what makes that so weird is that david pecker -- i have written about this and others, david pecker is he told me and others that the reason he paid karen mcdougal $150,000 was to suppress her story and help donald trump get elected president. the idea that the "national enquirer" is some journalistic enterprise that is independent of politics is just absurd. you can see why bezos and "the post" being responsible journalists wouldn't possibly agree to lie to protect bezos from this embarrassment. >> is it weird or is it potentially a crime if you believe what bezos is now writing as far as the "national enquirer," american media and david pecker are concerned? >> gosh, you know, that's a law school hypothetical that i'm really not sure i'm prepared to answer at this point. i don't think a journalistic enterprise could be charged with an actual crime for doing this. it's disgraceful journalism. it's appalling behavior on the part of the american media, which is the parent company of the "national enquirer." whether it's an actual crime -- >> he suggests, jeff, extortion and blackmail. t

at one point, bezos writes that, in particular, the david pecker/ami, that pecker was apoplectic about their investigation, the "washington post's" investigations, for reasons still to be better understood, but there was a saudi angle that seemed to have hit a particular sensitive nerve of bezos writes. and of course, one of those reasons could be that the murder of jamal khashoggi, of course, and his relationship with the "washington post." so there's still a lot here that needs to be developed, but these are things that according to bezos the "washington post" was working on and it appears that david pecker was concerned. >> interesting. also some new details tonight about the closed-door court hearing between the special counsel's office and paul manafort. what is mueller focusing on? >> yeah, so this was interesting. this was a sealed hearing on monday. today, we got ahold of the transcripts. some of it was redacted as we usually see in these hearings. what we did learn is the special counsel's office was very interested, they called it at this hearing, the heart of their investiga

post bezos published medium that when word got out about the investigation back to ami chairman david pecker, pecker was furious and just a few days later, bezos says ami approached him with an offer. they told him they did not just have his texts, they also had explicit sexual photos of bezos and sanchez. ami said they would publish those photos if bezos did not meet their demands. if you said that sounds like extortion and blackmail, you're not alone. but instead of backing down the amazon ceo did something very surprising. he called their bluff. he explained, quote, of course i don't want personal photos published, but i also won't participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors and political attacks and corruption. i prefer to stand up, roll this log over and see what crawls out. that's some hot fire right there. bezos released emails he says he and his legal team exchanged with american media to show the, quote, precise details of their proposal. they appear to show ami describing what they had and what they wanted. number one, they wanted bezos to stop his inves

the chairman of ami is david pecker, a longtime friend of president trump, who repeatedly

trump's ties with david pecker go back to the 1990s.nd pecker helped trump cover up an alleged affair with a former playboy model. >> david pecker not only has a long friendship with donald trump, he has put his money where his mouth is. he paid off karen mcdougal to maintain her silence. >> reporter: but since then, david pecker was granted immunity by prosecutors in new york and agreed to provide them information on those hush money deals. cnn has learned that deal could be in jeopardy, if prosecutors find pecker or ami broke the law in their dealings with bezos, they could lose their immunity in the hush money cases. ami put out a statement saying it believes it acted lawfully in reporting the bezos story, but said its board is going to investigate bezos' claims. ami rejects any assertion that its reporting was instigated or influenced by any outside forces, political, or otherwise. a spokesman at the white house says he doubts if president trump is even aware of all of the bezos reporting. and asked if his government ever tried to g

david pecker could also be a focus as well. >> that's right. it leaves them both exposed.ut i want to be clear it's not for investigating jeff bezos. not for publishing photos of him in public with his girlfriend walking to the theater or to a restaurant. the key will likely be the demand made by ami's lawyer. on ami's side they will argue look this is what lawyers do all the time. i've done it hundreds of time. you send a letter or e-mail saying tomorrow we'll file this attach complaint, start a lawsuit against you unless you resolve this case today. that's something lawyers do every single day. >> that's much different from what we've read. >> that's right. that's where it probably breaks down. lawyers are demanding settlement otherwise they will file a lawsuit, something they are legally privileged to do. on the other hand, if, for example, ami got these photographs in an ill-gotten way and threatening to release something harmful and embarrassing it falls closer to the definition of extortion under federal and state law. >> this is one of those days where you need a go

