Transcript for National Enquirer faces new allegations of threats and intimidation
Well, “The national enquirer’s” parent company facing controversy this morning. More big names are accusing Ami of threats and intimidation. ABC’s Lana Zak is in Washington with that story. Good morning. Reporter: Good morning. Following the bombshell extortion allegations by Jeff bezos, more people are now coming forward to claim that they were harassed or intimidated by “The national enquirer,” and its parent company, Ami. This morning, there are more allegations against “The national enquirer,” known for its eye-popping headlines and scandalous scoops over the years and its publisher, Ami run by David pecker, a long time friend and Alf president trump. Investigative journalist Ronan farrow alleges while he was looking into “The national enquirer’s” relationship with the president, he reived similar threats to what bezos outlines in this blog post. He claims Ami urged him to stop digging, or we’ll ruin you. And Terry crews claims after an interview wheree said he was sexually assaulted, another threat came from radar online threatened him with a false story about prostitutes, even allegedly creating fake receipts. He claimed they backed off after Reporter: Federal prosecutors are trying to determine if the tabloid company violated its inmum — immunity deal made after looking at finance violations that involved the tabloid killing stories potentially damaging to Donald Trump before the election. Ami was required to commit no crimes whatsoever for three years. That’s now in question after allegations that Ami attempted to extort and blackmail bezos by threatening to release compromising photos and texts between the billionaire and his alleged mistress, Lauren Sanchez. According to bezos, Ami demanded he back off from his investigation of the tabloid and issue what bezos called a false public statement about Ami’s political motivation. Now for their part, Ami says they acted lawfully and in what they call good faith negotiations with bezos, but Ami has not responded to our repeated inquiries. Dan? We may hear more from them thing. Lana, thank you very much. Let’s bring in George Stephanopoulos. Ll hear more from them this morning. George will make sure because you have the attorney for David pecker who is the CEO of Ami on the show this morning we heard the legal analyst say she thinks Ami must be panicking right now. How grave a situation is this for pecker and Ami, and do you think there are consequences for the president as well? There are so many things tangled up in this. David pecker is a longtime friend of the president and of course, cooperating against him in that campaign finance case in the southern district. “The national enquirer” has taken on — has taken back stories about the president, buried stories about president trump and they go after Jeff bezos. Of course, bezos owns “The Washington post” which has also been tough on the president. There is so much tangled up in this story. Right now what bezos is alleging is you see it right there, extortion and blackmail. Whether it meets the legal standard is one question. Whether it will threaten the cooperation agreement that David pecker has with the southern district is the second question and there is another question about the journalists in practice to offer to bury a story in return for something of value, a public statement from Jeff bezos. We can answer that question, not proper journalistic practice. I don’t know about the law here. Let’s look back for a second at the big story out of Virginia. We’re still talking about it and I suspect we will be for awhile. So “The New York Times” this morning has an article that highlights what appears to be a real dilemma for Democrats in Virginia. We may be about to see a governor, a white governor accused of racism who could survive, but a black lieutenant governor accused of sexual assault who may be about to be impeached. Right. You have got the attorney general wrapped up in this. Also white. Also white. Now there is a difference between wearing blackface I suppose and also being accused of in some cases sexual assault, even rape, by women. People are going to have to investigate and that’s what the attorney governor is calling for and whether these investigations are true. In the short run, all three officials, top three democratic officials in the state are hunkering down, digging in determined to stay. Whether they will be able to stay is separate question, but for now it seems like there is almost safety in numbers for them. Ortham seems like he’s digging in. You very much. Always a pleasure to see you on a Sunday morning. I want to remind everybody George has a big show this morning. Thsive interview with the lawyer representing Ami’s CEO, David pecker and the round table is coming up on “This week” later this morning right here on ABC. Thank you ag Thanks, guys. See you later.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
