Chicago City Wire

The former publisher of the National Enquirer told a New York court that he paid $20,000 for a story about an alleged affair by former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel so he could kill it.

During testimony last week, David Pecker told a New York courtroom that Emanuel's brother, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, approached him in 2009 and asked him for help killing a story about his brother's affair.

"Ari Emanuel reached out to you because Rahm had a problem," lawyer Emil Bove asked Pecker. "An affair that happened in 2009 after Rahm Emanuel left the (Obama) White House...and you did help suppress that story, correct?"

"I did," Pecker responded.

Pecker said he paid $20,000 to purchase the rights to the story, which he then declined to run.

Pecker said that, at the time, Rahm Emanuel was working for the investment bank Wasserstein Perella, and that he had been working with Pecker on a potential acquisition of Playboy by the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media.

Emanuel is currently serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Previously, he served as an adviser to former President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1999. He represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms between 2003 and 2009. From 2009 to 2010 he served as chief of staff for former President Barack Obama. Emanuel was elected as mayor of Chicago in 2011, and served two terms before stepping down in 2019.