Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified to jurors in Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial Tuesday about how he worked with Trump and his associates to publish stories to aid Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 election—testimony crucial to prosecutors’ claim that Trump, with Pecker’s help, sought to kill affair allegations before the 2016 election.
Alexandra Kazan and David Pecker attend the 'Shape France' Magazine cocktail launch at Hotel ... [+]
Pecker served from 1999 to 2020 as CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., now A360 Media.
Pecker promised Trump after he launched his first presidential bid in 2015 he would act as his “eyes and ears” by alerting him to potentially negative stories about him, publishing others about Trump’s rivals, and orchestrating a series of “catch and kill” schemes to silence damning allegations against Trump, according to prosecutors.
Pecker was the first witness called to testify in the case Monday, when he explained to jurors that the tabloid routinely “used checkbook journalism, and we paid for stories,” the New York Times reported.
Continuing his testimony on Tuesday, Pecker detailed how he was in regular communication with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen about how to spin National Enquirer stories in Trump’s favor, detailing headline by headline to the jury how Cohen would make suggestions for coverage and the Enquirer would “embellish” the information, according to the New York Times.
After GOP debates, for example, Pecker said Cohen would request that the National Enquirer publish negative stories about the best-performing candidate.
Pecker alerted Cohen that adult film star Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her story of a 2006 one-night stand with Trump, according to prosecutors and Cohen, who said he then negotiated the hush money payment to Daniels that is at the center of the case against Trump.
Prosecutors also allege AMI paid a doorman at a building owned by the Trump Organization $30,000 in exchange for information about allegations Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock (claims the Enquirer ultimately deemed were untrue), and also paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for rights to her story that she had an affair with Trump, also in 2006, but never published—what’s known as a “catch and kill” scheme.
The payments to McDougal and the doorman are not part of the case, but prosecutors are expected to use them to bolster their claim that the $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels—money prosecutors say Trump’s company reimbursed him for under the guise of legal services—was actually an unreported (and illegal) campaign expense.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in April last year, marking the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former president. The trial officially began last Monday with jury selection. Bragg’s office alleged Trump and his real estate company reimbursed Cohen $420,000, accounting for fees, a bonus and taxes, and illegally recorded the payments as legal fees. Proving that the payments were inherently linked to Trump’s political aspirations is critical to prosecutors’ ability to charge Trump with felonies in the case, as the falsifying business records charges are typically misdemeanors. Prosecutors must prove that Trump committed the alleged misdemeanors in conjunction with another crime—in this case violating campaign finance laws since the payment to Daniels exceeded federal contribution limits. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to a series of charges, including campaign finance violations, for his role in the alleged payments to Daniels and McDougal and admitted that he made the payments at Trump’s direction and on his behalf. Trump has denied allegations of any affair and has pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, was brought on behalf of President Joe Biden to hurt his re-election chances.
Pecker’s relationship with Trump—who he referred to as “the boss” on the witness stand—dates back to the 1980s, when Pecker said the two met at Mar-A-Lago. Pecker worked with Trump in the 1990s to publish a “Trump Style” magazine available to guests and visitors of his various properties featuring lifestyle articles and content promoting Trump and his brand. Pecker also detailed to the jury how Trump would tip him off when a contestant on “The Apprentice” was set to be fired so the National Enquirer could be the first to break the news. Pecker was granted immunity after aiding federal prosecutors’ case against Cohen for his role in the alleged “catch and kill” schemes, and the Justice Department also entered a non-prosecution agreement with AMI in the case that required AMI to admit to making the payment to McDougal.
If convicted, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the 34 felonies, though it’s unlikely he would receive a prison sentence since he’s never been convicted of a crime.
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