now you may have heard of trump ally david pecker, who stands accused of crimes that could even end they deal that he famously got from new york prosecutors. today pecker's company insists all of this was done lawfully. pecker, is in hot water over the kind of intrigue that got him in hot water in the first place. allegedly using the "national enquirer" as a way to attack enemies and reward allies. the "enquirer" is linked to paying women to hide their stories. and the president had denied involvement. those leaked tapes revealed donald trump talking to his lawyer michael cohen about -- listen for it -- their friend david, david pecker, which exposed that trump was involved in the funding and also thinking about what would happen to the secrets david kept if he were ever struck by a truck. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. so that i'm going to do that right away. i've come up -- i've spoken to allen weisberg about how to set the whole thing up about the funding that -- yes. it's all, all the stuff. because here you never kno

does it seem like the owner, who is david pecker, is still doing donald trump's dirty work?probably capital letters on deja vu. i was stunned by the reporting, but obviously, this is the same individual who was the take care man during the trump campaign. and that is, of course, for miss due gal, for stormy daniels, who innocently thought they were going to have big headlines in the enquirer, but actually through michael cohen's activities, they were going to be snuffed out by the enquirer and mr. pecker. here we go again with his acting on behalf, as an agent of the administration, as an agent of donald trump, in squashing or intimidating a person who happens to be the owner of "the washington post," who has been very outspoken, and rightly so on the fact that they lost a resident journalist, who lost his life in a vicious way by those from saudi arabia. and here we are with the owner being attacked. for whatever personal reasons it is, i happen to believe that it's a pretty tawdry situation. but why is ami and why is mr. pecker and the enquirer, why are they involved in th

david pecker is a long-time friend of president trump.llegations. >> a story you saw first on cnn. top white house aide kellyanne conway said a woman assaulted her in a maryland restaurant in front of her daughter and other children in october. the woman has been charged but denies the allegations. >>> in the next hour matt whitaker, acting attorney general, will appear before the house judiciary committee. how much will he say with conversations with the president about the russia investigation? we have a lot to cover. lauren fox is on capitol hill ahead of the hearing today. good rn

david pecker was a long-time ally of trump. ly in this post. >> right. it's a very complex web of characters here. mr. pecker who owns ami and has been a long ally of trump for the campaign in 2016 we saw them run stories that were favorable to trump and he would go after the political opponents of trump. so they've had this long relationship. now recently that seems to have fallen out. the magazine hasn't really been publishing pro trump stories anymore as they've been cooperating with authorities but there has been this suspicion that they are close. so them targeting bezos who obviously the president is not much of a fan of raised a lot of eyebrows. that said, the "national enquirer" has adamantly denied for a long time that they were influenced by trump or political forces in their coverage and they're silent tonight. i reached out, haven't heard anything back from mr. howard who wrote the story or anyone else from the "national enquirer." >> thank you very much, oliver. i want to make the point here as oliver references, da

david pecker has a long standing relationship with donald trump. the "national enquirer" has reportedly buried years of different stories about donald trump that contain embarrassing information about him. we know more recently, obviously, that pecker was involved with trump's attorney michael cohen to bury stories about trump's relationships and sexual liaisons with stormy daniels and another woman. he is cooperating with a federal investigation in that. he weaponized prior to that the "national enquirer"'s coverage in aid of donald trump's candidacy. when they say to jeff bezos, it is time to stop looking into this and it's also time for you to say there aren't politics involved, it's -- they know on the face that both of those things are false fronts and bezos has the resources to say, no, we're not going to do this. >> and jeff bezos is by donald trump a declared enemy of donald trump. there is always a political agenda with the "national enquirer." the entire newspaper, yeah. >> to go back to the washington post coverage of this, jeff bezos mak

