This Bezos thing is blowing up big time. Can anyone explain it to me?

[Kingofalldems]

Link to tweet

The Saudis are involved?

[htuttle]

1. AMI wanted Saudi money, Saudi's wanted legitimacy

Trump wanted Saudi money, too.

Khashoggi was investigating illegal Saudi/Trump rackets, so both Saudis and Trump wanted him gone.. After he was killed, both Saudis and Trump wanted the Washington Post to stop investigating it.

So that's where AMI came in. They thought that by pressuring Bezos, they could get him to pressure the WaPo to stop investigating the murder of one of their employees.

I think that AMI/Trump/Saudi's plan was to assume Bezos was as corrupt as Trump and would be willing and able to lean on the WaPo to quash one of their stories to keep his selfies from being released. Of course, they were wrong about that, as we have seen.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Holy shit!

Now murder.

[watoos]

27. Trump knew that there was a threat to Kashoggi,

but he neglected his duty to inform Kashoggi of said threat.

[LiberalFighter]

41. Have to wonder who Trump would be willing to allow to be killed in America.

For his own personal benefit.

[liberalmuse]

43. I get this feeling he's killed before.

Just a hunch about a man who tossed the lowering bar away decades ago.

[Fuzzpope]

57. He lacks the stomach but not the desire.

[lark]

60. Not sure about that.

He told the girl who had been 14 when he raped her that he had killed another girl and her entire family who was going to rat him out. Did he lie or tell the truth - but it's telling that he'd use that to shut someone up. I really think he has zero respect for human life, other than his own, and is not above killing someone and think he's complicit in the Khashoggi murder which is why he had someone in government dig up the dirt and give it to Pecker.

[liberalmuse]

61. Then there's the dead nanny.

Someone who rapes underage girls and values their own skin above all else is probably capable of anything.

[Clash City Rocker]

77. He probably lacks the stomach to do it himself

But I’m sure he’s capable of hiring someone to do it.

[ooky]

83. There is nothing out of reach for this monster.

Especially a human life for his own benefit if he's sure in his mind he can get away with it.

[Nasruddin]

66. It's what mob bosses do

[jmowreader]

81. Look in the mirror

Trump would have the person in it killed if he thought you were in his way and he thought he could get away with it. And seeing as how Trump is Russian Mobbed-up, he’d only need to make one phone call to have you whacked.

[DirtEdonE]

53. And his son-in-law jared kushner

Met with Prince Bone Saw before and after the Khashoggi murder.

Did kushner share information to help target Khashoggi? kushner certainly tried to cover for Prince Bone Saw after the murder, as was widely reported in the real news.

kushner is at the very least an accessory to murder as is his father-in-law and who knows how many more filthy pubicans?

They're all traitors from trump all the way down to the last idiot who voted for him.

Want to really make America great again? Deny voting rights to anyone who was stupid enough to vote for donald j trump. Better yet, deport THEM and get a fresh crop of people in who value what America used to be, not whatever this is they've done to it.

[SWBTATTReg]

75. All 60 million voters? Better yet to reveal how truly disgusting rump & cronies truly are...

and kick their behinds into jail. Americans, most of us, do really care about this country and each other.

[DirtEdonE]

86. They are all that truly disgusting IMO

They voted for the devil they can all go to hell.

[Dem_4_Life]

8. Holy Shit is right!

WOW!

[Zoonart]

29. +1000

[joshcryer]

19. That's actually, quite a hell of an interesting take.

[watoos]

32. How about this?

Pecker was hurting for money but all of a sudden he comes up with the cash to buy out one of his competitors.

Just saying, Saudis have lots of money and they didn't like Bezos investigating and writing about the murder of Kashoggi.

There is even, according to Bezos' investigator, a possible Mossad connection.

[ejbr]

37. Thanks for run down n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

44. And Mohammed Bone Saw thought the Enquirer would give him such

What a shit-for-brains!

[Dennis Donovan]

3. In a nutshell (from what I've gathered)

...AMI was under a non-prosecution agreement with SDNY to not break the law again, and it appears they did by trying to blackmail Bezos. So this is likely the end of them.

*If* they went after Bezos because of the investigative work the WaPo does about Trump at the behest of Trump, then, this goes to a whole new level (think Mueller and Obstruction).

[Kingofalldems]

5. It has hit the fan from a totally different angle now.

Wow.

[Evergreen Emerald]

6. My guess is it has Trump's fingerprints all over it

Remember last year when Trump was attacking Bezos because of stories printed in the Washington Post? I will place money on the idea that Trump is behind this.

