democratic system and media.

www.thenation.com

Read the whole report before you keep acting like you know wtf you're talking about.

https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl

Mueller's Letter To Barr Complained That Trump-Russia Report Summary Lacked 'Context'​

When the redacted Mueller report came out, there was new evidence of obstruction by the president. "This report does not exonerate the president, but it does point out there's some difficult legal issues in play here," NPR's Carrie Johnson reported.

 

[para bellum]

Not so easy for you people to lie anymore.

https://pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrump-71543/transcripts/P.v%20Trump%20Transcript%20042244.pdf

Did you read it? Pecker did not say he was "summoned" to Trump Tower on August 2015.

Fail.

 

[Lastamender]

OhPleaseJustQuit calls this Fake News?

The Troll cannot refute the facts. This stuff is laid out in an indictment. The facts cannot be refuted.

Meister can laugh. It usually does when it lacks a credible argument.

It is called campaigning.

 

[para bellum]

Read the whole report before you keep acting like you know wtf you're talking about.

https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl

I did read the whole report, and I'm not going to do it again.

Mueller's Letter To Barr Complained That Trump-Russia Report Summary Lacked 'Context'​

When the redacted Mueller report came out, there was new evidence of obstruction by the president. "This report does not exonerate the president, but it does point out there's some difficult legal issues in play here," NPR's Carrie Johnson reported.

Barr's summary to the Congress was not meant to be a detailed summation of Mueller's work. The Congress would get the full unredacted report.

I said before, Mueller left the obstruction question open for the DOJ.

What we all know after the Durham and the DOJIG reports is that the misconduct was at the FBI, not the Trump campaign.

 

[OKTexas]

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise - By Lachlan Cartwright

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

I pulled up the indictment and the statement of facts on my iPhone. At the center of the case is the accusation that Trump took part in a scheme to turn The National Enquirer and its sister publications into an arm of his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents detailed three “hush money” payments made to a series of individuals to guarantee their silence about potentially damaging stories in the months before the election. Because this was done with the goal of helping his election chances, the case implied, these payments amounted to a form of illegal, undisclosed campaign spending. And, Bragg argued, because Trump created paperwork to make the payments seem like regular legal expenses, that amounted to a criminal effort at a coverup. Trump has denied the charges against him.

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

www.nytimes.com

The documents rattled off a number of seedy stories that would have been right at home in a venerable supermarket tabloid, had they actually been published. The subjects were anonymized but recognizable to anyone who had followed the story of Trump’s entanglement with The Enquirer. His affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels, of course, was the heart of it. There was also Karen McDougal, the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1998, whose affair with Trump was similarly made to disappear, the payments for the rights to her story made to look like fees for writing a fitness column and appearing on magazine covers. (Trump has denied involvement with both women.) There were others that were lesser known, too, like Dino Sajudin, a former Trump World Tower doorman who claimed that Trump had a love child with one of the building’s employees; the story was never published, and Sajudin was paid $30,000 to keep quiet about it.

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

web.archive.org

To me this is unbelievable. Before Mr. Trump's official entry into presidential politics - he becoming a politician - this kind of story that surfaced years ago, would've killed the career of an aspiring politician. But with Mr. Trump's troll-like campaign (proof/not opinion is his personal/family insults and attacks on a debate stage, breaking of norms, rules...unheard of before 2015), the bizarre became acceptable to small but then growing a segment of the population.

View attachment 928170

This is a story that needs telling.

If you're under the delusion the the Enquirer is the only publication to engage in this practice, you really need to get professional help. Not only that, you should look up the slush fund used by congresscritters and others in government that was used to execute NDAs, using taxpayer money.

.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Did you read it? Pecker did not say he was "summoned" to Trump Tower on August 2015.

Fail.

Mr.Pecker did not approach Trump. Pecker went to Trump Tower because he was asked to.

In court, reporters:

“I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me that the boss wanted to see me,” Pecker says.

When he was summoned to Trump Tower for a meeting in August of 2015, “I assumed I was going to be asked for something,” Pecker said, because that was typically why Cohen called.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

I did read the whole report, and I'm not going to do it again.

Barr's summary to the Congress was not meant to be a detailed summation of Mueller's work. The Congress would get the full unredacted report.

I said before, Mueller left the obstruction question open for the DOJ.

What we all know after the Durham and the DOJIG reports is that the misconduct was at the FBI, not the Trump campaign.

The Barr summary has lead to "public confusion," Mueller wrote as quoted by the Post.

" 'The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions,' Mueller wrote. 'There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.' "

Mueller and Barr spoke in a phone call the day after the letter was received, said Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.


"In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading," Kupec said in a statement. "But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis."

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise - By Lachlan Cartwright

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

I pulled up the indictment and the statement of facts on my iPhone. At the center of the case is the accusation that Trump took part in a scheme to turn The National Enquirer and its sister publications into an arm of his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents detailed three “hush money” payments made to a series of individuals to guarantee their silence about potentially damaging stories in the months before the election. Because this was done with the goal of helping his election chances, the case implied, these payments amounted to a form of illegal, undisclosed campaign spending. And, Bragg argued, because Trump created paperwork to make the payments seem like regular legal expenses, that amounted to a criminal effort at a coverup. Trump has denied the charges against him.

