The National Enquirer, fervent Trump propaganda outlet, turns on lawyer Michael Cohen.

Courtesy of Mediaite:

The National Enquirer has taken a swing at President Donald Trump‘s embattled attorney, Michael Cohen. 

The tabloid has long had a reputation of serving as Trump’s media fixer, running salacious headlines such as “Hillary Framed Trump Family!” and “Proof! FBI Plot to Impeach Trump!” however, it is the first time it has turned on Trump’s legal fixer, Cohen. 

The publication’s parent company, American Media Inc., run by Trump-pal David Pecker, is also currently being sued by Playboy model Karen McDougal. She claims that AMI offered to buy the story of her alleged affair with Trump for $150,000, to then not publish it — known as a catch and kill agreement. 

The headline of the Enquirer’s latest cover, which reads “Trump Fixer’s Secrets and Lies!” also comes in the wake of Trump attempting to distance himself from his longtime attorney.

Make no mistake, if the National Enquirer has turned on Trump's fixer, that is because Donald Trump gave them the go ahead to do so.

Which means that Trump is tossing Cohen under the bus, and any loyalty that Cohen might feel toward his boss is completely misplaced.

So now we just have to wait and see how long it takes before Cohen and Mueller come together for their version of "Let's Make a Deal."

Does Donald Trump have a secret love child?

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The owner of the National Enquirer paid $30,000 in late 2015 to a onetime Trump Tower doorman who was offering an embarrassing story about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, but the tabloid never published it, according to a person familiar with the payment. 

A spokesman for the Trump Organization on Thursday denied the story that doorman Dino Sajudin told the tabloid: that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock in the late 1980s and that top executives of the Trump Organization, including longtime security chief Matt Calamari, knew about it. 

“Mr. Sajudin’s claims are completely false,” the Trump Organization said in a statement. A spokesman added that Calamari never made such a statement and accused Sajudin of having a history of peddling false stories. 

In an interview Thursday with The Washington Post, Sajudin dismissed claims that he had made anything up. 

“You know I took a polygraph test,” he said, adding that he believes his story was buried as part of a larger strategy by the tabloid to quash negative articles about Trump. 

“It seems like the writing is on the wall about that, it’s pretty clear,” Sajudin said. He said the story “had to come out,” and he referred further questions to his attorney.

Okay for the record this Sajudin guy is a little sketchy, and has a history of making things up for attention.

However the possibility that Trump has a love child out there seems like something that almost HAS to be true.

The guy has shoved his shriveled orange dick into anything that moves for decades now, without benefit of a condom according to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, so just by the law of averages alone it stands to reason that there are at least a few little orange Trump-a-Loompas running around out there someplace.

By the way the maid who has been identified by a few erstwhile internet sleuths, Carmen Ortiz Santiago Delouise. is indeed Trump's longtime housekeeper, but there is no evidence that she is the Fertile Myrtle who gave birth to this possible heir to the Trump misfortune.

However let me just say that if this story is true, and the mother turns out to be Hispanic, this might finally see Trump's approval rating with his racist base go down to single digits.

Yeah, THAT actually might do it.

New Yorker magazine exposes Donald Trump's history of buying off women to keep his numerous extramarital affairs secret.

Trump with Karen McDougal

Courtesy of The New Yorker:  

Trump and McDougal began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal’s. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own.

The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs—sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously—out of the press. 

On November 4, 2016, four days before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported that American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran. Purchasing a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call “catch and kill.” This is a favorite tactic of the C.E.O. and chairman of A.M.I., David Pecker, who describes the President as “a personal friend.” As part of the agreement, A.M.I. consented to publish a regular aging-and-fitness column by McDougal. After Trump won the Presidency, however, A.M.I.’s promises largely went unfulfilled, according to McDougal. Last month, the Journal reported that Trump’s personal lawyer had negotiated a separate agreement just before the election with an adult-film actress named Stephanie Clifford, whose screen name is Stormy Daniels, which barred her from discussing her own affair with Trump. Since then, A.M.I. has repeatedly approached McDougal about extending her contract. 

McDougal, in her first on-the-record comments about A.M.I.’s handling of her story, declined to discuss the details of her relationship with Trump, for fear of violating the agreement she reached with the company. She did say, however, that she regretted signing the contract. “It took my rights away,” McDougal told me. “At this point I feel I can’t talk about anything without getting into trouble, because I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about. I’m afraid to even mention his name.”

The article also says that Trump offered to pay McDougal after the first time they had sex (She refused the money.), that the affair lasted nine months, and during that time he flew her around the country, and even introduced her to his family and friends.

McDougal's account essentially reinforces the story that Stormy Daniels told before Trump's attorney bought her silence, and the others that have been talked about for years.

Donald Trump's actions essentially scream about his innate insecurities, though to be honest we already knew that by the fact that he names every damn thing he touches after himself.

However these numerous sexual encounters also clearly gave the Russians plenty of kompromat to use against Trump, and we know by the fact that he worked so hard to keep them quiet, that it would be very effective in buying his cooperation.