If so, think about this. He has the power and resources to destroy the media when they write the truth about him.

He needs to get his criminal ass out of the white house.

[NewJeffCT]

9. Renato Mariotti had a lengthy thread on extortion and blackmail last night

Renato is a liberal Democrat, but he said that while it's really sleazy what AMI/Pecker did, it would be very difficult to prove in court that it rises to criminal blackmail/extortion and he doubts any federal prosecutors would bring charges based on what Bezos published.

[watoos]

33. Yes you are spot on, however,

another prosecutor said that it wasn't necessary to prove a crime was committed in a court of law but that a judge had to agree that what Pecker did violated his agreement.

[LiberalFighter]

42. I'm with you on that. Based on Maddow's reporting last nite.

National Enquirer and Pecker should be in a world of hurt.

[cab67]

69. AMI's lawyers might be their own trouble.

Whether they broke the law or not, they probably violated all kinds of ethical rules.

[riverwalker]

28. Maddow did a great explainer on the agreement

If you missed it last night

[Gothmog]

59. Rachel was great on this last night

[TexasBushwhacker]

74. Excellent coverage from Lawrence O'Donnell as well

[Cha]

95. Thank You for that, riverwalker!

One thing I didn't know about was trump dancing on Bezos' divorce with that stupid gloating tweet of his.

And, no way does AMI want their Extortion of Bezos to be deemed POLITiCAL!!

[DetlefK]

4. 1. AMI posted racy private pics of Bezos.

2. Bezos sent out private investigators to find out where AMI got those pictures from. One of the directions they were investigating was whether Saudi-Arabia was somehow involved.

3. AMI freaked out and warned Bezos verbally to back off.

4. Bezos didn't react.

5. AMI wrote a letter where they demand that Bezos declare that there is no evidence that AMI has political connections, or else the rest of the pics gets published.





No idea where Bezos got this idea with the Saudis from.

[Kingofalldems]

7. That's a crime, no?

[theboss]

84. Ehhhhhhhhhhhh......maybe

Probably not.

It's sleazy as hell. And dumb, because it's Bezos who could build a private space army if he wants.

[uponit7771]

87. Isn't what AMI did extortion? thx in advance

[Scruffy1]

17. Sounds to me like possible obstruction of justice.

If the photos were obtained by illegal methods then it follows that it was a crime to cover up a crime. They must have been really afraid of Bezos' investigation to put this stuff in writing. I have an idea that the intelligence community has been all over this because it ties into foreign powers.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Pecker is scrambling to find new credit to cover bonds that come due in 2021 according to a Blooberg report. Saudi or Russian money would interest him a lot.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/behind-trump-s-tabloid-king-a-connected-and-flush-hedge-fund

[watoos]

34. The Saudi connection came from the investigator,

that Bezos hired.

[thegoose]

10. I love this

As someone who was "downsized" by the Pecker from one of my favorite jobs, I'm grabbing the popcorn...

[Kingofalldems]

11. Pecker facing big time jail it looks like.

The Trumps too.

[malaise]

12. I think it is blowing up because everyone believes that the Con and Pecker have

threatened many folks in the Senate, Congress and elsewhere.
Don't forget they tried it with JoeScum and Mica.

[Kingofalldems]

14. Lindsey Graham.

[malaise]

15. Yep

Cruz too and others.

[forgotmylogin]

48. Ronan Farrow

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ronan-farrow-says-jeff-bezos-isnt-the-only-person-ami-has-tried-to-blackmail_us_5c5d54c4e4b0a502ca347c0c

Journalist Ronan Farrow said tabloid publisher American Media Inc. sent him blackmail threats over his reporting on President Donald Trump and the National Enquirer.

Farrow tweeted about the “stop digging or we’ll ruin you” efforts shortly after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in a bombshell blog post on Medium, said AMI CEO David Pecker threatened to publish embarrassing photos of him if he didn’t stop investigating the company.

[malaise]

51. AMI appear desperate

to protect themselves and the Con

[uponit7771]

88. +1

[Pachamama]

21. +10000

AMI and Pecker and Trump = Extortion and Blackmail Racket

I think this is going to link to many many people and we find out that Pecker’s Vault has the names of many of the Politicians that back and defend Trump and mysteriously did 180 turns

Paging Lindsay Graham....

[malaise]

24. And their silence only makes those who know the scumbags

speculate even more.

Got 'em!

[Pachamama]

25. Jeff Bezos will eventually own AMI

And the Post will win Pulitzer’s for revealing the whole scandal

[malaise]

26. Yep AMI is fucked and

Saudi royally to boot.