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

www.nytimes.com

The documents rattled off a number of seedy stories that would have been right at home in a venerable supermarket tabloid, had they actually been published. The subjects were anonymized but recognizable to anyone who had followed the story of Trump’s entanglement with The Enquirer. His affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels, of course, was the heart of it. There was also Karen McDougal, the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1998, whose affair with Trump was similarly made to disappear, the payments for the rights to her story made to look like fees for writing a fitness column and appearing on magazine covers. (Trump has denied involvement with both women.) There were others that were lesser known, too, like Dino Sajudin, a former Trump World Tower doorman who claimed that Trump had a love child with one of the building’s employees; the story was never published, and Sajudin was paid $30,000 to keep quiet about it.

What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise

Inside the notorious “catch and kill” campaign that now stands at the heart of the former president’s legal trial.

web.archive.org

To me this is unbelievable. Before Mr. Trump's official entry into presidential politics - he becoming a politician - this kind of story that surfaced years ago, would've killed the career of an aspiring politician. But with Mr. Trump's troll-like campaign (proof/not opinion is his personal/family insults and attacks on a debate stage, breaking of norms, rules...unheard of before 2015), the bizarre became acceptable to small but then growing a segment of the population.

View attachment 928170

This is a story that needs telling.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now asking David Pecker about the August 2015 meeting in Trump Tower with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.

"I received a call from Michael Cohen saying the boss wanted to see me," Pecker said.

Hope Hicks was in and out of the meeting, Pecker says.

and the testimony of the others will back up what Pecker says -- he was called/summoned to Trump Tower


and other reports back up the CNN report.

Pecker said he would be "eyes and ears" for Trump during meeting

Donald Trump's New York hush money criminal trial continued Tuesday with more testimony from former tabloid executive David Pecker. The judge also held a gag order hearing.

www.cnn.com

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Pecker talked about discussing help to the Boss' campaign​

Luc Cohen
Pecker said in mid-August 2015, Cohen called him to invite him to a meeting at Trump Tower with Trump. He said Trump’s communications director Hope Hicks was in and out of the meeting.

“I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me that the boss wanted to see me,” Pecker said, adding that he and Cohen always referred to Trump as "the boss.’"

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-trial-live-ex-national-enquirer-publisher-david-pecker-due-testify-hush-2024-04-23/

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Perhaps Hillary will finance the Steele Report 2.0.

Perhaps you’ll just cry more.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Perhaps you’ll just cry more.

Is Batcat the one people are calling "Pee Pee La Pew?"

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Yes.
Hillary was the most dislike presidential candidate we’ve seen in decades.
Anything else I can help you with?

Derp…
As evidenced by her nearly 3m vote lead.

 

[para bellum]

Mr.Pecker did not approach Trump. Pecker went to Trump Tower because he was asked to.

In court, reporters:

“I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me that the boss wanted to see me,” Pecker says.

When he was summoned to Trump Tower for a meeting in August of 2015, “I assumed I was going to be asked for something,” Pecker said, because that was typically why Cohen called.

You need to post your sources, because that is not in the transcript. Pecker's testimony starts at page 95 and ends at page 108.

It's all preliminary stuff, then they adjourned.

This plan was something that Cohen and Pecker worked out, and Cohen apparently sold the idea to Trump. There is nothing wrong with Trump wanting to meet Pecker to make sure it was legitimate, ask questions, etc.

Nothing illegal, no matter how hard you TDS fools try to argue it was.

edit to add: Trump knew Pecker from way back, according to the CNN reporting, so again it's no surprise that they had the meeting in August to discuss the plan to "catch and kill" negative stories, it was practically part of the National Enquirer's business plan and they said they were doing it for other celebrities.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Actually it is about somebody named Lachlin Cartwright's opinion. As an editor of a freaking supermarket tabloid he ain't exactly a book critic.

Not the prosecution’s choice as a witness. Rather Trump’s choice as a co-conspirator.
These are Trump cronies spilling.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

If it's a democrat it's just a political campaign and they can do anything they want.

If it's Trump, it's a conspiracy and everyone is a criminal.

Only looks that way in the dim light.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

You need to post your sources, because that is not in the transcript. Pecker's testimony starts at page 95 and ends at page 108.

It's all preliminary stuff, then they adjourned.

This plan was something that Cohen and Pecker worked out, and Cohen sold the idea to Trump. There is nothing wrong with Trump wanting to meet Pecker to make sure it was legitimate, ask questions, etc.

Nothing illegal, no matter how hard you TDS fools try to argue it was.

And there will be more. And no one on Trump's defense claims Pecker called the meeting at Trump Tower. We all know Cohen had no authority to do so either.

Everyone knows The Boss called the meeting. Trump was in the room. No one brought anything over to him as he was sitting right there. Three witnesses. And I doubt Trump would have any reason to suggest somebody else called a meeting at his Office.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Is Batcat the one people are calling "Pee Pee La Pew?"

I couldn’t say but it sounds right.