In February 1999, the National Enquirer had been purchased by a new conglomerate which put longtime Trump lackey David Pecker at the helm. Pecker is now known for his “catch and kill” operation to prevent damning stories from reaching the public, a project he conducted with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. He is also known for his threats toward US opponents of Trump, most notably Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who maintained that Pecker had targeted him in an extortion scheme in possible collaboration with the Saudi government after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.65