By Curt_Anderson April 23, 2024 10:31 am Category: News (0.0 from 0 votes) Rules of the Post Write A New Article How To Post Here Rate this article (5=best, 0=poor)

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is on the stand. He is presumably a Trump friend. He called a Trump "almost a micromanager". That's going make Trump's claim that he "just signed the checked" and that it was his underlings who paid Michael Cohen for illicit purposes unbeknownst to Trump.

Given Trump's frequent complaints about "fake news", it's startling to hear how Trump was actively involved in the creation of intentional, actual fake news in the National Enquirer. The following is from NY Times reports.

Prosecutors just showed several examples of the negative headlines about Trump's opponents, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.

Pecker is being asked about an infamous Enquirer story linking Ted Cruz’s father to the John F. Kennedy assassination. He says it originated with Dylan Howard, The Enquirer’s editor.

Pecker said that after the Republican debates, Cohen would call him and direct him to focus the negative coverage on whichever candidate had been most successful onstage.

It should be pointed out that Pecker’s testimony isn’t just damaging to Trump. He is, in effect, laying waste to his own professional career by going through headline after headline and suggesting he attacked Trump’s rivals to aid Trump.

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by Indy! on April 23, 2024 10:39 am Does anyone seriously believe Trump signed a check for $130K without knowing who was getting the money and for what product or service? Please. The man is a tightwad because he's always teetering on the brink of yet another bankruptcy. by HatetheSwamp on April 23, 2024 10:55 am Exactly, Indy. The issue is that there's no crime within the statute of limitations that Trump is guilty of... ...apart from the courtroom of a TDS corrupted judge. by Curt_Anderson on April 23, 2024 11:25 am Indy, Trump’s defense is terrible. They are trying to convince the jury and public that Trump wasn’t aware of where or why payments were made, and even more improbably that he is no philanderer or had sex with a porn star or a Playmate. It’s just not credible to anyone not steeped in MAGA mythology. by HatetheSwamp on April 23, 2024 11:45 am Is effin a porn star a crime in Manhattan? by Curt_Anderson on April 23, 2024 12:07 pm HtS, It is not. That’s my point. Why are they denying Trump’s non-crimes? It’s strains credulity to claim that Trump did not have sex with stormy Daniels yet he paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars. by HatetheSwamp on April 23, 2024 2:00 pm Show me, if you can a non Holy Trinity/non metaphorical Rachel source, Trump's lawyers making those arguments. I'm not aware that they are. by Curt_Anderson on April 23, 2024 3:10 pm Ok… “Former President Donald Trump's attorney rejected claims by the prosecution in his criminal hush money case that payments to Stormy Daniels were made to help him win the 2016 election. Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche also made the case that Trump, being a 'frugal' penny pincher, would never have overpaid his 'obsessed' personal attorney Michael Cohen and attempted to discredit Daniels, saying she fabricated their affair. The former president has pleaded not guilty of concealing an alleged scheme to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels with an illegal $130,000 payment immediately before the 2016 election.” “Paying Daniels for her agreement to not publicly spread "false – false – claims" about Trump isn't illegal, Blanche told the jurors.He also said that she has "no idea" about various aspects of the arrangements between Cohen and Trump, including what Michael Cohen wrote on an invoice tied to the charges.“ So HtS, Trump’s defense wants the jury to believe Trump would pay a porn star for “false - false - claims” about him, this the guy who routinely stiffs his hard-working and honest contractors and suppliers. And if Trump didn’t overpay his personal attorney who did? msn.com usatoday.com by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 3:46 am Where's the "he's not a philanderer" part? You, Curt, post assuming the authority of a former clerk to Chief Justice John Jay. I only have my Legal Goobers. My take is that Trump's attorneys are arguing that Cohen is a lyin $ack of $#!t... which, clearly, he is. In front of a Manhattan jury, TDS will probably prevail. But, in the end... by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 8:21 am HtS, Having sex with a porn star and a Playboy playmate doesn’t qualify as philandering in your book? A Trump appeal is probable as I expect him to lose the case. The other possible outcome is a hung jury What I wonder is how quickly he can have his retrial or have his appeal heard. While Trump is stewing in a Manhattan courtroom , Biden will be gaining ground and pulling away from Trump in the polls. Trump’s defense better have a better plan than simply trying to disparage and discredit Michael Cohen. The prosecution won’t be expecting the jury to rely on what Michael Cohen says, they’ll back up his testimony with evidence. by Ponderer on April 24, 2024 8:49 am I just love how when Trump is charged with the various and specific felonies he's committed, the MAGA Hat peanut gallery starts listing off crimes that he not only didn't commit but isn't even charged with. Ah, the flailing, flipping, flopping desperation of the empty-handed... by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 9:29 am Charged, po, you lynch mobbed wannabe. Bill of Rights. Innocent until proven guilty. Not!!!!!? by Indy! on April 24, 2024 10:33 am I was at a family dinner once discussing politics (very, very rare for the whole family) and someone said something like "Trump's never done anything immoral" (lots of religious folks in that crowd) to which I responded "What about sleeping with a porn star when he's married to Melania?" Everyone seemed (honestly) confused so I said "You know - the Stormy Daniels thing." The name must have brought it all back to them judging by the looks on their faces and it killed the conversation completely - crickets. I really believe they had all blocked it out completely somehow - most likely due to getting all their... ahem... "news" from Fox - but either way, it was quite startling to me how surprised they all were to be reminded their favorite orange monkey was