TED CRUZ HOLDS ADDRESSES MEDIA IN OSHKOSH, WI | MARCH 25, 2016
Donald Trump’s
Alliance With the National Enquirer
By Gabriel Sherman
October 30, 2015 12:50 p.m.
Throughout his scorched-earth presidential campaign, Donald Trump
has mastered the art of the political attack against all of his rivals save
one: Ben Carson. How he should handle the soft-spoken former neurosurgeon has
been a question that’s vexed Trump from the moment Carson began eating into
Trump’s lead. First, Trump tried attacking Carson head-on, questioning his
medical reputation by calling him an “okay doctor” (Carson is known to have
separated the first conjoined infant twins). When that didn’t work, he tried embracing him
onstage at the second primary debate.
Now, as Carson overtakes Trump as the GOP front-runner,
it appears Trump is getting help from a media outlet known for ending
presidential candidacies: the National Enquirer. Earlier this month, the
Enquirer published a cover
story on Carson headlined “Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s
Brain!” The article called Carson a “White House wannabe” and claimed he
“brandished a scalpel like a meat cleaver!” It went on to quote angry former
patients saying he botched surgeries that left them disfigured and in pain; one
patient who sued Carson said he forgot to remove a surgical sponge from her
brain after a procedure. “His presidential campaign should be dead on arrival!”
Enquirer reporter Sharon Churcher wrote.
Trump and Enquirer CEO David Pecker have been friends for years. “They’re very
close,” said a source close to the Enquirer. In July 2013, Trump even tweeted that
Pecker should become CEO of Time magazine, which at the time was being
spun off from its corporate parent, Time Warner. “He’d make it exciting and win
awards!”
This person also said that Trump’s campaign was a source
for the article: “His campaign provided information that was used,” he
explained. A Trump friend said that in the days leading up to the article’s
publication Trump was telling people that Carson “had a lot of medical
malpractice suits” and “almost killed a guy.”
Trump’s spokesperson, Hope Hicks, told me “there’s
absolutely no truth” to the claim Trump was behind the article. When I asked
the Enquirer for comment, Pecker said it was “utterly false” that the
Trump campaign was their source. “We did what the National Enquirer has
always done, our investigative reporters went back and poured through numerous
legal documents to discover the details that led to our exclusive coverage of
malpractice claims against Ben Carson,” he said in a statement.
Whether or not Trump has been a source for the Enquirer,
his friendship with Pecker has paid dividends. At key moments during the GOP
primary the Enquirer has helped boost Trump’s campaign by attacking his
rivals and fawning over him. Two weeks after Trump launched his campaign in
mid-June, the Enquirer reported that Jeb
Bush was “involved in the drug trade in Florida” in the '80s and that, as
governor, he was plagued by “sleazy cheating scandals … [with a] Playboy Bunny
turned lawyer.” In September, the Enquirer published an
unflattering photograph of Bush’s adult daughter apparently taking cigarette
breaks at her office. The article hit just days after Jeb told Americans they
needed to work longer hours.
Carly Fiorina has also been slimed. After the former
Hewlett-Packard CEO bested Trump at the second GOP debate last month, the Enquirer
ran an article headlined “Homewrecker Carly Fiorina Lied About Druggie
Daughter.” The article attacked one of Fiorina’s best moments at the debate:
her emotional account of her daughter’s struggle with drug addiction. “The National
Enquirer has exclusively learned that Lori Ann Fiorina, who died in October
2009, was in fact Carly’s stepdaughter,” the tabloid reported. “She was brought
up not by Carly but by her biological mom, Patricia Fiorina, whose marriage
allegedly was wrecked by the 61-year-old White House hopeful who is determined
to knock Donald Trump from his superior front-runner status!”
The tabloid has also gone after Hillary Clinton, of course. A
series of cover stories has alleged that
Clinton is on her deathbed and is “engaging in a massive cover-up about her
health.” The Enquirer claims she is suffering from strokes, brain
cancer, depression, alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, endometriosis, and
paranoia, among other dire conditions.
Meanwhile, Trump has been exclusively celebrated in the Enquirer’s
pages. As talk of a Trump candidacy heated up last winter, the tabloid published an
article headlined “Trump’s the One!” that reported him leading in the polls. In
September, the Enquirer published a three-part series by Trump himself
under the headline “The Man
Behind the Legend!”