[theboss]

68. I think they are hurt, but I don't see anything criminal coming out of this

I will say that I would not want to be in protracted legal proceedings with the richest human being ever.

[Demsrule86]

79. All the lawyers will be disbarred...and I do believe there will be prosections...someone

either directed the stealing of emails and pictures or bought them...first question ….where did they get their stuff? Also, this may blow up the deal Mueller made with them.

[forgotmylogin]

72. The Enquirer will rue the day

they decided to dabble in politics instead of their previously-usual celebrity gossip and fad diets.

[jmbar2]

65. It's a big old Kompromat operation

A Russian specialty, right here at home.

[watoos]

36. Ah yes, I forgot,

they threatened to expose Joe and Mika's little love affair didn't they?

[Kingofalldems]

13. Trump is losing it this morning!

Link to tweet

[malaise]

16. The end is nigh

Truth will out

[Pachamama]

23. +1000000

[Gidney N Cloyd]

35. Ho-boy...

[MagickMuffin]

49. "Donald J. Trump was actually a GREAT Candidate!"

He is the only person on the planet who thinks so highly of himself.

Hey lil Don bring on more accolades about you, we can't wait to see how you will reward yourself with that overblown ego!!!

[bullwinkle428]

18. The "revenge porn" angle of this case may actually end up attracting

more eyeballs than anything involving Russia to this point, when it comes to the general public that doesn't marinate in this stuff everyday like we all do.

[Kingofalldems]

20. Re Lindsey Graham:

Link to tweet

[Kingofalldems]

22. That golf trip with Trump! I'll never forget--

Graham had a press meeting where he claimed the 72 yr. old golf cheater Donald Trump shot a 73 at a very tough course. I guarantee he was told to say that and did so because he had no choice.

[mercuryblues]

45. hmmm

Was graham publically saying that as a signal to who is behind his about face, that he is now on board the trump train, so don't publish the emails & pics?

[AZ8theist]

56. I don't doubt he shot a 73....

on the front 9.

[MontanaMama]

63. Oh my!

This makes so much more sense now. 😳

[mitch96]

38. yup, no collusion...... just straight up gangsta move... nt

[VOX]

40. You make a good point. The RW media could happily wallow in the septic tank with this.

On the other hand, last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show, this very topic entered the discussion, and Lawrence guessed that the predominant number of people who actually read the “National Enquirer” quite likely don’t have the faintest idea who Jeff Bezos is. That, too, seems believable.

But one should never underestimate the tenacity of the RW noise machine. They’re working overtime to cover Trump/Republican lies and lawbreaking. They’re not really hiding their moves any more, either by ineptitude, or by showing the “I really don’t care” mindset again and again.

[LAS14]

67. My thoughts exactly. Even if it doesn't rise to the level of crime legally,

a lot more people will get a peek at how corrupt the power structure (political and otherwise) in this country is! Hooray for Bezos. But I think we're seeing the beginning of the end of people thinking that embarrassing pictures of themselves are the end of the world.

[theboss]

70. I think the more exposure of Trumpworld is good

We're never going to drive his favorability rating down to W Bush territory, because his loyalists are just too loyal. But I think we can drive off enough loyalists and enough Republicans who are just not Trump fans to end this in 2020.

[Kingofalldems]

30. Never forget how they helped Trump steal the election:

Link to tweet

[mercuryblues]

71. If you look closer at those covers

The side stories are subliminal messaging. Take the "Hillary Clinton's two secret strokes" cover. Other blurbs for stories include:

"QUEEN CHEATS DEATH"

"FEMALE TERRORISTS"


The "Corrupt" Cover:

"Whitney and Bobbi it was DOUBLE MURDER"
A pic of Michael Jackson with "NEW CHILD ABUSE ACCUSATIONS"


Of course another cover has "Bill Caught in a teen sex ring"


and so on.

[superpatriotman]

31. Dr. Evil versus Paper Evil

With a Paper Evil farm team of .45, Saudis, and other various ratfuckers.

Problem is Dr. Evil is too rich to care about his dick pics.

[George II]

39. Oh the double entendres! "Blowing big time"! NY Post this morning

Link to tweet

[Scurrilous]

78. LOL

Tabloids sure have fun with their headlines.

[LiberalFighter]

46. I also loved the part where Maddow last nite explained AMI's agreement.

They had to be clean for 3 years or whenever Mueller finished the cased. Whichever was later. So it could be longer than 3 years. If they screw up, any criminal prosecution they avoided would be back on the table.

