Slate reports: It’s been known for a while that National Enquirer CEO David Pecker is a Trump supporter/ally, and the tabloid often ran smear stories about Trump’s opponents during the 2016 campaign. During his recent feud with MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, Trump seemed to suggest that he has influence over the Enquirer‘s editorial operations:

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

The tweet more or less confirmed a New York magazine report that the White House used the threat of a sensational Enquirer story about Brzezinski and Scarborough having an affair as leverage to persuade them to cover Trump more positively.

Wednesday, meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that the FBI conducted a Russia investigation–related raid in July on former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s home in Virginia. Hours after the Post story broke, the Enquirer went public with … a story about Manafort having an affair. [Continue reading…]