, or by saudi arabia, which also has ties to david pecker.cal motivation. i they is the threat that's going to be pulled out over the course of the next few days and weebs. >> that's what's so fascinating, willie geist, that, you know, during the campaign you had, again, the "national enquirer" doing donald trump's bidding clearly. whether it was ted cruz or had to do with other front-runners. mika and i, of course were threatened by the staff. the staff, the white house staff that a story would run if we didn't change our coverage. and so many others threatened as well, but this moves beyond donald trump. now suddenly that donald trump relationship has helped ami in their relationship with the saudis. so now suddenly it is a coverage of -- khashoggi, that they continued cover of that murder that now obviously is -- is getting under the saudis skin and their new ally david pecker. >> yeah. read that piece of the "post" so people get the context. in the media post jeff bezos wrote unavoidable people who experience "washington post" news covera

revealed donald trump talking to his lawyer michael cohen about, listen for it, their friend david, david peckerat trump was involved in the funding and what would happen to the secrets david kept if he were ever struck by a truck. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. >> yes. >> i'm going to do that right away. >> give it to me. >> i've spoken to allen weissleberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what are we going to do? >> funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff -- all the stuff. because here you never know where that company, you never know where he's going to be. >> maybe he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. so i'm all over that. >> david pecker has been hit by the equivalent of a mack 10 truck. a government entity may have stolen his messages and sent them to pecker's operation. so there are many avenues for prosecutors here. david pecker was involved in hustling people to help trump. then he flipped and told on the people he worked with. why does someone like that start telling on people? as rick ross once explained i

he said it had in his e-mail that david pecker was a interested in the connection. so what is driving that side, you better do this or we be publish these pictures. of course i agree with mimi's assessment as well. if there was a hack of communications or a skeers, you have to look differently at this. you look at the private eye and my people have interactions with him, he has a tremendous reputation, a great guy. you have to look at him a little different. you have to look at him as a witness. the federal witness tampering statute is extremely strong. it is for somebody that corruptly persuades someone that may have information about a possible criminal investigation, if any, they try to persuade that person, that is witness tampering. so if you have a conspiracy for a crime, wire hacking, you could have witness tampering. there is witness tampering possible here. and i would say he has called the agency in l.a., asked them to look into this. it needs to be looked into. that doesn't mean a crime has been committed, but you will have to talk to all of your legal an

>> steve: i don't know. >> jimmy: david s. pecker? [ laughter ] >> steve: david s. pecker?mmy: no, no, no, it's bezos. >> steve: bezos's pecker. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: no, david -- pecker versus bezos. >> steve: david pecker leaked photos. >> jimmy: no, he's got all of those photos. >> steve: that's nuts. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: well i mean, it's not -- it's not easy -- it's not easy to get those things off of his phone, you know. >> steve: no, it's hard. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: certainly is. >> steve: yeah. [ light laughter ] >> jimmy: can we see a photo of jeff bezos? [ laughter ] today, amazon said if you like nude photos of jeff bezos, we also suggest nude photos of howie mandel. [ laughter and applause ] >> steve: what? how would they do that? >> jimmy: that's very thoughtful of them. how would they know? you guys, it is fashion week here in new york. [ cheers and applause ] yeah, feel the vibe? a lot of famous designers are debuting their new lines. but it turns out washington, d.c. was also full of interesting looks this week. for instance, here

it hang out there, and you have to raise these questions. >> brian, cnn's reached out to ami, david peckerfrankly, the calls are going straight to voicemail. ami, "national enquirer," pecker, his people, have not responded in any way to bezos' allegations. i think many people following this entire story, following this scandal about bezos and the alleged affair he had, they're cheering for bezos right now. they're saying thank you for standing up to a possible blackmail attempt. thanks for publishing the e-mails so people can sometimes see how this works. this is not the first time ami and "the national enquirer" have been accused of blackmail. this even came up in the early months of the trump administration between joe scarborough and mika brzezinski at msnbc said there was an attempt to use "the enquirer" to punish them. basically they were supposed to call trump and apologize for being tough on him and go easy on him while on tv or "the national enquirer" would publish nasty things about their lives. whether these details add up to a crime or not, there is clearly an unethical action h

