I thought that today I would be writing about Matthew Whitaker’s testimony to Congress. But today, it’s all about Jeff Bezos’s boy parts and how the National Enquirer threatened to publish a photo of them.
Background: Last month the National Enquirer published an expose of a Bezos extramarital affair, resulted in Mrs. Bezos filing for divorce. I hadn’t followed this much because, frankly, I don’t care. But then Jeff Bezos launched an investigation into how the National Enquirer got its hands on the evidence, which included private text messages. And the National Enquirer was not happy. Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone explained,
After the Enquirerpublished its investigation last month, Bezos told his longtime personal security expert, Gavin de Becker, to look into how AMI was able to obtain his text messages. Bezos writes that he was informed by AMI that Pecker was “apoplectic” that de Becker was on the case. A few days later, Bezos says he and his lawyers were told by AMI that if de Becker didn’t stand down, the Enquirerwould publish a trove of private photos they obtained, including a “below-the-belt selfie” of Bezos. …
…Another email followed, laying out the exact terms to which AMI was hoping Bezos would agree. These terms involved Bezos and de Becker stating publicly that they “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
Bezos not only published the threats he was sent; he also published descriptions of the photos. And he might as well have, because in 2019, who cares? Does anyone really want to look at Jeff Bezos’s pecker? (Not to be confused with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer.) I doubt it. Is anyone’s opinion of Jeff Bezos changed because of any of this? I doubt it. If you want to read it, here is what Bezos published.
Ryan Bort continues,
The political angle to which AMI is referring derives from Pecker’s decades-long relationship with Trump. AMI reportedly employs a “catch and kill” practice in which the company purchases the rights to an unsavory story, and Pecker allegedly has a literal safe filled with potentially damaging Trump tales. The most notable story is that of the president’s alleged affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. In December 2018, the Southern District of New York revealed in the sentencing memo for Trump’s former lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen that AMI purchased the story specifically to keep it from hurting Trump’s presidential chances. AMI admitted as much as part of a non-prosecution agreement, an agreement that also stipulated that AMI not commit additional crimes. The blackmail and extortion detailed by Bezos would certainly be of interest to federal investigators and thus could put AMI in a mess of legal jeopardy, which means Pecker really, really, really didn’t want Bezos to find out how they came across his text messages.
And, indeed, Bloomberg reported today that federal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking into the threats the National Enquirer sent Bezos, and the tabloid’s parent company could be in a whole heap o’ legal trouble.
Further, Bezos apparently believes there is no legal way the text messages could have been obtained by the National Enquirer. And here the story is murkier. Why would the National Enquirer go to such risks to stop Bezos from investigating how it got the texts? There is much speculation that the dots will connect to the White House. Such as:
Makes zero sense Pecker/AMI would risk extorting Bezos unless to stop Bezos from finding WH fingerprints on text hack. At last Trump scandals have their own Watergate break-in.
— Frank Rich (@frankrichny) February 8, 2019
If this episode leads to the eventual dénouement of the National Enquirer I would be content, but if there is a White House angle, even better.
There's a missing dimension to this story that Rachel Maddow laid out very clearly Thursday night.
AMI signed a no-prosecution deal with the investigators who charged Michael Cohen. Recall that Cohen pled guilty to arranging payouts to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and he fingered Trump as the one who directed him to do so. AMI was part of the McDougal saga, flipped, and has what amounts to a plea deal.
This deal explicitly forbids AMI to engage in any crimes for a period of three years, or else the Feds can use the info provided by AMI to throw the book at them.
And so, not only is it risky to try and blackmail the richest guy in the world – who, unlike the usual celebrities AMI targets – could care less about his image, but it's orders of magnitude worse for AMI, given AMI’s potentially criminal behavior, specifically forbidden by the Feds.
This scandal is huge because AMI made it about politics (they want Bezos to lie and cover up this fact), and it brings in the Saudis. And Bezos has all the money in the world to chase these rats down whatever hole they crawl into.
Is anyone’s opinion of Jeff Bezos changed because of any of this?
Only idiots care about Bezos’ selfies; but I’ve seen many posts (mine included) cheering him on to go after these bastards, even though he’ll suffer a little embarrassment.
Bezos will be a hero if he can destroy the National Enquirer, and smoke out more of the corruption around Trump.
Moonbat — I actually did discuss the legal issue, but possibly not clearly.
What's with these guys who get their packages photographed ? Did I miss something in the male experience of courtship rituals? Maybe it's just a thrill that came into being with the advent of digital photography and I was born to early to appreciate it.
Or maybe it's a women's thing. I'm not too up on what women respond to in certain areas,but I remember hearing that Don Jr.'s new girl friend is quite the aficionado and collects photos of men's baskets.Crazy world we live in when modesty becomes a relic.