still the same old corrupt con man he's always been. by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 10:48 am Indy, That is very telling anecdote! Trump's voters share some sort of weird blindness to Trump's many obvious moral faults, crimes and lies. I keep thinking of how Sen. Gary Hart's political career was ruined by appearing on a yacht with an attractive woman. Or more recently how Al Franken was expelled from the Senate because he once mimed touching a Playboy cover girl's ample bosoms. by Indy! on April 24, 2024 11:18 am Yes. And I'm thinking about how the GOP was once the "family values" party and now their guy is criminal phlianderer who's gone bankrupt multiple times and goes thru wives the way most people go thru cars. by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 11:33 am - most likely due to getting all their... ahem... "news" from Fox - It can't be Fox. These days, on Fox, it's the Trump Hush Money trial just about 24/7. Y'know, cable "news" makes its money off of Trump. MSNBC, CNN and Fox. All of em! by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 11:46 am I'm thinking about how the GOP was once the "family values" party and now their guy is criminal phlianderer who's gone bankrupt multiple times and goes thru wives the way most people go thru cars. To be fair, Indy, it was only the James Dobson wing of the party that was family values. Still, you're right. I don't know where those people go. A watershed moment in American politics was when evangelicals voted for Trump mere weeks after the pu$$y grabbin tape was released. Of course, what are GOPs going to do!!!!!? The alternative these days is "that feckless dementia-ridden piece of crap" who gets boners from sniffing 7 year old girls' hair... unashamedly... in public. I loooooove the video of Joe sniffin Chris Coons' daughter. Her expression is priceless! View Video by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 12:17 pm HtS, This is a thread about how Trump and the National Enquirer worked to push negative news about Trump's opponents. Like the National Enquirer and with no apparent sense of irony you push without a scintilla of evidence a derogatory story about Biden. I get it, you cannot have people thinking (better yet, knowing) about Trump being unfaithful to his wife with a porn star when Melania was home with their newborn, Barron. I've come to conclusion that Trump with able to easily delude his voters largely because they were readily self-deluded. The word for that is "cult". by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 12:30 pm Curt, Trump is despicable but he ain't unique. Have you stumbled upon this Uri Berliner NPR story which, as po'd say, EFFINproves that that very pushing of negative reporting about political opponents is ingrained and deeply institutionalized in your progressive SwampDem media. That, in fact is what your Holy Trinity and po's metaphorical Rachel do. Trump truly is despicable. And,... he's absolutely par for the course. For you to be shocked and offended by the pushing of negative stories about political opponent is either hypocrisy or outright imbicility. by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 1:01 pm HtS, That's where you are wrong and why you are a MAGA cult member in good standing. You normalize Trump's criminality, behavior, language and his lies. Other politicians are not like him. Trump is unique. There is nothing wrong with negative reports per se, most news is negative. We don't read reports about airliners than didn't crash. We don't read about politicians who don't cheat on their wives. More importantly the media including NPR and what Trump calls "fake news" only report on what is evidently true and verifiable. Which doesn't mean they don't sometimes get things wrong. But the legitimate media continues to correct as the facts become known. What Trump and Enquirer were doing was to fabricate from thin air salacious stories about his rivals. Seriously, who believed that Ted Cruz had five mistresses? by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 1:18 pm More importantly the media including NPR and what Trump calls "fake news" only report on what is evidently true and verifiable. Which doesn't mean they don't sometimes get things wrong. But the legitimate media continues to correct as the facts become known. Please, my friend, splain your definition of "the legitimate media." And, what qualifies an outlet to be "legitimate." And, provide examples. by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 1:34 pm NPR, AP, Reuters, BBC, NY Times, WaPo, MSNBC, CNN, CBS News, ABC News and many other. Even FOX News despite losing lawsuits. That FOX has a conservative slant or that MSNBC has left-leaning one doesn't make what they choose to report illegitimate. by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 1:55 pm Thanks for the examples. But, buddy, you gotta splain what makes that legitimate! I can't see it. None of those media outlets engage in what was considered to be journalism as recently as 40 years ago. They are all enmeshed in the dysfunction and corruption of the DC Swamp, but that can't possibly legitimate them. by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 2:28 pm For one thing they don’t engage in check book journalism like the Enquirer. They offer corrections. They are not embroiled in and losing defamation lawsuits. If Trump calls them “fake news” they are legitimate…extra legitimacy points if Trump sues them. by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 2:50 pm What they do is kanoodle with the Swamp. That doesn't make them legitimate. They all serve as the public arm of some political party or ideology. All. You may think they are fundamentally different from media outlets like the Enquirer. They ain't. And, that's not to elevate the Enquirer. It's to be realistic about your supposed legitimate media. The Swamp provides a good cop and a bad cop and lets the gullible to decide which is which. You're simply a credulous consumer of, in your case, the progressive... illegitimate... SwampMedia. by Curt_Anderson on April 24, 2024 2:55 pm Yeah, yeah, I know. All news media is like The National Enquirer and all politicians are like Donald Trump. You’ve said that all before by HatetheSwamp on April 24, 2024 2:59 pm What I know is that nuthin that you suggest make your alleged legitimate media outlets legitimate ain't real life. Go To Top

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