this is a serious problem potentially for david pecker and the others and american media, the parentny of the "national enquirer." >> that is right. so as part of any nonprosecutor agreement, there's this term you cannot commit any additional crimes. if they determine that a crime was committed, they could decide it violates the nonprosecution agreement and they can go back. now, one thing that might be tricky here, there is some question about whether or not the communications with jeff bezos actually would violate federal or state extortion statutes. one of the legal elements is a thing of value. oftentimes we're talking about money. what ami did was threaten to release this information in relation to bezos making a statement. there's an open question whether or not that could be called a thing of value. sdny may determine that this constitute as crime and go ahead and review the original agreement. >> could the lawyer be in trouble right now? we all read the letter to bezos's team? >> i think potentially they could. any lawyers that participate in this kind of scheme, the fact tha

with regard to david pecker, ami and realtime what his relationship with donald trump is they are not in the greatest situation right now. pecker has, according to our reporting been cooperating with federal prosecutors around and about these payments. unclear if the two are sympatico politically as we speak. there's no question they were during the president's campaign. >> we know, too, donald trump -- i remember i used to work at "the washington post." donald trump would take shots at the post because jeff bezos owned it. it was some sort of tax credit. none of that accurate. referred to him as jeff bozo. we know donald trump's relationship with jeff bezos at least publicly is maybe a one-sided relationship but not pleasant. >> we are also forgetting to mention one important thing when we talk about intimidating

today, bloomberg news reports the allegations against trump ally david pecker could blow up his immunity deal. another source telling nbc the same thing. prosecutors probing where the publish the "national enquirer" violated his own non-prosecution agreement by trying to blackmail bezos this week. pecker has one big problem because bezos is accusing him of a crime. but this shows a second problem because as bloomberg and nbc and rachel have been reporting, pecker may have played himself here and blown up his own immunity in the investigation into how michael cohen and donald trump hid bad stories for trump during 2016. translation, if david pecker told the feds about other crimes he committed during those immunity talks, he can now be on the hook for them. so there can be a lot more pressure on this trump ally. unless he publicly backed down, making claims than bezos says are false. they wanted him to say that the tabloid's coverage was not politically motivated. why did they care? we'll get into that. and second, they wanted bezos to end his investigation into how the "enquirer" folks o

will hear more from them this morning. >> george will make sure because you have the attorney for david peckerho is the ceo of ami on the show this morning. we heard the legal analyst say she thinks ami must be panicking right now. how grave a situation is this for pecker and ami, and do you think there are consequences for the president as well? >> that's the big question. there's so many things tangled up in this. david pecker is a longtime friend of the president and is also of course, cooperating against him in that campaign finance case in the southern district. "the national enquirer" has taken on -- has taken back stories about the president, buried stories about president trump and they go after jeff bezos. of course, jeff bezos owns "the washington post" which has also been tough on the president. these ties to saudi arabia there is so much tangled up in as well. this story. right now what bezos is alleging is, you see it right there, extortion and blackmail. whether it meets the legal standard is one question. whether it will threaten the cooperation agreement that david pecker has w

noting david pecker's loyalty to president trump. >> for a very long time, david pecker was a friend of trump because he caught and killed stories. because he kept stories that reflected negatively on trump out of the public view. ten attacks bezos publicly, going o hich th >> "the washington post," which i call a lobbying tool for amazon -- >> reporter: bezos also alludes in the blog to an unspecified connection between pecker and saudi arabia, writing, mr. pecker is apoplectic about our investigation, adding, for reasons still to be better understood, the saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve. "washington post" has aggressively investigated the murder of its reporter and saudi dissident jamal khashoggi. bezos noting the undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles. today ami says it had been in good-faith negotiations with bezos and believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story. the board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. meanwhile, the bezos bombshell is triggering even more claims. ro

today, bloomberg news reports the allegations against trump ally david pecker could blow up his immunity deal. prosecutors probing where the publisher of the national enquirer violated his own non-prosecution agreement by trying to blackmail bezos. pecker has one big problem because bezos is accusing him of a crime. this shows a second problem because as bloomberg and nbc and rachel have been reporting, pecker may have played himself here and blown up his own im[ music playingimmun immuni immunity. translati translation. if david pecker told the feds about other crimes he committed during those immunity talks, he could now be on the hook for them. there could be a lot more pressure on this trump ally. bezos published e-mails that reveals how he threatened to publish photos of bezos unless he publicly backed down. first they wanted bezos to say the tabloid coverage was not politically motivated. why did they care? we'll get into that. he want themd ed to end how the obtained private messages. certain powerful people who experience washington post news coverage will wrongly included on the