So I ask again, does the president of the United States have a security clearance that allows him to do his job?

And if he does, how in the fuck did he get it?

Sarah Palin must be feeling neglected so she resurrects old stories from the past as an attack on journalists.

Courtesy of Palin's Facebook page: 

Nice to see light shine. Doesn’t it make you wonder about other accusations (absolutely false, in Todd’s and my case) that are reported as truth? Total lies that escape real journalists’ “who/what/where/when/why” ethical reporting practices. - SP 

I have to tell ya that this really feels like Palin is specifically baiting me, since a number of these stories involved me in one way or another. 

I guess somebody is feeling lonely, and is desperate for people to talk about her again.

Well I am pretty damn tired of constantly posting about Donald Trump so why the hell not?

That Star Magazine cover seems to be reporting on my Splitsville story so for the handful of you who may not be familiar with it, here is a link.

I will also include this follow up post that I made last year after receiving some corrections from Levi Johnston.

As you can see the post did contain some misinformation provided to me by Tank Jones, who I hired as a private investigator.  However the story of their marital problems, Palin's desire to leave the state, and the fact that she was looking to get a job in media (We thought at the time talk radio, but it turned out to be Fox News.) all turned out to be accurate.

Now let's move on to the Shailey Tripp story.

I first reported on that story only after The National Enquirer story came out with it, even though I had been hearing about it for weeks.

Later of course I made contact with Shailey and recorded an interview with her.

(Here is a transcript for those who do not want to listen to the audio.)

Of course Sarah and Todd denied the story vehemently ("Have you seen Todd?"), but this still remains a case of she said she said. You can choose for yourself who seems more believable.

I have to say that if Palin had not brought these old stories up that I was prepared to never talk about them again. They are, after all, old news.

But since she opened Pandora's Box, why not take a look at all of the embarrassing things inside?

On the day we learn of the FBI raid Donald Trump's propaganda tabloid goes hard after Paul Manafort.

Whoa. Does this National Enquirer attack on Manafort mean he's turned on Trump? https://t.co/ExlncvLzFK

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 9, 2017

Kristol might be onto something because the tabloid aggressively accused Manafort of cheating on his wife with a much younger woman, and of wearing his wedding ring while "romping with his 33 year old mistress in the same bed he shares with his wife!"

The horror!

The Enquirer also leaves no doubt that this is a smear campaign in the quotes they use from White House sources: "President Trump has been focused on draining the swamp in Washington D.C." a White House insider said. "Meanwhile one of his trusted advisers was bedding another woman behind his wife's back, betraying her and his country!"

The source that the Enquirer identifies for these details is Manafort's daughters hacked I-Phone.

That hack occurred back in February, and was reported on by multiple news sources in March.

That of course was several months after Manafort was fired from Trump's campaign, and after it started to appear that he might be a liability.

Hmm, now who do we know who is into hacking folks, and leaking their information to pro-Trump media outlets?

Yeah, methinks this is a fairly obvious coordinated effort to smear Paul Manafort before he starts singing at the top of his lungs for Robert Mueller and his investigation team.

Joe and Mika co-author op-ed in response to Trump tweets.

The op-ed appears over on the Washington Post.

Here is a sample:President Trump launched personal attacks against us Thursday, but our concerns about his unmoored behavior go far beyond the personal. America’s leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president. We have our doubts, but we are both certain that the man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show, “Morning Joe.” 

The president’s unhealthy obsession with our show has been in the public record for months, and we are seldom surprised by his posting nasty tweets about us. During the campaign, the Republican nominee called Mika “neurotic” and promised to attack us personally after the campaign ended. This year, top White House staff members warned that the National Enquirer was planning to publish a negative article about us unless we begged the president to have the story spiked. We ignored their desperate pleas.

The president’s unhealthy obsession with “Morning Joe” does not serve the best interests of either his mental state or the country he runs. Despite his constant claims that he no longer watches the show, the president’s closest advisers tell us otherwise. That is unfortunate. We believe it would be better for America and the rest of the world if he would keep his 60-inch-plus flat-screen TV tuned to “Fox & Friends.”

The article goes on to debunk much of what Trump claimed in his tweet.

Including the fact that Mika was bleeding from a recent facelift, which this image had already put to rest yesterday.

For the record, this is a picture of @MorningMika at Mar-a-Lago at the time Trump is claiming she was "bleeding badly." pic.twitter.com/NJgioOD3Va

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 29, 2017

The National Enquirer did, by the way, go ahead and publish the article that Trump used in an attempt to blackmail Joe and Mika into laying off the criticisms.

 Oooh, that'll teach'em!

As I have said before I am by no means a fan of Morning Joe, and rarely watch anything that they broadcast even on You Tube.

But I have to say that they are certainly doing their part in driving the orange shitgibbon out of what is left of his mind, and that is definitely driving up their likeability in my book.

And they should have no problem keeping it up, since Trump simply cannot stop watching their show and then tweeting about them.

Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

God this whole thing is just so fucking sad.

