A media organization run by a longtime friend of Donald Trump, where stories damaging to the developer have been bought in order to be buried, stands accused of extorting the world's richest man, who happens to own a newspaper Trump considers an enemy of the people.
Enquiring minds need to know what the hell is going on.
Somehow, American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, got hold of private communications between Jeff Bezos and a mistress. The revealing photos are embarrassing, not to mention relevant to the mega-divorce in which he is embroiled.
We are all for aggressive reporting on powerful people. We are all against unlawful computer hacking and a President using dirty tricks to intimidate his critics, if either of those things describes what happened here.
AMI compounded its sin by threatening to publish some pictures unless Bezos publicly affirms that the Enquirer's reporting was not motivated by political concerns. Good for Bezos for going far and wide with the sick demand in order to crush it.
Federal prosecutors are rightly examining whether Pecker, who had recently entered into an agreement to cooperate on the hush money case of Trump hatchet man Michael Cohen, violated that deal.
Where there's acrid smoke, there's probably toxic stuff on fire.