and that the board, which david pecker is in charge of, will thoroughly look into what happened. not an outside investigation. they'll look at themselves. dan springer reporting. he's live in our pacific northwest bureau in seattle. >> shep, it's a stunning battle between media moguls especially considering one likes to fly under the radar. jeff bezos is accused of blackmail and extortion. bezos launched his own investigation the same day he announced he was getting a divorce. he wanted to know how they got texts between laura sanchez and him and if the story was politically motivated. david pecker is a an ally of president trump and investigated by the department of justice for paying to kill a story of an alleged trump affair to help him collected. now the justice department is looked into whether ami might have committed a crime in violation of its agreement. bezos owns the "washington post" who has come under attack of president trump. the big bomb shell came out last night when bezos released e-mails between his camp and a lawyer for ami. in them, ami says they have ten comp

the alliance between president trump and david pecker head of ami and the "national enquirer" isn't they motive bezos subcontracts for pecker's alleged blackmail. in his post yesterday, bezos suggests pecker's tarabia calle. for reasons to be better understood, the saudi angle seems the hit a sensitive nerve, he wrote. he brought one of saudi crown prince's advisors to an oval meeting with president trump while pecker, quote, was considering expanding his media and events business into saudi arabia. last year pecker also published a 97-page progressed spread praisi oncluded ordered the butchering of jamal khashoggi last year. he's guilty. the crown prince did it. the white house remains the lone defender of the crown prince after refusing to meet today's deadline set by congress to determine if the saudis were responsible for khashoggi's murder and butchering. i'm joined by gregory mix. congressman thank you for coming on this friday. this story has how many twists and turns, but the idea of ami, "the national enquirer" its owner david pecker and having some alliance with khashoggi's cr

the head of ami is a long time friend of president trump, david pecker. the company has not commented on bezos's allegations although plenty of other people are. >> we'll get to that in a moment. joining us now, lauren jarrett, joe lockhart and anne milgram. laura, i want to start on the supreme court ruling overnight. this had to do with a louisiana law that was set to go into effect. the law requires that doctors have admitting prif lames within 30 miles of an abortion facility. that means that fewer doctors would be available to perform abortions. critics argue there's no medical justification, it just makes it harder to get an abortion. that's the law, the judges put a stay on it going into effect meaning there is no law in louisiana in effect. the larger implication, though, here has everything to do with the chief justice of the united states john roberts. john roberts, who appears to be apparently in the middle of the court now sided with the more liberal justices here. what do you see? >> i think that analysis is right with the departure of anthon

the faceoff between the world's richest man and the tabloid run by david pecker has riveted the mediah headlines like this and raised serious questions about the "national enquirer's" tactics. ami released a statement which reads in part, american media believes it acted lawfully in the story of mr. bezos. in the time of the allegations it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him, and it would thoroughly investigate the matter. bloomberg and the associated press are reporting tat office of the u.s. attorney of the southern district of new york is looking into whether am oora's actions. ronan farro, i and at least one orr prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the national -- an investigative reporter for the "the new york times" who has reported on the donald trump and the "national enquirer" and white house reporter for the daily beast who reported. thank you, i'm going to go to you first. that ronan farrow tweet was intrigued. do you have anything more on whether or not there were -- because he says at least one other reporter, on other reporte

( laughter ) when word of this investigation got back to david pecker, he was "apoplectic" about the investigation. he was so angry, his head turned purple and the veins were popping out all over pecker. i'm telling ya! throbbing veins! ( applause ) peabody, please! the "national enquirer" decided to blackmail jeff bezos, in writing. so bezos turned around and published all of their emails. the emails claim the photos include a shirtless mr. bezos wearing his wedding ring and either tight black cargo pants or shorts, and his semi-erect manhood is penetrating the zipper of said garment. okay, that's pretty bad. i would not want a photo of me out there wearing cargo shorts. ( laughter ) they also threatened to release "a selfie of mr. bezos fully clothed." wait, how is that blackmail material? is he wearing a shirt covered in pictures of his penis? ( laughter ) the enquirer threatened to publish the pictures unless bezos publicly stated that the previous story and pictures and texts were not politically motivated. but bezos wasn't having it. in his blog post, he writes, "well, that got