This is what our politics has turned into, one long drawn out soap opera. 

Donald Trump, hater of "fake news," once served as a source for stories in the National Enquirer, even had his own byline.

This comes from a rather expansive story in The New Yorker focused on Trump's relationship with the CEO of American Media, and publisher of the National Enquirer,  David Pecker: 

In the eighties and early nineties, Trump was something of a fixture in the Enquirer, thanks to his multiple marriages. A typical headline from 1990 read “trump’s mistress cheats on donald with tom cruise.” But, once Pecker took over, critical coverage of Trump vanished. “They have an agreement where David would not write anything that damages Donald,” a senior A.M.I. official from this period told me. 

One employee said that Trump was also a frequent source for Enquirer stories. “When there was something going on in New York, David would talk with Trump about it. Trump provided David with stories directly,” the employee said. “And, if Donald didn’t want a story to run, it wouldn’t run. You can put that in stone.” Indeed, early in the 2016 campaign Pecker simply turned over the pages of the Enquirer to Trump, allowing the candidate to write columns under his own byline. 

So apparently NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, are all hotbeds of fake news, but a magazine that once ran the headline "sociopath’ Hillary Clinton’s secret psych files exposed!" is perfectly respectable?

In fact as it turns out the Enquirer is essentially Trump's own supermarket propaganda outlet:  

Throughout the 2016 Presidential race, the Enquirer embraced Trump with sycophantic fervor. The magazine made its first political endorsement ever, of Trump, last spring. Cover headlines promised, “donald trump’s revenge on hillary & her puppets” and “top secret plan inside: how trump will win debate!” The publication trashed Trump’s rivals, running a dubious cover story on Ted Cruz that described him as a philanderer and another highly questionable piece that linked Cruz’s father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 

It was even tougher on Hillary Clinton, regularly printing such headlines as “ ‘sociopath’ hillary clinton’s secret psych files exposed!” A 2015 piece began, “Failing health and a deadly thirst for power are driving Hillary Clinton to an early grave, The National Enquirer has learned in a bombshell investigation. The desperate and deteriorating 67-year-old won’t make it to the White House—because she’ll be dead in six months.” On election eve, the Enquirer offered a special nine-page investigation under the headline “hillary: corrupt! racist! criminal!” This blatantly skewed coverage continued after Trump took office. Post-election cover stories included “trump takes charge! success in just 36 days!” and “proof obama wiretapped trump! lies, leaks & illegal bugging.”

We of course already knew some of this, but what we did not know is that Trump and Pecker are such close friends that Pecker used to be a frequent guest on Trump's private plane, and that he has been covering for Trump for years.

This is what he told the Gus Wenner, of Wenner Media: 

"He told me very bluntly that he had killed all sorts of stories for Trump. He hired a girl to be a columnist when she threatened to go public with a story about Donald.”

Pecker then denied that he had ever admitted that, however the writer of this article, Jeffrey Toobin, asked about it point blank and this was his response:

When I asked Pecker about McDougal, who was Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, he told me that he first met her when she modelled for the cover of Men’s Fitness, another A.M.I. magazine. “When her people contacted me that she had a story on Trump, everybody was contacting her,” he said. “At the same time, she was launching her own beauty-and-fragrance line, and I said that I’d be very interested in having her in one of my magazines, now that she’s so famous.” But Pecker had a condition for hiring her: “Once she’s part of the company, then on the outside she can’t be bashing Trump and American Media.” 

I pointed out that bashing Trump was not the same as bashing American Media. 

“To me it is,” Pecker replied. “The guy’s a personal friend of mine.”

Now all of this might seem a little frivolous, after all who takes the National Enquirer seriously?

However currently Pecker is working out a deal to buy Time Inc., which would put him at the helm of Time, People, and Fortune magazines, which he would of course then turn into propaganda outlets for Trump as well.

Also keep in mind that this is not the ONLY media CEO that Trump plays footsies with, he has a similar relationship with Rupert Murdoch of Fox News, and of course we know where Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News currently spends his days.

Essentially Trump has taken what Roger Ailes did to insert partisanship into news coverage and amplified it.

So now consumers have a choice, they can either tune into Trump truths, or instead consume fact based "fake news" reported by ethical journalists.

And let's face it, a whole lot of Americans simply cannot tell the difference.

So why is Donald Trump's favorite tabloid, the National Enquirer, suddenly throwing Michael Flynn under the bus?

Inside the tabloid you see this:

Source

The Enquirer claims that their source for this accusation is in the White House.

In the past the Enquirer has had seemingly unfettered access to Donald Trump, who by the way is also in the White House.

I'm just saying.

So exactly what has happened that would convince the White House to scapegoat Michael Flynn?

Well, it might have something to do with this:

Former Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey told CNN Friday that former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn met with representatives of the Turkish government in 2016 and discussed potential ways to send a foe of Turkey's president back to face charges in that country. 

As a representative of his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Flynn met with senior representatives of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government in September 2016, Woolsey said. Woolsey was a Trump campaign adviser at the time and attended the meeting, but said he arrived after it was already well underway. 

