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| credit Patrick McMullen.com |
American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of pro-Trump tabloid rag National Enquirer, is selling the Enquirer reportedly over major investor Anthony Melchiorre's disgust at the rag's tactics. Melchiorre's hedge fund owns 80 percent of AMI. The Enquirer has also been shedding sales and revenues dramatically over the past five years, and was involved in campaign finance violations over the payment of hush money to Trump mistress Karen McDougal to protect Trump during the 2016 campaign.
AMI's CEO and Trump friend, the aptly named David "Little" Pecker, has been embroiled in a losing feud with Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos over the publishing of private e-mails between Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. Bezos is alleging that the Enquirer used extortion tactics for the story. Interestingly, another Trump ally, Saudi Arabia, is suspected of having hacked Bezos' e-mails and provided them to the Enquirer in order to embarrass him in retaliation for the Washington Post's aggressive coverage of the Saudi's murder of Jamal Khashoggi last year. Bezos is expected to meet with Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York very shortly.
UPDATE: Billionaire Democratic contributor and friend of the Clintons Ron Burkle is rumored to be in negotiations to buy the rag. Wouldn't that be an *interesting* turn of events?!
(photo: Little pecker and Mario Kart toadstool)
