Fox News 'killed Stormy Daniels story because Murdoch wanted Trump to win'

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Photo / AP file

New from me: Fox News HAD the story of Trump's hush money payoffs to Stormy Daniels BEFORE the election but killed it because the reporter said she was told, "Good reporting Kiddo, but Rupert Murdoch wants Donald Trump to win. So set it aside." Reporter sued, is bound by an NDA. https://t.co/md9B4fLm1i

— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) March 4, 2019

Renowned New Yorker investigative writer Jane Mayer reports that Fox News had the Stormy Daniels story before the 2016 US presidential election - but canned it.

The reason, she reports, is an executive said Rupert Murdoch wanted Trump to "win".

The story of US President Donald Trump's alleged affair with the porn star and hush money payments was eventually published by the Wall Street Journal in January 2018.

CNN reported on Fox News' knowledge of it soon afterwards. What's new is why Fox never ran the story.

The New Yorker says former FoxNews.com reporter Diana Falzone "obtained proof" of the alleged 2006 sexual relationship. Falzone had spoken to Daniels' manager and ex-husband, and gained emails between Daniels' lawyer and Trump's lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.

The New Yorker wrote: "After getting one noncommittal answer after another from her editors, Falzone at last heard from [Ken] LaCorte, who was then the head of FoxNews.com. Falzone told colleagues that LaCorte said to her, 'Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert [Murdoch] wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go.' LaCorte denies telling Falzone this, but one of Falzone's colleagues confirms having heard her account at the time.

"Falzone discovered that the National Enquirer, in partnership with Trump, had made a "catch and kill" deal with Daniels — buying the exclusive rights to her story in order to bury it. Falzone pitched this story to Fox, too, but it went nowhere."

Falzone was demoted the following January "without explanation." She sued Fox and reached a settlement. Falzone signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Lots of news in latest from ⁦@JaneMayerNYer⁩: the killing of the Stormy Daniels story before the election; ordering Gary Cohn to pressure DOJ to file lawsuit to block AT&T-Time Warner deal; possible tipping off Trump on debate question; more. https://t.co/lXCwppOGbb

— Michael Luo (@michaelluo) March 4, 2019

We sat on nothing, @MichaelAvenatti. Before the election, on 11/4/16, we reported Keith Davidson made a $150k deal for Karen McDougal and repped Stormy Daniels. In the same story, we reported Daniels’ alleged affair with Trump https://t.co/4lMUljTubW

— WSJ Communications (@WSJPR) March 4, 2019