Woolsey claims that those present discussed sending Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim leader who Erdogan has accused of being behind a failed military coup to overthrow him, back to Turkey to face charges -- possibly outside the legal US extradition system. 

"What I saw and heard was sort of the end of the conversation -- it's not entirely clear what transpired because of that," Woolsey said on "CNN Tonight" with Don Lemon. "But it looks as if there was at least some strong suggestion by one or more of the Americans present at the meeting that we would be able, the United States would be able, through them, to be able to get hold of Gulen, the rival for Turkey's political situation."

Yeah, that's pretty troubling. And when added to the fact that there are transcripts of conversations that Flynn had  a Russian ambassador, and that he was paid by Russian-related entities, I guess Trump might be thinking he needs to cut Flynn lose before things get traced back to him.

OR, it could be because of this:

From my sources and what has been openly reported, it increasingly looks like #Flynn may have a deal with the FBI. #trumprussia pic.twitter.com/U0PHdexlFV

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) March 25, 2017

Oooh, the plot thickens.

Like his fascist idol, Donald Trump also his own propaganda outlet. It's called the National Enquirer.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Since election day, the Enquirer has trumpeted the president-elect’s controversial decision to hire white nationalist figures like Steve Bannon, his economically untenable and largely falsified plan to save a few jobs from leaving Indiana, and his bold leadership in convincing Apple to move 4.5 million jobs to the United States (no such plan exists).

It remains to be seen if the National Enquirer’s current standing as a disreputable rag changes in a Trump administration. For years, the paper has tried to build its credibility as more than a peddler of gossip and fiction, most recently in 2008 when they were the first to break the story about John Edwards’ long history of affairs. Though their reporting lacked basic journalistic standards, subsequent reporting by actual journalists lent weight to the Enquirer’s story. 

But there is some evidence that the Enquirer will have a powerful ally and a captive audience working in the West Wing. It was the Enquirer that first pushed a fake story about Ted Cruz’s father being seen with Lee Harvey Oswald months before the assassination of JFK. Within hours, Donald Trump himself was sharing the story to his millions of followers on social media, citing the Enquirer – “They actually have a very good record of being right,” he said at the time – in the way most people cite the New York Times.

Well I guess it stands to reason that a fake president would have a tabloid famous for printing fake news promoting his version of reality.

You know I have had some dealings with the Enquirer in the past, and there were a few folks there that I thought were actually good reporters with ethics and everything. But overall the paper is a shit show which ONLY cares about printing lurid headlines that entice shoppers to buy them, only to discover later that often the headline does not match the content.

Clearly they are positioning themselves to gain access to Trump and therefore get the kinds of exclusives which might resurrect their reputation.

Which might work out well since neither Trump nor the Enquirer seem to have a terribly strong affinity for the truth.

The National Enquirer buys former Playboy model's story of her affair with Donald Trump, to keep it secret.

Trump with Karen McDougal.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

The National Enquirer's publishing company paid a Playboy model $150,000 for her story about having an affair with Donald Trump - but never ran it, sources have said. 

Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the year, claimed she had a consensual relationship with Trump over several months beginning in 2006, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 

But the National Enquirer didn't publish anything about McDougal's allegations, despite paying six figures for the information, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. 

Trump married Melania, his third wife, in January 2005. 

And there goes the last of the journalistic integrity that the Enquirer earned by reporting on the John Edwards affair story.

This is completely indefensible.

Besides its not like most Americans do not already simply ASSUME that Trump cheats on his wife, virtually everything we know about him would lead to that conclusion.

Still seeing the Enquirer do this offers a peek into how Trump "manages" unflattering press and keeps his "useful idiots" from learning the truth about him.

"I'm with her." Former top John McCain aide cannot stomach Donald Trump instead decides to support Hillary Clinton.

the GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level. I'm with her.

— Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) May 3, 2016

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Mark Salter, who served as chief of staff to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and worked as an adviser on both of McCain’s presidential campaigns, says he’ll be supporting Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump this fall. 

Salter, known as one of McCain’s closest confidants, tweeted Tuesday that he’s “with her,” a nod to Clinton’s campaign slogan. 

 The tweet came after Trump cited a National Enquirer story accusing Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, of playing a role in John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Cruz’s campaign has dismissed the story as “garbage.”

I would not be at all surprised to learn that John McCain ends up voting or Hillary as well, along with a whole lot of Republicans who simply cannot imagine the stubby fingered vulgarian sitting in the Oval Office.

I am still not going to predict a blowout for Hillary in the general because I don't want Democrats to get cocky, but I will say that if it were to happen I would not be even a little surprised.

National Enquirer seems convinced that the presidential candidate named in the DC Madam's phone records is Ted Cruz. Update!

Courtesy of Radar Online: 

Montgomery Blair Sibley, a former lawyer for madam Deborah Palfrey, has filed a dramatic appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to publish her unconventional “black book,” which consists of some 15,000 pages of phone records and calls to clients, as well as their calls requesting the $300-an-hour services from her gaggle of beautiful hookers! 

