Former National Enquirer senior editor Jerry George was on MSNBC Monday night with Ari Melber. The two men were discussing a variety of ways in which the Enquirer’s parent company AMI has actively worked to protect the Trump-Kushner family. It is already known that AMI helped cover up stories of Trump’s affairs, even helping to pay out “hush money” to the woman whose story threatened Trump during the 2016 election. AMI officials have agreed to tell prosecutors everything they know in regard to working with the Trump organization and campaign, and Melber wanted to know if there were more stories AMI had quashed for the Trumps.
George: I know some of them, and there are stories involving, of course, the Trump-Kushner family. There are stories of, you know, sibling rivalry with the children, back biting, discord with his wife.
Melber: Would you describe them, because obviously we're talking about things that haven't come out and we haven't verified them, but would you characterize them as merely embarrassing—if you will—or do any of them arise to the level of being potentially criminal?
George: Well, actually both. They're certainly embarrassing. And then when you get involved with the actions of his children, including his daughter and son-in-law, we're getting closer to criminal activity.
George goes on to imply that AMI is not out of the woods just because it is getting immunity from the Mueller investigation. Saying “there’s still another shoe to drop,” George seemed to be referring to AMI receiving Saudi money (using the Kushner connection) to publish propaganda for Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). When Melber pressed George on whether or not he had any evidence beyond what he has heard linking Kushner’s buddy MBS with AMI, George pointed out that shortly after a “strange” AMI cover was published that seemed to promote the Saudi prince, there is circumstantial evidence that a big load of cash went to AMI. George was talking about the magazine Greeting Americans, dedicated to MBS, published by AMI in March of this year.
Greeting Americans on newsstands is a high-quality glossy advertisement for MBS, The New Kingdom. It retails for $13.99, has no ads and its 200,000 copies can be found in venues ranging from U.S. airports to WalMart, Safeway and Kroger’s—raising questions about the magazine’s financing and its origins. The Saudis say they don’t know how it came to be. AMI, which publishes The National Enquirer, insists it had no outside editorial or financial assistance, from the Trump administration or otherwise.
The New Kingdom doesn’t feature any salacious gossip about MBS, but its coverage is just as breathless. “Our Closest Middle East Ally Destroying Terrorism,” the cover coos, sidestepping decades of Saudi Arabian financial support for terrorist groups and ideologues. It Disneyfies Saudi Arabia as “the Magic Kingdom.” It’s easily the most uncritical encomium to MBS since Thomas Friedman.
Pictures of Trump and MBS shaking hands and being best buddies were included in this strange magazine. According to George, the “cash-poor company,” AMI, was then able to buy out a bunch of its competitors. That money must have come from somewhere. I guess we will find out sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.