How David Pecker's National Enquirer went to any length for a story - far beyond 'catch and kill' operations revealed at Donald Trump's trial

They were known as the 'FOPs': the friends of Pecker. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Simon Cowell, Harvey Weinstein and, of course, Donald Trump were among the chosen few who avoided having lurid stories rained down on them courtesy of the National Enquirer.

They were the untouchables, who used their money, influence and flattery to get into former company CEO David Pecker's good graces – thus avoiding having their garbage surveyed, their lovers followed, and their peccadillos exposed.

But if you weren't a friend, then all bets were off. There was nothing – within the law and sometimes skirting it– that wouldn't be done to bring in a story.

'He's the biggest star f***er you've ever met,' a former staffer who worked at the tabloid for more than 20 years told DailyMail.com.

'He's a failed Donald Trump. He picks the wrong people and much like Trump, he's loyal to no one.'

Donald Trump was among the 'FOPs' or 'Friends of Pecker' who avoided having lurid stories rained down on them courtesy of the National Enquirer

Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified in Donald Trump's hush money trial this week about the tabloid's 'catch and kill' practices

Former staffers who worked at the tabloid for more than 20 years told DailyMail.com about the lengths the tabloid would go to for a story

Pecker and his close friendship with Trump has been back in the headlines this week thanks to the former publisher's scene-stealing appearance at the 45th President's ongoing hush money trial.

But while that friendship exposed the tabloid practice of 'catch and kill' – buying up a story only to keep it quiet for the benefit of a Pecker pal – insiders say that was just the tip of the iceberg.

'What's shameful is a lot of what we did was just good old-fashioned reporting but this stuff with Trump has smeared it,' another insider said.

'There used to be an ounce of respect [for the Enquirer] but it's not there anymore.'

'Pecker, 72,  'is the biggest star f***er you've ever met,' a former employee said. 'Much like Trump, he's loyal to no one'

Founded in 1926, the Enquirer has a long history but exploded into a phenomenon in the 1970s courtesy of Elvis Presley whose death was lavishly covered by the magazine and included a photo of the late singer in his coffin.

By the 2000s, once Pecker, now 72, was on board, it was known for its showbiz exclusives but also ran scores of political stories, many lurid and most exposing politicians' sexual activities.

Famously, one was an 18-month investigation into John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, who was forced to admit, after the Enquirer ran exclusive after exclusive, that he was having an affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter who he had hired to make video for his campaign.

Despite initially claiming the story about the affair was 'completely untrue, ridiculous, false', Edwards was eventually caught visiting her at the Beverly Hills hotel, where he was nabbed at 2:40 am when a team of Enquirer reporters chased him into a public bathroom.

Celebrities would find themselves on the end of all night watches. Chris Hansen, the star of To Catch A Predator, was exposed in 2013 when reporters slept in a car outside NBC anchor Kristyn Caddell's home to get a photo of him leaving and thus proving that the pair had been having an affair.

Another to fall foul of the Enquirer's stable of snappers was Jeff Bezos whose affair with Lauren Sanchez was exposed in the magazine – leading to an expensive divorce for the Amazon boss.

But while those stories were produced by 'good old-fashioned journalism', others were brought in by more dubious means.

The Enquirer exploded into a phenomenon in the 1970s courtesy of Elvis Presley whose death was lavishly covered by the magazine and included a photo of the late singer in his coffin

John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, was forced to admit, after the Enquirer ran exclusive after exclusive, that he was having an affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter who he had hired to make video for his campaign

Infamously, the magazine also ran a deathbed photo of Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina – paying $140,000 to a 'family friend' for the image

Among the tricks employed by reporters working for the Enquirer was the art of the garbage search – scouring through celebrities' trash in the hopes of finding something juicy or going through the waste following a high-profile wedding looking for a program or anything that would bring in a scoop.

'We crashed weddings all the time,' one former staffer told DailyMail.com. 'We'd get a job as one of the waitstaff or go through the trash bags.

'For Angie Harmon's wedding to Jason Sehorn, an Enquirer photographer hid in the attic of the church the overnight and took pictures of the ceremony.

A similar tactic was employed at Conan O'Brien's 2002 wedding to Liza Powel in Seattle's St. James Cathedral.

A reporter managed to secrete herself in a bathroom stall inside the cathedral several hours before the service was to begin. 

Once the real guests, who had to show their invitations to security guards, were in their pews she came out and joined them – and even got a ride back to the reception where she persuaded Conan and his new bride to pose for a picture which later appeared in the Enquirer’s pages.

In 2007 when golfer Tiger Woods was caught in flagrante with waitress Mindy Lawton with the pair photographed having sex in a public park and in the back of his car.

A former employee said: 'A National Enquirer photographer captured images of them having sex in a car in a church parking lot.'

That story never ran though: In exchange for silence, AMI cut a deal that saw Woods appear on the cover of Men's Fitness – another magazine in Pecker's stable – and the story was buried.

It was not until several years later that Woods's history of infidelity was exposed when the Enquirer tracked his mistress Rachel Uchitel to a hotel in Dubai where Woods just happened to be playing in a tournament. 

Pecker told in court on Thursday that Schwarzenegger was given special treatment. He agreed not to run any negative stories and spent 'several hundred thousand' dollars to '30 or 40 women' who came forward to accuse the future California governor of harassment.