But Radar has learned The National ENQUIRER will this week report its findings of yet another exhaustive and investigative probe that will quote journalist detectives who claim the mystery candidate almost certainly “has to be Cruz.” 

Investigator Wayne Madsen, who was on a team of reporters hired by Hustler Magazine’s boisterous owner Larry Flynt to investigate the madam, told The ENQUIRER that Cruz should be concerned! 

“If Montgomery Sibley has what he says he has, it has to be Cruz,” he said in an interview — an advance copy of which was provided to Radar. 

“Going on what I know about the other male candidates still in the race, it isn’t any of them, and Palfrey didn’t provide call boys, so it wasn’t Hillary.”

Of course right now this is all simply gossip, and there is no reason to jump to any real conclusions.

However having said that Ted Cruz has always been my top suspect as well.

Can you imagine what happens to this GOP race if Cruz is knocked about this scandal?

So hard to type while jamming popcorn in my mouth with two hands.

Update: Yep it looks like it's Cruz alright. 

Breitbart News decides to reopen talk about Sarah Palin's affair with Brad Hanson in order to tamp down rumors of Ted Cruz's sexual liaisons. Good plan.

WTH Breitbart?

Courtesy of Breitbart:

In the critical early days of September 2008, after Sarah Palin was nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for Vice President, the National Enquirer ran a cover story alleging that the Alaska governor had an adulterous affair. 

Palin, and Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, immediately and unequivocally denied the story. “The smearing of the Palin family must end,” said McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, as quoted at the time. “The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Gov Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie. The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and accomplished public servant are a disgrace. The American people will reject it.” The campaign also threatened legal action.

The article goes on to make the case that the Enquirer story was based on flimsy evidence, and so was easily dismissed, and that the Ted Cruz story is even flimsier.

Of course the problem with that particular argument is that the Hanson affair actually did happen, and everybody up here knows it.

In fact Joe McGinniss proved as much when he came up here to do research on "The Rogue."

When that story came out in Joe's book there was a statement supposedly from Hanson in which he denied the affair, but when the National Enquirer confronted him about the story he seemed to have no idea that he had issued a denial:

When ENQUIRER reporter ALAN BUTTERFIELD went to speak to Hanson yesterday at his home in Alaska, Hanson seemed surprised that an official statement had been issued on his behalf. 

Butterfield said Hanson appeared perplexed and confused when asked about the statement. 

After being asked several times if he had released the statement, Hanson finally told Butterfield: “I think so,” and then he added, “Let me know what you think about it.”

Look I have no idea if Ted Cruz had five mistresses, or didn't have five mistresses.

But what I do know is that using the Palin/Hanson affair story as evidence that the Enquirer engages in shoddy journalism, fails to make that case.

By the way I can only imagine how thrilled Palin is with Breitbart for dredging this old story up to make their point. I can almost hear the cans ricocheting off of the old refrigerator now.

The National Enquirer claims that Ted Cruz has had five secret mistresses. Seriously? Update!

Courtesy of the National Enquirer:

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is trying to survive an explosive “dirt file” on the finger-wagging conservative senator! 

And the new issue of The National ENQUIRER — on newsstands now — reveals how the reports say the staunch Republican is hiding FIVE different mistresses!

“Private detectives are digging into at least five affairs Ted Cruz supposedly had,” claimed a Washington insider. 

“The leaked details are an attempt to destroy what’s left of his White House campaign!” 

The ENQUIRER reports that Cruz’s claimed mistresses include a foxy political consultant and a high-placed D.C. attorney!

This story was quickly picked up other news outlets, mostly conservative, who started filling in the pieces.

Courtesy of the Conservative Treehouse:  

Firstly, they post pictures of the collective mistresses. NE would never legally “go there” if they did not hold a very reasonable certainty the outlined players were factually part of the story. 

Secondly, there’s at least one face in the group that is easily identifiable. 

When you accept the NE editorial/legal requirement for research and attributed comment prior to publication, you recognize there is more than a strong probability each of the outlined group (pictured) was contacted prior to publication; and one of those is very close to the Donald Trump campaign. Ergo, it’s entirely likely presidential candidate Donald Trump knew this story was coming out.

Then there was this tweet from a Washington Times columnist:

COMING CLEAN: From what I know, at least 2 of the women named as Cruz mistresses by the National Enquirer are accurate #TRUMP #CRUZ #TCOT

— Drew Johnson (@Drews_Views) March 25, 2016

Personally I am not at all surprised that slimy Ted Cruz is a hypocrite who cheats on his wife, I am only surprised that there are five other women in the world who can look at that face and not vomit all over themselves.

And just when you thought this 2016 campaign could not get any sleazier.

P.S. By the way the scandal already has its own hashtag.  Of course.

Update: Ted Cruz calls the Enquirer story "garbage."

I want to be crystal clear: these attacks are garbage. For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National...
Posted by Ted Cruz on Friday, March 25, 2016

But then again how would we expect him to respond?

