Why did Trumps favorite tabloid launch a hit against Manafort the same day FBI raid news leaked?

[sunonmars]

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/why-did-trumps-favorite-tabloid-launch-a-hit-against-manafort-the-same-day-fbi-raid-news-leaked/

n Wednesday morning, news leaked that the FBI last month had conducted a pre-dawn raid of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Roughly one hour later, the National Enquirer published an article allegedly exposing Manafort being involved in a “sick sex scandal” that involved affairs with women who were significantly younger than his wife.
The Enquirer hit on Manafort is notable because the tabloid has consistently been a major booster to President Donald Trump — and has not been shy about attacking his perceived enemies.

During the Republican presidential primary last year, for instance, the Enquirer ran a piece alleging that Trump rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had had multiple extra-marital affairs. Similarly, the tabloid this year ran a salacious story about Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that ran at around the same time the couple announced their engagement.

According to Scarborough, the White House had called the couple and told them that the president himself would intervene personally to get the Enquirer to spike its story on them if they publicly apologized on air for their negative coverage of his administration.

Additionally, a Wall Street Journal report from 2016 revealed that the Enquirer paid a former Playboy model $150,000 for her account of an affair that she’d had with Trump — only to completely sit on the story and never publish it.

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Something tells me they are shit scared and want huge distance between Trump and manafort - Destroy Manafort and discredit him as a witness.......thats the plan

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. What? It's all just coincidence. Nothing to see here...... Shit happens.... Everything's OK... Just

look into my eyes...... You're getting sleeeepy.....

[wryter2000]

2. The Enquirer

Whenever I see a pro-Trump headline on the Enquirer at the store, I turn it around, face back.

[progressoid]

7. Me too!

[emulatorloo]

8. Upside down is good too.

[meow2u3]

12. So do I

Then I question the intelligence of the doofuses who not only read this rag, but also believe what's in it.

[sunonmars]

3. Ironic, NE running a sex smear from the King Groper himself........

[Leghorn21]

4. Paul who? That enthusiastic volunteer who hung out with our campaign for a couple weeks?

Nope - never heard of him.

And yesss, LOSER 45 and his smelly minions will discredit anybody at any time if they think it helps their "case".

Hey wait - but what about dft's beloved Flynn??! Will he say bad things about Misha or just keep texting him "Stay strong" messages? Oh goody, this could get interesting!

[gratuitous]

5. You may be right on the motivation

But I'm not sure the National Enquirer by itself has sufficient media heft to put a lot of daylight between President Trump and his campaign manager. We'll have to see if Fox deigns to notice that Manafort's home was raided by the FBI, and how they describe Manafort. It's going to be a tough sell; Trump supporters are used to seeing Manafort as a manhandler of uppity women reporters who get too pushy with the president. Turning Manafort into some kind of sex maniac in the eyes of the Trumpistas wouldn't be impossible, but it will require some concerted effort.

[Generic Other]

6. So how is a threat from Trump worse than an FBI raid?

Getting the Enquirer to spike its story after the raid is like closing the barndoor after the cows have gotten out.

[Kentonio]

10. They're probably just trying to ensure that by the time it becomes public

Trump's supporters will already think Manafort is the enemy.

[Generic Other]

21. Evil beings

They have to slither into a worm pile to come up with this stuff?

[L. Coyote]

9. Maybe Manafort planted that story to shift the focus away from criminality to venality.

And the Nationalist Enquirer is doing Trump's bidding in doing so.

[Historic NY]

11. Donald green lighted it.

[Orsino]

13. If you work for Trump, you're a fall guy. Period.

You may think you're favored, but that just means they're saving you for later use.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I want to see the headline, "VP Pence caught on tape enjoying golden showers".

His wife/mother certainly wouldn't approve.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. I wonder if tRump or a Trumpanzee paid the $150K to squash the Playboy model affair story. . . . nt

[annabanana]

16. If I were them I wouldn't use "underage girls" to discredit Manafort.. what with the

questions about Trump's modelling agency, and his friend's raunchy parties...

[wishstar]

17. Sounds like Trump wants to intimidate or punish Manafort

Indicates that Trump thinks he has been or will be betrayed by Manafort who coordinated with Don Jr, Kushner and Flynn and remained at Trump Tower through the transition and knows everything. Trump is afraid Manafort will flip to save himself from the money laundering, failure to register as foreign agent and other likely charges.

[barbtries]

18. only his die hard cult members

are going to forget that Manafort was trump's campaign manager.

[zentrum]

19. Yes, their pro-Trump headlines

....have been over the top adulatory. How strong he is. How smart. How much he's winning.

Plus, their on-going attacks on Hillary are extreme---like she's sneaking out of the country, stole from banks etc. I don't understand how such slander can stand legally unchallenged. They seem free to say anything.

I too turn them over when I see them at the super market. Also, I put them on the bottom shelf, away from easier eye level.

[Rene]

20. They're putting out diversions to the Hope Hicks revelation

[Vetteguy]

22. The Enquirer is now state run media

and should be removed from stores.

[Mr. Ected]

23. Sounds like the Enquirer has a storehouse of attack pieces on the ready for publication

So, the Manafort raid gets press and an hour later this story drops? Sounds like a phone call from Trump to the publisher to green-light what was already in the coffers.

I would sure love to see the stories they've got in the docket for Kushner, Bannon and the rest of the gang.