Chelsea Clinton calls out National Enquirer for attacks against her mother
Clinton pointed to a slew of false headlines about her mother.
In a pointed message about the negative coverage inflicted by the man who often chooses the cover of the National Enquirer each week -- and may now give information that could go against Trump's interests -- Chelsea Clinton called the tabloid out Thursday for the dozens of sensational covers about her mother, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
She sarcastically lamented all of the scandals and health scares she never knew her mother endured.
Clinton tweeted after news broke Thursday that David Pecker, chief executive of a tabloid company and one of the president's longtime friends, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors in exchange for information on the president's former attorney Michael Cohen, a source told ABC News. Clinton reminded Twitter of some of the more exaggerated claims to have come from the tabloid, which was one of the first papers to endorse then-candidate Trump in the early months of 2016.
One headline claims that Clinton gained 103 pounds. Another asserts that she has just six months to live -- and another, in the Globe, says she suffered two secret strokes during her campaign.
According to POLITICO, Clinton, Trump or another presidential candidate appeared on the Enquirer cover more than 20 times in 2016. During the presidential election cycle, Pecker wrote the covers off as a business strategy -- pro-Trump and anti-Hillary covers made sales "pop," sometimes by more than 20 percent, he told the NY Post.
Trump, who has known Pecker for years, has frequently complimented the tabloid, and at one point suggested it should receive the Pulitzer Prize.
Recent reports have linked the tabloid to a practice called "catch and kill" that helped silence the stories of porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who both say they had affairs with the president. The president has repeatedly denied the affairs.