Farrow: National Enquirer company tried to blackmail me on Trump reporting

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Ronan Farrow alleged Thursday that American Media Inc. threatened to “ruin” him if he didn’t stop “digging” on his investigative reporting on President Trump and the National Enquirer.

AMI is the parent company of the National Enquirer. David Pecker, AMI’s chairman, is a longtime friend of Trump.

{mosads}”I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer’s arrangement with Trump fielded similar ‘stop digging or we’ll ruin you’ blackmail efforts from AMI,” Farrow wrote in a tweet to his nearly than 790,000 followers.

“I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting,” the New Yorker magazine reporter added.

I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer’s arrangement with Trump fielded similar “stop digging or we’ll ruin you” blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.) https://t.co/kHQdWIkVjV

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) February 8, 2019

The revelation from Farrow comes 10 months after he penned a damning report regarding Pecker, with the story charging he purchased negative stories on then-candidate Trump only to bury them during the 2016 presidential campaign, a process known as “catch and kill.”

AMI is embroiled in controversy this week after being accused of attempting to extort Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos after obtaining revealing photos and texts of him, including one referred to in an email exchange as a “d*ck pick.”

“Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what [AMI] sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,” Bezos wrote in a post on Medium.

AMI responded on Friday, stating it believed it “acted lawfully” in dealing with Bezos and that it will investigate Bezos’s extortion accusations.

“Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him,” the company said in its statement.

“Nonetheless, in light of the accusations published by Mr. Bezos, the board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims,” said the statement, which was obtained by The Wrap’s Jon Levine.