david pecker and donald trump are very, very close. and pecker is known to protect donald trump.ere is a vault with stories that ami has captured and bought on behalf of donald trump that pecker is working to keep from becoming public. we know this. i saw that when i worked there. and i will say that what they're doing to jeff bezos is politically motivated. there's no question the reason ami spent so much time and resources tracking down the story about alleged affairs and relationships on on behalf of jeff cheating on his wife, there's no question that was done in order to retaliate against him because of his feud with donald trump. >> so you're saying that you feel that the e-mails that we've seen that have been released by bezos showing him making these threats, showing him trying to deal with bezos was politically motivated because of his relationship with the president? >> absolutely. >> his being of course pecker. >> let's look at the facts. donald trump lethally tweeted out the story, promoted it, laughed about it and indulged in it because he has a relationship with peck

how bad is this for david pecker? >> i think it is bad.tate law but certainly prima facie that he has. if he has, his immunity deal falls apart. if he violated it, he could go to jail. >> absolutely. the first risk is that he is going to be prosecuted, conceivably, or be investigated for the blackmail crime. the second risk is that he and others at ami have already admitted to the campaign finance violations that michael cohen was convicted of and they were going to not be prosecuted under this agreement. the agreement can be torn up and they can be prosecuted. >> it is pretty stunning. the president has made it very clear his views on jeff bezos and the "washington post." after the bezos news broke, the president couldn't contain his excitement. i shared the tweet, so sorry to hear about jeff bezos. i understand. and then happy to jump in on camera and talk about jeff bezos who of course is going through a divorce, partly as a result of all this coming out. here's the president. >> what's your reaction? >> his divorce is fair? >> well, i

expect something in return. >> reporter: in a lengthy blog post, bezos suggests that, pointing to david pecker's relationship with president trump as well as stories of pecker and ties with saudi arabia. >> we know there's a history of david pecker and ami looking for opportunities with saudi arabia, looking for investment from saudi arabia, looking for acquisitions in saudi arabia, a way into the market. >> reporter: they have been at the center of the post of the murdered journalist. bezos appeared to question why ami published a 97-page glossy magazine praising saudi arabia. >> what ami said at the time, what american media said at the time is people are fascinated by royals. this is saudi royalty. this is an exciting time in saudi arabia. >> reporter: ami could have gone after him to please president trump. they have long complained the post's coverage is unfair. the times with pecker go back to 1990 and helped cover up an affair with a playboy model. >> he has a long relationship with president trump. he put his money where his mouth is. he paid off karen mcdougal for silence. >> reporter:

everybody points out, was the "enquirer" trying to help the president because his clone friend david pecker runs the tabloid? the media raised the question about whether the effort was to help the president. anthony: people are leaving out the fact that mr. pecker got immunity a couple months ago. howie: . . aggressive strategy. sometimes at the end of the day you are putting a propane tank on top of a duraflame log. i have been in the media cross-hairs. i took a month or two off then went at it aggressively. i don't like people defining me. but the way jeff is going about this is creating too much unseemliness around him. he's a very rich guy, if i were his advisor i would have said go slow. but a lot of people are praising him for this saying he has courage and think it's a good idea. but i'm sort of against it. howie: he inflamed the story once again. i have got to play a sound bite for you. >> surprise! i am actually not a big brother houseguest. howie: there you are celebrity big brother. >> you have a reality tv star that's the american president. all you elites wake up, the american

documents would be david pecker. >> david pecker, barry levine or dylan howard. >> okay, thank you. secondly, i want to ask a little bit about your conversation with my colleague from missouri about acid inflation. to your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company? >> yes. >> who else knows that the president did this? >> allen weisselberg, ron lieberman and matthew calamari. >> and where would the committee find more information on this? do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them? >> yes. and you would find it at the trump org. >> thank you very much. the last thing here. the trump golf organization currently has a golf course in my home borough of the bronx, trump links. i drive past it every day going between bronx and -- going between the bronx and queens. in fact, the "washington post" reported on the trump links bronx course in an article titled "taxpayers built this golf course and trump reaps the rewards." many learned that taxpayers spent $127 million to build trump links in a,