In other news a Trump supporter confronted one of the women named, Amanda Carpenter, during a CNN broadcast.

I have no idea of this report is factual or not, but the real story here is that this is how Donald Trump engages in politics, and I will assume that he will continue in this vein well into the general election, if the Republicans don't have him taken out first.

Update 2: Donald Trump responds to the Ted Cruz mistress:  

I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it. 

Likewise, I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz. 

I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republican nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again. 

- Donald J. Trump

Did you catch the part about the National Enquirer's past track record on stories of this type?

So subtle.

The National Enquirer finds something special that Dakota Meyer and his fiancee Bristol Palin have in in common. Brawling.

Source

Courtesy of the National Enquirer: 

Bristol Palin and her fiancé have more in common than just political views – both Bristol and Marine Corps vet Dakota Meyer seem to have a penchant for getting into drunken brawls! 

While Bristol, 24, reportedly punched a man after she was asked to leave a party, Medal of Honor winner Dakota, 26, allegedly walloped a girl! 

The National ENQUIRER has obtained photos of the aftermath of a Dec. 2012 melee that left Dakota with a gash to the head, and another male, Kanissa’a Thompson, arrested for assault. 

According to Kanissa’a, Dakota was the aggressor, and he hit Kanissa’a’s sister, who was tussling with the girlfriend of Dakota’s brother! Kanissa’a also said he saw Dakota “punch” his sister. 

In an exclusive interview he told The ENQUIRER: “This girl got into a fight with one of our friends, and Dakota was trying to break it up. He was drunk, and he punched her. 

“Dakota turned around and punched [my sister]. She knocked him out.

Of course here at IM this is not news, but I just have to LOL at the idea that right when Sarah starts pimping this wedding and working the publicity angle that there will be this meme out there of the brawling bride from Wasilla, and her glass jawed Medal of Honor winning groom.

I have little doubt that those facts will provide plenty of fodder for late night comedians if they even bother to comment on these D-list celebrities at this point.

Radar Online finally learns that Bristol Palin's MOH fiance may have had his ass kicked by a girl. Update!

Courtesy of Radar Online: 

Bristol Palin has a lot more in common with her fiancé than just her conservative political views: They both have found themselves entangled in a wild brawl! Sarah Palin’s daughter infamously threw a few punches at a party in Alaska last summer, and now, RadarOnline.com has learned, her fiancé Dakota Meyer was caught in a bloody scuffle that included an alleged gun and punching a girl! 

According to a new report in The National ENQUIRER, the Medal of Honor recipient got into a fight at a Kentucky party in December 2012 that left him with a nasty gash to the head — and a partygoer arrested for the assault. 

According to the report from Kentucky State Police obtained by The ENQUIRER, Meyer said he was leaving a party when he claims a female friend was “getting assaulted” by another girl. In trying to protect her, he claimed, he was knocked to the ground and “kicked in the head.”

I am sure that a lot of you are going "Wait we already know this." And that's because you already know this.

You see I wrote about it back in March.

Including the part where Meyer accused some guy, even though witnesses claimed it was a girl, and then Meyer attempted to coerce the guy into joining the military in order to get the charges dropped against him.

Personally I love it that this is hitting the gossip sites. And love it even more that they mentioned the brawl.

Supposedly it is less than a month before the Palins hold Meyer down and brand their mark into him, so I think a little media scrutiny is a good thing.

Because I gotta tell ya, the fact that Meyer can't take a punch from a woman only makes him that much more attractive to the Palin clan.

Update: Okay I must have missed this portion of the article earlier, but it's new so take a look:  

“We were all at a party we were leaving and couple fights broke out,” Thompson told The ENQUIRER, adding that as the designated driver he was sober. “We were getting all them and putting them in the car and there’s this girl who got into a fight with one of our friends. Dakota was trying to break it up, he was drunk, he punched her and she hit the ground and he was on the ground on top of the girl. 

“My sister pulled him up and he turned around and punched her,” he added. “And she knocked him out. When he got up and reached around his back he pulled out a gun and I was less than five feet from him. 

“I grabbed my sister and pulled her and all his friends jumped up on him so he didn’t shoot anyone.”

Okay that is way more fucked up than the version I reported on last month.

But you have to admit that it sounds like something Meyer would do.

The National Enquirer has some inside poop on the upcoming Dakota/Bristol nuptials. As well as the reason Sarah is pushing them toward the altar so aggressively.

Courtesy of the Enquirer:  

Sarah has cooked up a secret strategy to win the White House in 2016 – and her future son-in-law is the key! 

He’s Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who recently announced his engagement to Sarah’s daughter Bristol, 24.

With a real war hero in the family, Sarah, 51, hopes voters will forget her clan’s bad behavior, sources said. 

“Since the moment Dakota appeared on her TV show, she’d been trying to figure out how to best use him to her advantage,” said a Palin insider. “So, she started pushing Bristol and Dakota together!”

The piece goes on to claim that Bristol first met in January when they were in Las Vegas.

