Donald Trump and Sean Hannity (Fox News/screen grab)
An explosive new report from The New Yorker's Jane Mayer claims that Fox News spiked a story about Donald Trump paying off former adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election because it didn't want to hurt his candidacy.
According to Mayer's sources, reporter Diana Falzone had obtained documentation showing that former Trump "fixer" had been in contact with Daniels' attorney to discuss a hush-money agreement in which she would receive cash in exchange for her silence on her past affair with Trump.
However, then-Fox News executive Ken LaCorte told Falzone that her story would not run on the Fox News website.
"Good reporting, kiddo," he told her, according to Mayer's sources. "But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go."
Falzone kept investigating, however, and eventually uncovered evidence that the National Enquirer had been running "catch-and-kill" operations to shut down negative stories about Trump and ensure they never got published.
Despite this, Fox continued to refuse to publish her work, and the story was eventually reported out in detail by the Wall Street Journal.
"In January, 2017, Fox demoted Falzone without explanation," reports Mayer. "That May, she sued the network. Her attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, declined to comment but acknowledged that a settlement has been reached; it includes a nondisclosure agreement that bars Falzone from talking about her work at Fox."
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