he published the e-mailed threats from executives representing david pecker, you know him too. of ami. the parent company of the national enquirer and they tell the motivations behind what they publish. why would they ask that? last month, the national inquirer obtained and published embarrassing text messages between bezos and another woman. he launched his own private investigation into how the enquirer got the texts. ami is worried about what they could uncover. ami is tied to the saudi government hence that the enquirer's work crossed into peck areas political connections. he says mr. pecker and his company have been investigated for various actions they have taken on behalf of the saudi government. bezos points to trump's contempt for him and the washington post. he says it's unavoidable that certain powerful people will wrongly conclude i am their enemy. president trump is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. that's what bezos says. then he says several days ago an ami leader advised us that he is apoplectic about the investigation. that's when they had more o

and extortion, infidelity, why the fight between amazon's jeff bezos and "the national enquirer" david pecker is much more than just tabloid fodder. joining me for insight and analysis are, katy tur nbc news correspondent and host of "msnbc live." david brody, chief political analyst for cbn news. kimberly atkins senior washington news correspondent for wbur in boston. markos moulitsas, the founder of daily kos. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. from the moment donald trump rode down that escalator in 2015 republicans had been engaged in a debate. what does it mean to be a republican? well now the 2020 field is taking shape. elizabeth warren announced yesterday and klobuchar is expected to announce soon. is it someone who raises taxes on the super real wealthy or medicare for all? think of warren and bernie sanders and kamala harris. or a deal maker, acceptable to the left who handed the democrats the house. think klobuchar, joe biden, sherr

now, david pecker who runs ami has a close relationship with donald trump it's a bombshell.ve been tough on the washington post and covering jamaal khashoggi. >> he's connecting with the saudi's, the allegation is that the national enquirer, for some reason was close to saudi businessmen and came to the united states. look, we don't know. we will have to see. these are very serious charges. it's very sleazy. i count myself fortunate that i live in a pretty boring wall street journal world, where -- >> lou: he's bringing. >> liz: he's bringing up david pecker in the relationship with donald trump. >> this will reach all different locations. i'm amazed about all the stuff in the e-mails that was bluntly and frankly as it was. so again, not in my league not my world. >> liz: we have never seen jeff bezos make this extremely where public disclosure. thank you. we have to wrap it up. we have to wrap it up. thanks for having us in your home. lou dobbs is next, right here on the foxbusiness network. have a good night. >> lou: good evening everyone, the radical dams escalate their w

but, the question of whether it's a crime or not is the one we're debating. >> you knew david pecker.or him for years. is he worried today? >> i don't think he's worried. think he's really confident. look how he's been operating, right. someone who is worried doesn't go out and be as boold as held been especially being on good behavior because of the deal he cut. i think similar to donald trump he thinks nothing sticks to him and can he keep doing business as usual. >> but do you think something is different about this time? jeff bezos has beaten them at their own game in terms of going public with embarrassing details before they could. certainly about the pictures. he has very deep pockets. he's the richest man, you know, on earth. so is this time different for the "national enquirer"? >> i think it is. they didn't anticipate his reaction that he would fight them because most people just fold like cards. here someone is stepping up and saying i'm not playing ball, you guys, come and get me. >> but i think the point is it probably will not have a continuing life. bezos got what he wa

i should point out that i know david pecker well.did a personal finance column, couple columns, for him for men's fitness magazines, one of the or propertither properti owns. i actually like the guy. we graduated from pace university together. different times, but get all that out of the way. here's the problem that he faces, i think. it's two-fold. number one, is what he did to bezos, the letter saying if you don't do x, meaning cease and desist your investigation into how your e-mails were hacked and also say that we didn't obtain them illegally, if you don't do that, we will do this which is publishing all sorts of racy pictures about him and his girlfriend. is that extortion legally common law? spoke with john coffey at columbia university, one of the biggest finance law professors. he says it doesn't quite make it because it's not directly involving money and not involving -- let me just finish -- okay. spoke with other former federal prosecutors this weekend as well. could this blow up the deal even if it falls short of the leg