“What’s with these guys who get their packages photographed ?” Women ask this question all the time. Most of us would rather not see said photos, thank you. It’s not a turn on.
It’s a good thing Bezos doesn’t have small hands.
You have to be "50 shades of fuckin' stupid'" in 2019 to try to blackmail/extort the richest man in the world about his sexual affair(s) – unless they involved under-aged children or animals. We have a pOTUS, tRUMP, for whom affairs were as common as bathroom visits!
And the National Enquirer is not known for covering politics, but for for titillation, scandal, freak-shows, and multi-page print coverage and photo spreads of Kardashians and other celebrities or athletes.
And yet Pecker (not the one Bezos has, but the one who's tRUMP's friend) dedicated an entire edition as a propaganda puff-piece for MBS and Saudi Arabia.
There's possibly (probably? Most likely?) a nexus here between MBS and Saudi Arabia, Pecker, and that dick in the White House.
The House of Saud – and Russia – have been funding tRUMP and his businesses for years.
The key maybe the how did Bezos' dick-pic's get into the hands of Pecker ( have fun getting that image out of your minds tonight!)?
Did tRUMP use info from our government's security agencies in order to save his ass (and is pecker – sorry, I can't help myself) and at the same time destroy Bezos and the WaPo by funneling that info to Pecker?
Stay tuned (or drunk, or high)!!!
OY!!!!!!!
Pecker, de Becker,dic pic. The possibilities are endless.
But seriously why would Pecker tangle with the richest guy around. He can put them out of business in a second. And a government entity ( ours? Saudis?) Is involved with the hack. This is interesting.
AP reporters are saying they have been targeted for their investigating AMI.
Buckle up
Agreed this is fascinating stuff. Pecker found that not printing info could be a profitable as printing – a long time ago. My guess is that he's worked the scam in various ways and it became a part of his business model. Pecker may have thought that negotiating a deal with the feds that only left Trump on the hook meant that he could return to his previous bad habits.
If I was Trump's lawyer, I'd be hoping that the most incriminating charges on Trump revolve around campaign finance (boring) and the Donald's sexual prowess. LET the Democrats try to impeach on that, and Trump might actually get reelected like Clinton after Monica.
Pecker might not be in trouble with Trump for throwing Trump under that particular bus, Now Pecker is back in trouble – the deal with the Feds may be off AND they have a signed confession that puts AMI on the hook for any crimes.
This can go a lot of ways. None of them look good for Trump. The big question has to be – where did Pecker get the stuff on Bezos? If he got it from Trump/Federal surveylance, it's bad. If the Saudis are the ones who broke into private communications, Dems will have a free shot at Trump's favorite friend (after Vlad). Maybe pecker got it some other way but Pecker will have to give up his sources with proof or AMI will go down faster than Stormy Daniels.
It occurred to me tonight, thinking about 'my' prison in Miami. Federal Detention Center – Miami is a downtown high-rise built across from the courthouse. The current name is long and not catchy. Maybe we can get a petition to name it "Trump Tower – Miami" and set a side a wing for the Trump family and all his associates.
I thought both extortion and blackmail were illegal, so these messages to Bezos must be evidence of criminal behavior, so is the U.S. Attorney going to go ahead with the suspended prosecution of National Enquirer and Wossisname Pecker? I haven't seen that question addressed in any of the stories I've seen. Does Bezos not have proof that the threat was made? Another suggestion I saw put forward on another site was that a government agency might have been involved. Possibly not an American government agency. I think the implication was intended to be Russia, but the first thought that came to my cynical mind was MI6, Mossad, or ASIS. the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, because they are part of Five Eyes.
I thought both extortion and blackmail were illegal
From what I’ve been reading, traditional extortion/blackmail is about obtaining property via threats. This is about obtaining silence.
And so it’s a stretch to apply conventional judicial norms to Bezos’ case. I’m sure a lot of lawyers are fascinated by this one, as it’s not clear how it could go.
Everyone agrees that AMI pushed the envelope with Bezos, but they’ve been doing this kind of thing for years with more conventional Hollywood celebrities. And getting away with it.
Also have read that National Enquirer, like most print publications have been on the ropes for a long time. Their paid circulation is way down, they’ve been operating with a skeleton staff. Not surprising then, that they’d be glad to take Saudi money to do PR work for them.
Have also read/saw on TV that the Saudis gave money to many other orgs besides AMI to promote “the Magic Kingdom”.
This comment by a NYT contributor seems quite appropriate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/technology/jeff-bezos-sanchez-enquirer.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer
Moonbat,
The way I read/heard it, it isn't so much obtaining "property," as it it getting "something of value."
Ones reputation is certainly something of value.
So that is what will be litigated, I think.