Man Who Grew Up In Nazi Germany Says Trump Reminds Him of Hitler, Except
Hitler Wasn't A Pedophile

Amid behind-the-scenes details of his explosive reporting on Harvey
Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct, Ronan Farrow's new book Catch and
Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators claims that
American Media Inc. (AMI), the former publisher of the National Enquirer,
tried to help Donald Trump bury allegations he raped a teenager in 1994.

Farrow claims in the book that AMI CEO David Pecker was in close contact
with Trump when the rape allegations were made public in a 2016 lawsuit,
and that then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard assured Trump's
personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, "that they would track down
the woman with the rape allegation and see what they could do about her."
An AMI spokesperson told Newsweek Tuesday that Farrow's claims are
"completely untrue."

AMI has been accused in the past of purchasing potentially damaging
stories about Trump in order to keep them from becoming public�a practice
known in the industry as "catch and kill." Last December, AMI admitted
that in 2016 it made a $150,000 payment "in concert" with Trump's election
campaign to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who allegedly had an
affair with Trump a decade earlier. The publisher made the pact with
McDougal "in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging
allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election,"
the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

At the crux of the lawsuit filed against Trump in the lead-up to the 2016
presidential election were claims that Trump raped a woman when she was 13
years old in 1994. At the time, Trump's lawyer Alan Garten responded to
the lawsuit saying that the allegations are "categorically untrue."
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Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump leaves after signing an executive order
regarding Medicare at Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center October 3,
2019, in The Villages, Florida. Brendan Smialowski/Getty

The anonymous plaintiff�identified only as "Katie Johnson" in an initial
legal filing that was dismissed in California, and "Jane Doe" in two
subsequent legal filings in New York�said that she was raped by Trump
during a party hosted by the now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein at his
New York City apartment. In the third and final lawsuit, Doe alleged she
had numerous sexual encounters with Trump and Epstein at the latter's
parties and said she was also raped by Epstein, as BuzzFeed News reported
at the time.

Among the lurid details of the lawsuit, Jane Doe alleged Trump tied her to
a bed, "forcibly raped" her and threatened her and her family with
physical harm, if not death, if she told anyone about the assault. "I
understood that Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein knew that I was 13 years old,"
Jane Doe wrote in an affidavit.

Farrow alleges that after the suit was filed in September 2016, Enquirer
editor Howard and Trump lawyer Cohen were in contact frequently. (Cohen
was sentenced to three years in prison last December on charges including
campaign finance violations for his part in hush payments to McDougal and
adult film star Stormy Daniels.)
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"There was no opportunity to buy this story," Farrow writes, claiming that
AMI chief Pecker�a longtime friend of Trump's�only found out about the
lawsuit after it was filed.
Before Proposing to Melania, Trump Engaged in 'Wave' of Alleged Touching
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Still, Farrow says, Howard, now chief content officer at AMI, tried to use
his influence to convince Lisa Bloom, a power attorney who agreed to
represent Jane Doe, to drop her client.

In November 2016, just days before the presidential election, Bloom
suddenly announced a press conference with Jane Doe had been canceled,
saying Doe had become frightened after receiving death threats. Two days
later, Doe's lead attorney, Thomas Meager, filed to dismiss the case. Jane
Doe has not been heard from since.

Speaking to Newsweek Tuesday, Bloom said that while the Enquirer editor
"did tell me he thought Jane Doe lacked credibility ... that wasn't the
reason she asked her other attorney to drop her case."

"After we received numerous death threats and my law firm's website and
emails were hacked, she did not want to go forward," Bloom added.

Bloom also said that she did not enter any agreements with AMI on Doe's
behalf. "I represented Ms. Doe for free and there was never any discussion
of money or settlement as I strongly believed her allegations should be
made public given that Donald Trump was running for president at that
time."