it was actually david pecker. so he paid off some of a love child that doesn't exist?sn't exist? yes, about $15,000. 0k. about how many times did mr trump ask you to threaten an individual or entity on his behalf? quite a few times. more than a hundred times. 200 times? more, probably 500 times. and when you say threaten, we mean with litigation or an argument with a nasty reporter thatis an argument with a nasty reporter that is writing an article... what do you know about... let's go to your tapes. you said there's a hundred tapes? voice recordings. will you make them available to the committee? if you'd really like them. don't you have to gather that, sir? we would. did mr trump tape any conversations? not that i am aware of, no. were you involved in the $25 million settlement to trump university? i had a role in that, yes. pay the settlement? i believe it was mrtrump yes. pay the settlement? i believe it was mr trump but i don't know the answer. you don't know the answer because you know i was involved in a different aspect. was there a businessman involved in it f

the feds are now investigating american media and long-time trump ally david pecker. also the possible saudi connection. tom freedman takes on a possible intersection of politics, oil money and sleaze. our big idaho potato truck is out there somewhere and we're going to find it. awe man. always look for the grown in idaho seal. (male announcer) we know these memories will last longer than the wrapping paper. we know there's some things you just can't put a bow on. we know the best gift of all is still out there. we know the great outdoors. we love the great outdoors. bass pro shops and cabela's-- where incredible selection, great people, and an experience like no other all come together. (ala♪m goes off) wake up sweetie. ♪ doctor dave. see ya. ♪ here's your order. ♪ hey. applebee's to go. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. a second woman has come forward accusing the lieutenant governor, justin fairfax, of prior sexual assault. fairfax is first in line to the governor's seat. it was thought he might assume the seat after ralph northam was caught up in his own

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>> this spells a big problem for ami, for david pecker. the southern district of new york is not playing around. if they get any sense, they're pretty aggressive, relentless. if i think that am sximpb david pecker went against this deal. they gave them this nonprosecution agreement. they wouldn't prosecute them for their involvement. if they get any expense ami was doing this, that there was anything criminal here, they'll rip up the cooperation agreement. and ami could face some legal jeopardy. they're going to have lots of questions. how did the "national enquirer" get their hands on this material which could spell even more trouble for this group. and whether or not it was politically motivated. this had open a lot of doors that will lead to a lot of trouble. >> thank you. appreciate your time. >> i'll bring in now mr. james clapper. thank you for joining us. >> thanks, don. >> give me your takeaway from the acting a.g. whitaker's testimony today. did you find him incredible? >> not really. i spent 25, 27 years in various capacities tes

trump is close to media, and it is david pecker in this situation. think it is interesting that he came at that issue in this post and the same time, my favorite part was the last line, he said i'm going to kick over a log and see what's under it. that's what they're doing digitally, all these people. sometimes it is negative and sometimes it is positive he is kicking over the internet log and seeing what crawls out of the dirt i think. >> kara, the most important part of the story, is it a privacy story, is it a power story, is it a media story >> it is all of them it is not a privacy, it is a hacking story. also a privacy story of what's appropriate, although that's kind of the wheels are off on that issue, there's hardly anything that's private any more, but it is a question of what is confidential and what should be protected. it is a good debate to have. it is obviously a fantastic media story and a political story like you can't believe because of links between american media, they have been given immunity in the mueller investigation, so then

bezos published an extraordinary blog postlast week and now the attorney for david pecker, the publisher is on the defense as the hollywood actor and journalist say the company did the same thing to them. here's nbc's miguel amalguer. >> reporter: this morning has the jeff bezos leaker be revealed? the brother of lauren sanchez is denying reports he leaked explicit texts to the "national enquirer." a lawyer for the tabloid ceo david pecker is refusing to confirm or deny if it was michael sanchez who's also a reported supporter of president trump. the lawyer saying the source was someone close to the couple and had given information to the enquirer for seven years. michael sanchez denied the involvement to post. it comes as pecker's attorney is pushing back on claims jeff bezos made in an extraordinary blogpost late last week. >> it's absolutely not extortion and not blackmail. >> reporter: the amazon founder wrote that representatives for american media, inc. threatened to release intimate texts and photos between him and his alleged mistress lauren sanchez if he didn't publish what he c