You all remember that, right?

After all how could we forget?

The Enquirer also confirms the blind item about the ring: 

“Sarah was so eager to have Dakota marry her daughter that she even bought a huge diamond engagement ring for them,” added the insider.

And here is the kicker:  

But a quickie marriage isn’t the only thing on Sarah’s mind, sources revealed. At a recent event for potential Republican presidential candidates, Sarah said: “Without putting any words in my mouth, you can absolutely say that I’m seriously interested” in the 2016 race. 

The insider said: “With Dakota stumping for her, Sarah honestly believes she can’t lose!” 

Okay well that kind of confirms something that my source told me way back in December.

I am still a little doubtful that Palin is serious about launching an actual campaign, however the rest of this definitely rings true and confirms much of what I've been told.

In fact I am almost certain that I know who the Enquirer is using as a source, and if accurate they are definitely getting the inside scoop. However keep in mind that Palin not only lies to the media, and to her supporters, she lies to her family as well.

Some may have moved on to other stories, but the National Enquirer believes there is more to know about the Throwdown at the Hoedown. And I agree.

Courtesy of the National Enquirer:  

You’re all headed to the drunk tank!” That’s what an enraged Sarah Palin is telling her three eldest kids – Track, 25, Bristol, 24, and Willow, 20 – after a police report reveals they were boozed up at a party that turned into a headline-making brawl. 

Cops in Alaska released the report Oct. 9 after prosecutors said no charges would be filed related to the Sept. 6 incident. The former Alaska governor was at the party with her hubby Todd and their brood when the fight broke out. 

“Sarah is livid that her kids have been called ‘belligerent and intoxicated,’” a friend said. 

“It’s a real embarrassment. In a fury, she told them, ‘You’re all headed to the drunk tank!’ She’s not sending them off to rehab, but it’s a clear warning they better clean up their acts.” 

According to the report, obtained by The National ENQUIRER, at least two dust-ups broke out during the incident – one involving Track and Todd, and another involving Bristol. One officer wrote that Track “was angry, heavily intoxicated and acted belligerent.”

Sadly that is the last of the Enquirer's accuracy in reporting this story, because after that they pass on the false information, as reported in other news sources, that Track jumped in to help his dad who was under attack, and that Bristol was dragged around by her feet.

I was actually contacted by the Enquirer last week for more information, and an attempt to get me to reveal my source. However I gave them nothing new, and my sources have no interest in talking to the Enquirer at this time.

So I do not know who this "friend" might be. Though to be honest this certainly sounds like something Palin might say.

And besides anything that keeps the brawl in the spotlight makes me happy.

Which is why I was tickled that it came up while Meghan McCain was making an appearance on the Howard Stern Show: 

“When I first met her, I really liked her because I thought she was a politician like I’d never seen,” said McCain. “She was beautiful, she had children, she had a newborn baby. And, you know, most politicians aren’t like that. They’re much older, and I didn’t have a lot to relate to them about.” 

Since then, McCain’s opinion has changed. 

“And now, it’s very awkward because everybody asks me and, you know, she’s getting arrested or her children are getting arrested, whatever, for brawling and bar fights,” McCain said, referring to a reportedly booze-tinged family brawl Palin was a part of. 

“When people ask me about it,” McCain said, “it’s like my crazy aunt or something that people all want to tell me about.”

Okay that just makes me smile. 

Speaking of smiling I think you will all enjoy Jezebel's comparison of the accomplishments of Bristol Palin to those of recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai:  

Two bright young women dominated headlines late last week. On the same day that Malala Yousafzai, 17, won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, Bristol Palin, 23, was cited in an Alaska police report for getting drunk at a party and punching her host "multiple times." 

Bristol Palin's "heavily intoxicated" behavior had already prompted her famous mother to release a statement describing her daughter as "one of the strongest young women you'll ever meet." Sarah Palin went on to praise Bristol's "work ethic and heart for those less fortunate." 

Sounds like the Nobel Committee gave that Peace Prize to the wrong gal.

Seriously you have to read the side by side comparisons that Jezebel lays out. But I caution against having in liquid in your mouth while doing so.  

Third witness to the Throwdown at the Hoedown comes forward. And the Daily Mail would like to know what the hell happened to Sarah Palin?

So the National Enquirer finally found somebody besides the Thompsons to come forward.

And that person is the guy seemingly at the center of the whole fracas, Connor Cleary.

Here is what he told the Enquirer:

One victim, Connor Cleary, 26, told The ENQUIRER it was a peaceful party until the reality show family showed up! 

Connor said he was approaching the Palins’ stretch-limo Hummer when Track began getting in his face. “He (Track) kept trying to pick a fight with me and then when it all came down – it happened,” Connor said, in an exclusive interview. 

“He kept saying, ‘Oh what, are you trying to get into the ----ing limo?’ and he kept cursing at me and walking towards me,” claimed Connor. 

