Discussion: WSJ: National Enquirer Publisher Asked DOJ If It Should Register As Saudi Agent

[occamscoin]

National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. asked the Justice Department whether it should register as a Saudi agent

I think this is one of those “If you have to ask…” type questions.

[mondfledermaus]

@tena

I’m so lost. What do the Saudis have against Bezos? Is it just because Kashoggi worked for the Post?

Anyone that annoys MbS is in dep shit.

Mohamed bin Salman is as impulsive as Trump with the difference that he does get off his ass and does things, take the Khashoggi murder, which in itself is a huge overreaction once you consider the risks of murdering a foreign based journalist in a third country in the KSA consulate, with no way to cover up. All that for a guy that didn’t present any real risks to MbS, he just found him annoying.

An then there is that case when he imprisoned Lebanon’s Prime Minister when on a visit to SA, and force him to resign.

Or about when he locked up many of the Saudi princes accusing them of corruption and shaking them down by several billions, and then went to buy a 300 million estate in the french Riviera.

[paulw]

My guess is that this may have been an unforced error on AMI’s part. Letters like this are almost universally based on information supplied by the person wondering if they have to register. And AMI was almost certainly looking for an answer saying it didn’t have to register (because registration would be an enormous PR hit in their demographic). If, on further investigation (which is a certainty now) it turns out that they left out anything that might be a material piece of information about their Saudi ties, this correspondence goes from CYA to evidence of intent and guilty knowledge.

[irasdad]

“WSJ: National Enquirer Publisher Asked DOJ If It Should Register As Saudi Agent.”

The effort required for any journalist trying to keep up with all these Saudi scandals must cost an arm and a leg.

[canadachris]

I probably shouldn’t laugh at that, but I did…

[tena]

Bazinga! hahaha

[jkrogman]

You’ve put your finger on the tissue, er, issue.

[deva]

So… who in the Justice dept decided that registration wasn’t necessary? Mr. Whitaker?

[lionel_hutz]

MBS & MBZ are like Uday and Qusay, without the loving sociopathic dictator father to keep them in line.

Whether it’s taking a business partner out to the desert to torture with a cattle prod and run over with a vehicle on camera, or hijacking the multi billion dollar Qatari BeIn Sports feed, breaking the encryption and selling boxes around the middle East calling it BeOutQ, this is how they roll.

Think of being truly young, crazy fuckin nation State level rich and giving absolutely no fucks.

[toz]

I imagine the discussion Trump is now having with his lawyers: “You can do that? Why didn’t you tell me I could just register as a Russian agent? Is it too late now?”

[occamscoin]

@irasdad

The effort required for any journalist trying to keep up with all these Saudi scandals must cost an arm and a leg.

Sometimes you just have to cut to the heart of the subject.

[1gg]

If you throw in Cadet Bone Spurs, you might work something out.

[texacali]

When is tRump going to register as a foreign agent?

[newton]

Winner winner Lamb kabob dinner!

[tiowally]

If and when a modicum of sanity ever returns to the US Government, we must put an end to allowing the retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Even a perfunctory look at the people who do it reveals that not only did they openly and wantonly break the law, they are also usually guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as well.

It’s well-past time to start jailing these international power brokers, along with their bankers, who, without their generous help, couldn’t launder their lucre.

Enough already!

[davidn]

Ok, the question if they should register as a foreign agent is self answering; if they think so, they are almost certainly there.

So now we know why at least in part Bezos thinks it is about the Saudis.

[moreyampersand]

I would not be at all surprised if the Trump cabal had colluded with MBS to get dirt on Bezos. Trump hates him at least as much as MBS does.

[emiliano4]

@castor_troy

Thank you - two word answer.

Or longer one, it’s that the WaPo won’t shut up about Khashoggi, and thought they could shut down the whole thing by blackmailing Bezos.

First step would have been to get him to sign, and make the statement about politics. If he had signed, that would indicate that he was conducive to being blackmailed, and they would then use the same blackmail to lean on him to get his paper to stop publishing.

Not that it would have worked, but repressive regimes don’t really have the appreciation of an independent Fourth Estate…

Great Post.

The Slippery Slope part, to me, is the most arresting part of your excellent post.

Trump and his minions are doing the best they can to transform the United States.

[castor_troy]

@emiliano4

The Slippery Slope part, to me, is the most arresting part

I imagine that was a key part in why Bezos chose to just publish it and get ahead of the story.

It’s pretty standard procedure in picking up spies. Find something personally embarrassing. Once the person proves, by capitulating to minor demands, that the blackmail has leverage, you can up the pressure a bit and ask them for something more, again minor, maybe some internal documents or something non-private, but not ‘serious’. Then use that second step for leverage… And before the person knows it, they’re dumping all the State secrets they have to you.

[tena]

hahahahahahahahaha thanks!