Ronan Farrow tells of a master list of 'historical dirt' on Trump at the National Enquirer

It's been two years since Ronan Farrow published his 7,000-word investigation into accusations of rape and sexual assault against producer Harvey Weinstein, following the history-making report from the New York Times' Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.

Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist has a new book, Catch and Kill, which unpacks his investigation, but also the corruption and cover-ups he encountered, in which powerful people were reportedly protected by systems — including the media — when faced with accusations of sexual abuse, misconduct, and assault.

The title itself, Catch and Kill, comes from a highly problematic tabloid journalism term/practice — something Farrow says is exactly what publishers like the National Enquirer have done with investigations into accusations against Weinstein and Donald Trump.

"A lot of outlets, including the National Enquirer, used to acquire the rights to a story in order to not publish it but bury it at the behest of a powerful person," Farrow explained to The Late Show's Stephen Colbert on Wednesday.

"It is used in this plot both literally in the sense that I'm following a trail of clues from the National Enquirer working to smear victims of Harvey Weinstein and bury stories for him, all the way up to the top, if you will, to the collaboration between President Trump and the National Enquirer," he said.

"And it's also used figuratively because it's about these broader patterns in our profession, in the media world, that have kept these stories buried."

Notably, Farrow told Colbert he's seen a list of scandals the National Enquirer kept on Trump before he became president. The master list of "historical dirt," or "killed stories about Donald Trump," he said contains about 60 items, including five affairs and sexual misconduct cases — including a story about an anonymous lawsuit filed involving Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

"Really the story here is that they made this list, that they were working with Trump, and that right before the election they actually shred a bunch of stuff on it. There's a shredding party," said Farrow.

"But they still know that these stories existed and, as you were saying, they have that over the president of the United States," said Colbert.

"Right, so there's a couple of ways the power flows in this relationship," replied Farrow. "One is David Pecker, the head of the National Enquirer, gets various perks, and it's everything from the banal invitations to inaugural events, and flying on Trump's plane and so forth, to dinner at the White House and introductions to wealthy Saudi interests that could maybe revive the ailing National Enquirer.

"On Trump's end you get maybe a material distortion of the election. That's why this matters so much. This is about patterns that keep the truth away from the public. That matters for our democracy."

It's one hell of an interview.