Trump’s scandal-filled personal life would be yuge!
for the supermarket tabloid, but to the Enquirer, it seems, friendship
is forever.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham
Clinton is the candidate for the 2016
Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, Chelsea V. Clinton’s mother, and was a director at the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton
Foundation.
Note: Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary) supported the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign.
Chelsea V. Clinton
is Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
daughter, the vice chair for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and was an associate at the Avenue Capital Group.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a co-chair, national finance council for
the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary),
the founder of the Soros Fund Management,
was the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society, and a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Committee for Economic Development, the Harlem Children's Zone, and the Robin Hood Foundation.
Donald
Trump was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the chairman for the Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc., and
is the candidate for the 2016 Donald
Trump presidential campaign.
Marc
Lasry was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and is the founder & managing
partner for the Avenue Capital Group.
Richard D'Addario
was a director of banking & finance for the Soros Fund Management, and a senior portfolio manager for the Avenue Capital Group.
Robert T.
Symington is the portfolio manager for the Avenue Capital Group, and a director at Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
David Licht is the
SVP, Avenue Capital U.S. Funds for the Avenue
Capital Group, a director at Trump
Entertainment Resorts, Inc., and was a director at the American Media, Inc.
Michael D. Elkins
is the portfolio manager for the Avenue
Capital Group, a director at Trump
Entertainment Resorts, Inc., and was a director at the American Media, Inc.
David J. Pecker
is the chairman & president & CEO for American Media, Inc., and a friend of Donald Trump.
American
Media, Inc. is the publisher for the National
Enquirer.
Generoso Pope was
the founder of the National Enquirer,
and married to Lois Pope.
Lois
Pope was married to Generoso Pope,
and is a trustee at the University of
Miami.
University of
Miami was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Donna E. Shalala was
the president of the University of Miami,
a fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, is the president & CEO for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton
Foundation, and a risk committee member for the Risky Business Project.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is a co-chair for the Risky
Business Project, Emma Bloomberg’s
father, was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation.
Maurice R.
Greenberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and is a director at the Police Athletic League of New York City.
Donald
Trump is a director at the Police
Athletic League of New York City, the candidate for the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign,
a friend of David J. Pecker, was a
funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the chairman for the Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc., and a donor for the Drumthwacket Foundation.
Drumthwacket
Foundation maintains the governor's mansion for the New Jersey state government.
Christopher
J. Christie is an honorary chairman for the Drumthwacket Foundation, the New
Jersey state government governor, married to Mary Pat Christie, and was the candidate for the 2016 Chris Christie presidential campaign.
Mary Pat
Christie is the president of the Drumthwacket
Foundation, the chair for the Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, and Cam
Henderson was her chief of staff.
Cam Henderson
was Mary Pat Christie’s chief of
staff, the finance director for the 2016
Chris Christie presidential campaign, and is the executive director for the
Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.
Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund is a relief organization for Hurricane Sandy.
Robin Hood
Foundation raised money for Hurricane
Sandy relief.
Emma Bloomberg was
the chief of staff for the Robin Hood
Foundation, and is Michael R.
Bloomberg’s daughter.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, is Emma Bloomberg’s
father, and a co-chair for the Risky
Business Project.
Donna E. Shalala is
a risk committee member for the Risky
Business Project, the president & CEO for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, was a fellow at the
Brookings Institution (think tank),
a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development, and the president of the University
of Miami.
University of
Miami was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Lois
Pope is a trustee at the University
of Miami, and was married to Generoso
Pope.
Generoso Pope was married
to Lois Pope, and the founder of the
National Enquirer.
American
Media, Inc. is the publisher for the National
Enquirer.
David J. Pecker
is the chairman & president & CEO for American Media, Inc., and a friend of Donald Trump.
David Licht was a
director at the American Media, Inc.,
is the SVP, Avenue Capital U.S. Funds for the Avenue Capital Group, and a director at Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
Michael D. Elkins
was a director at the American Media,
Inc., is the portfolio manager for the Avenue
Capital Group, and a director at Trump
Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
Robert T.
Symington is the portfolio manager for the Avenue Capital Group, and a director at Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
Richard D'Addario
was a senior portfolio manager for the Avenue
Capital Group, and a director of banking & finance for the Soros Fund Management.
Chelsea V. Clinton
was an associate at the Avenue Capital
Group, is the vice chair for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s daughter.
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