[myohmy2]

47. I'm not big on billionaires...

...or Amazon, however

Hollywood Reporter, 2-7-2019

" Jeff Bezos Publishes National Enquirer's "Extortion" Letter About "Below the Belt Selfies" "

" Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has done something very few people at his level have ever done: He's published a lengthy essay in his own words, on the blog platform Medium, in an effort to hit back at the National Enquirer and its owner, American Media Inc., alleging that the publication was trying to blackmail him over explicit selfies. "
…………

" In his post, Bezos says he launched his own investigation "to learn how those texts were obtained, and to determine the motives for the many unusual actions taken by the Enquirer. As it turns out, there are now several independent investigations looking into this matter." "
…………

" "If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can?" he contends. "In the AMI letters I’m making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we 'have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.'" "

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jeff-bezos-publishes-national-enquirers-threat-letter-below-belt-selfies-1184078
…………………………………..


" "to learn how those texts were obtained..."

...could a trump pecker be involved?

...inquiring minds want to know...

[Kingofalldems]

50. A 'Trump pecker' you say?

Interesting.

[llmart]

62. If you see the word "mushroom" in a story then you know trump's pecker is involved.

[Kurt V.]

52. Tangled web doesn't do this justice.

[Kingofalldems]

54. Damn right.

This is a massive and intricate conspiracy.

[BumRushDaShow]

55. Pecker picked the wrong one to fight

someone who is not only a billionaire but ALSO "buys ink by the barrel" (and makes money off of selling it too).

[Chakaconcarne]

58. Damn... Mueller is going to need more time?

[donkeypoofed]

64. Enquirer uses Amazon servers ! now we know HOW

[Pacifist Patriot]

73. Consider this a small piece of the Grand Bargain puzzle.

Reality is more complex and ludicrous than a Ludlum cabal plot these days. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries in the Grand Bargain theory of the case.

Seth Abramson in September 2018
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1044986880310300673.html

More in his book "Proof of Collusion" and a lot more coming in his next book "Proof of Conspiracy."

Essentially we're getting glimpses of a shit ton of agreements that a bunch of greedy bastards on at least three continents have made in pursuit of their personal/professional agendas. Their pursuit of wealth and power transcends their differences in ideology and national interest.

Never thought I'd sound like a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist weirdo, but every breaking story/scandal continues to support this labrynthine theory of the case.

[Demsrule86]

76. I think Trump is behind it. Imagine the Post if Trump made sure they published favorable stories.

The Saudis would have been more strategic...publishing the emails before the blackmail attempt speaks to a burning hatred of Bezos on the part of whoever orchestrated this...After the emails, Bezos really had no reason to cooperate as the cat was out of the bag so to speak. Maybe he would have followed the same course who knows? But there was less reason after the publication of the emails. I am sure Trump is involved...could be a joint effort between Trump and the Saudis. But Trump hates hates Bezos so the fact that the emails were published before the attempt to extort Bezos makes me think Trump is involved. Also, those emails and photos were undoubtedly attained illegally so I smell criminal prosecution ahead for someone (s)...the lawyer involved can kiss his career goodbye as what he did will undoubtedly lead to disbarment. As the rats turn on each other, the truth will come out.

[onetexan]

80. Ronan Farrow now says AMI threatened him too

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ronan-farrow-says-jeff-bezos-isnt-the-only-person-ami-has-tried-to-blackmail_us_5c5d54c4e4b0a502ca347c0c

I'm sure more will come out. AMI needs to be shut down and Pecker locked up.

[Kingofalldems]

85. Looks like Pecker is headed for jail

[uponit7771]

89. Isn't this extortion !?

[onetexan]

90. Yup, clearly criminal activity

Article also mentions another journalist was extorted as well. Hope Pecker gets locked up for a long time, AMI and Enquirer both get shut down. Good riddance.

[uponit7771]

91. +1

[Achilleaze]

82. republican scumbucket morals spewing all over the US

The republicans have disgusting morals

[Kingofalldems]

93. But they're the Moral Majority!

In name only.

[Achilleaze]

94. Secret republican identity: The Immoral Minority

[JCMach1]

92. Bezos exposed his pecker and now is exposing

Pecker for trying to extort him... Cause, the Saudis want to shut Bezos up about Khashoggi, they fed Pecker the pecker pics which their intelligence had obtained. Oh, and because Trump is the lynchpin here shut up about him too.

AMI was a major PR conduit for the Crown Prince. Pecker fluffed for the CP for big $$$.

[LAS14]

96. This is the first word play I've seen which must portend thousands!!! nt

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

97. tl;dr

The National Enquirer tried to blackmail the richest man in the world. Bezos basically responded by setting himself on fire and kamikaze’d right back into them.