Track allegedly threw two jabs at Connor, according to an online report – and that’s when all hell broke loose outside the residence of 39-year-old Korey Klingenmeyer, host of the Sept. 6 bash. 

Alarmed, someone screamed, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” according to an eyewitness.

The rest of the article essentially quotes sources that all of us are already aware of, and reflects the consistent story that we have all heard a number of times, so there is no point in rehashing all that.

This does explain why the Palin version had Connor attempting to enter the vehicle, for as we know to the Palins simply looking is a violation of their privacy.

Of course the brawl has attracted quite a lot of unwanted attention to the Palin family.

British tabloid the Mirror for one was somewhat stunned to see the change in Sarah Palin since last they had paid any attention to her: 

We’re used to seeing Sarah Palin looking manicured within an inch of her life – with bouncy hair, dewy skin and a megawatt smile. 

But on Monday the usually glamorous politician looked virtually unrecognisable as she left the gym in Alaska.

Yeah I guess if you have not been keeping tabs it is kind of shocking to see her go from this,

To this.

Of course for those of us paying attention have noticed the decay for quite some time now.

We are also aware that much of Palin's beauty was all smoke and mirrors in the first place.

Liberaland is less concerned with Palins appearance as they are with what the actions of her family reveal about her and the sorts of people who identify with her:  

Where does Bristol get the idea that it is acceptable to commit what looks like criminal assault? 

The entire Palin brood stands revealed as steeped in a culture of assault-friendly permissiveness pervasive among white Americans who reject reason, tolerance, and empathy in favor of promoting themselves as vicious animals, supporting torture as government policy and free access to weapons of war in our streets, and flaunting stretch Hummers as a symbol of status and power. 

Bristol is just taking after, and adopting the violent values of, her lily-white mom.

Ouch! That hurts a hell of a lot more than Bristol's ineffective little girl punches.

Wonkette and Gawker are now also on the story of the Thrilla that drove here from Wasilla. Update!

"Oh yeah we'll knock a motherfucker out."

Courtesy of Wonkette:  

Well, look who is doing some journamalism, it is us, yr Wonkette. A delightful story about Bristol Palin’s mean right hook, Todd Palin’s bloody nose, and Sarah Palin screeching DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM was gossiported by our old pals at ImmoralMinority, and we done called up the Anchorage PD to say “yo, Palin fight?” and they said “maybe.” ALL THE PULITZERS PLS. 

Anita in the Anchorage Police Department’s communications office is sitting at her desk at 7:15 a.m. on a Tuesday, so probs they are waiting for a whole mess of calls from Jake Tapper or whatever, and Anita confirms that a huge bloody mess of a brawl between multiple subjects took place Saturday night, and that the Palins were “present.” However, since nobody wanted to arrest anybody else, the names of the “subjects” remain not yet released. But the investigation continues!

Wonkette then goes on to quote us, using proper blogger etiquette, and we here at IM could not be more pleased.

(Though I am confused as to who this "Anita" person is. The official APD spokesperson is Jennifer Castro.)

Where Wonkette treads can Gawker be far behind?  Nope:

America's favorite Irrelevant Grizzly Mom reportedly screamed "Don't you know who I am?" and had to smooth things over with local police after her whole damn brood got involved in a physical fight at a "snowmachine" party last Saturday night in Alaska, multiple sources say. 

You know when you think about it the Palins really should ONLY be covered by tabloids and gossip websites these days. Don'tcha think?
 
I have also heard from the National Enquirer that their story should be coming out soon.

By the by there is some new confusion as to the names of people identified in my first report, so I am looking to clarify the name of the homeowner, and who Bristol initially hit. Not to mention reports that the Mama Grizzly was trying to buy cellphones off of witnesses. (Yeah, I bet.)

So any help in that regard would be much appreciated.

We are now joined by Mediaite and Raw Story on our quest for the truth.

Update 2: After much digging it looks like the name given to me as the homeowner, Chris Olds, was incorrect.

Olds lives in Eagle River. So though he was supposedly at the party he is not the homeowner, nor the person who was worked over by Bristol.

I apologize for the misinformation, and I certainly don't want to Richard Jewell this poor guy, but unfortunately when a story is evolving sometimes information gets all discombobulated.

I apologize to Mr. Olds for incriminating him.

I do have a new name for the homeowner but I am not about to share that until I get solid confirmation.

Update 3: Holy runaway train Batman this thing is everywhere now!

The Washington Post has it.

As does the Inquisitr.

Ditto for the Daily Caller.

Not to mention HuffPo.

And even the freaking TV Guide.

(Boy you know you've arrived when the TV Guide is linking to you.)

Unfortunately is does not appear that anybody has knocked anything new loose. Most of them are just quoting Amanda Coyne and I.

However many of them HAVE contacted the APD which means they are going to have no choice but to release a public statement about the incident once they gather enough evidence.

Update 4: I just got word from another eyewitness that Todd was not the only Palin to get bloodied.

Apparently Track got his ass handed to him as well, and is currently sporting a black and blue face.

Oh well I'm sure he's tough. His mother says he a combat vet you know.