But after being rebuffed by the Enquirer a woman took her Schwarzenegger story to the Los Angeles Times. When asked about it Arnie told reporters: 'Ask my friend David Pecker.'

'It was very embarrassing for me and the company,' Pecker told the court. 'It gave me the sensitivity about buying any stories in the future.' 

Articles appeared smearing Trump's opponents – most famously Ted Cruz whose father appeared to be in a dodgy photo purportedly showing him with JFK's killer Lee Harvey Oswald

Another to fall foul of the Enquirer's stable of snappers was Jeff Bezos whose affair with Lauren Sanchez was exposed in the magazine – leading to an expensive divorce for the Amazon boss

'For Angie Harmon's wedding to Jason Sehorn, an Enquirer photographer hid in the attic of the church the overnight and took pictures of the ceremony,' the source said 

In 2014 Pecker became fixated on the completely unfounded idea that Hillary Clinton – then favorite to win the Democratic nomination for president – had had an affair and Chelsea was the result of it

Pecker told Trump's trial in New York that he paid for stories about sexual affairs involving both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rahm Emanuel which he had no intention of publishing

 It wasn't only Republicans that Pecker went out of his way to help. He told the New York court on Thursday. He also paid $20,000 for a story that was suppressed about an affair that Democrat Rahm Emmanuel had had. Emmanuel wanted it kept quiet because he was running to be mayor of Chicago.

Another beneficiary of AMI's willingness to negotiate was Bill Cosby whose affairs had been known within the newsroom for years.

In exchange for killing the stories, the now-disgraced Cosby became a regular source for the Enquirer – providing a stream of alternative stories ready to use whenever the magazine wanted.

An Enquirer reporter hid in the cathedral bathroom to get exclusive details and pictures of Conan O'Brien and his bride Liza Powel

Not all of the Enquirer's stories were about affairs, however. Celebrity health stories were also popular and to that end, the magazine had a source who worked at UCLA hospital.

The source Lawanda Jackson was later hit with federal charges over leaking medical information to the magazine, with Nicole Kidman and Farrah Fawcett among the celebrities whose details were provided to the Enquirer.

The magazine discovered one A-list singer had had a secret abortion and another had had breast augmentation surgery. Reporters posed as hospital workers to get the confirmation they needed.

Infamously, the magazine also ran a deathbed photo of Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina – paying $140,000 to a 'family friend' for the image.

In 2014 Pecker became fixated on the completely unfounded idea that Hillary Clinton – then favorite to win the Democratic nomination for president – had had an affair and daughter Chelsea was the result of it.

The Enquirer managed to get DNA from a Starbucks cup the alleged father had discarded in North Carolina – but getting a sample from Chelsea would be more difficult. 

A reporter was dispatched to follow her around New York City for days – but she was more careful about where she put her garbage. 

Eventually another reporter had his young daughter approach Chelsea for an autograph, giving her a Sharpie to sign with. After Chelsea used the Sharpie it was saved and sent in along with the cup for testing. 

The test results came back inconclusive and the NE had another article, claiming to cast doubt on who Chelsea's father really is. 

Celebrity memoirs were another fruitful source of stories and the Enquirer would go to great lengths to get them first.

'We were told we had to get Trump elected and each reporter was assigned a different candidate to work on. It was what Pecker wanted,' the former staffer said about the 2016 presidential race

'It's over for pervy Ted' and 'Ben Carson butchered my brain' were two of the headlines the Enquirer ran  in the run up to the Republican primaries in 2016 as it targeted Trump's rivals 

Even when Trump was in the White House  the attacks on Democrats continued while the new president's accomplishments were highlighted

'Pecker thought Trump was going to give him an ambassadorship or a government job – that's why he did it,' said the ex-staffer 

'When the National Enquirer got word a celebrity book was coming out, they would find the printing plant,' a former staffer said.

'They would have a stringer get a job at the plant via a temp agency and then steal the book.

'They would get it past their lawyers by stating they never saw the book themselves and that a "source" or "friend" had told them about it and what it contained.'

Although the majority did, not every story run by the Enquirer had a basis in fact – a practice that led to what the insider called 'blackouts' where the famous victims of some of the false claims would negotiate a deal with the magazine.

In exchange for not suing over the false stories, celebrities including Oprah, Gayle King and Kelly Ripa agreed deals that would see the Enquirer publish nothing about them beyond red carpet appearances for as much as two years.

Other celebrities received grace periods because it suited Pecker's purposes. In 2014, Jennifer Lopez became a beneficiary of the publisher's largesse because she was due to appear at his Super Bowl party in New York. As a result, all stories about her were pulled.

Similarly, the late Steve Jobs's cancer diagnosis was not reported by the National Enquirer because Pecker was keen to set up an app for sister publication RadarOnline and was worried that Jobs might block it.

But it was close pals like Trump who benefited most from Pecker's ability to pull stories, with the magazine coming out guns blazing in support of him during the 2016 election.

No negative stories about him were allowed and articles appeared smearing his opponents – most famously Ted Cruz whose father appeared to be in a dodgy photo purportedly showing him with JFK's killer Lee Harvey Oswald.

'Everyone knew the Ted Cruz JFK thing was the biggest pile of s***,' one of the former staffers told DailyMail.com.

'We were told we had to get Trump elected and each reporter was assigned a different candidate to work on. It was what Pecker wanted.

'He thought Trump was going to give him an ambassadorship or a government job – that's why he did it.'