Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker resumed testifying on Thursday about the “catch-and-kill” process he used to bury former president Donald Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs, revealing for the first time that former FBI director James Comey may have been made aware of the scheme before Trump took office.
Addressing jurors in the Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors began the day by focusing on Pecker’s coordination with Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen in 2016 to purchase a story from former Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to multiple reports.
A significant moment took place a few hours into Pecker’s testimony when he vividly recounted meeting with president-elect Trump, then-FBI Director James Comey, future Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, future White House chief of staff Reince Preibus, and future White House press secretary Sean Spicer in his office at Trump Tower.
Trump introduced Pecker to the attendees and thanked him for suppressing “embarrassing” stories that might otherwise crop up in the press, adding that he believed Trump was referring to the embarrassment the stories might cause to the Trump campaign, not Trump’s family, which was never mentioned.
Specifically, Trump thanked Pecker for “handling the McDougal situation,” the former tabloid publisher testified.
“I felt that he was thanking me for buying them, and for not publishing any of the stories. And for helping the way I did,” Pecker said.
It’s unclear exactly how Comey interpreted the comments or what he did with the information. Trump fired Comey, an Obama administration holdover, during the first year of his presidency after Comey chose not to prosecute Trump’s 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton for routinely using her personal email server for government communications when she was Obama’s secretary of state.
Comey made himself into a public figure and refused to clarify the nature of the FBI’s investigation into discredited claims of collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. His falling out with Trump turned him into a hero among Democrats who previously thought Comey helped Trump by announcing the outcome of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
McDougal alleged that she and Trump had an extramarital, romantic relationship for a year. The National Enquirer‘s editor-in-chief Dylan Howard investigated the allegation in 2016 to explore the possibility of purchasing the story from her, Pecker recalled. Pecker previously testified that he and Cohen agreed McDougal’s allegations deserved to be vetted after Cohen initially denied them.
Howard told Pecker “he believed the story could be true, or was true, but she had no corroborating evidence,” Pecker testified on Thursday. She turned down a $10,000 offer from the National Enquirer to purchase the story, despite not wanting to have her story published. Cohen wanted the tabloid to buy McDougal’s story and Trump later called Pecker from an investors meeting in New Jersey to discuss it.
“What do you think I should do?” Trump asked, according to Pecker. He told Trump “I think you should buy the story and take it off the market.”
“I believed the story was true,” Pecker added. Cohen told Pecker Trump would “take care of” reimbursing the tabloid for buying the story, even though Pecker believed Cohen did not have authority to manage Trump’s funds.
Pecker was under the impression he would be reimbursed by Trump if the tabloid agreed to pay $150,000 for McDougal’s story. In August 2016, National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc. and McDougal agreed to a contract to buy the story and allow McDougal to write a monthly column in entertainment magazines.
“I wanted to have the contract be a record that stipulates that for the services that she was going to perform for American Media has a basis for it with $150,000,” Pecker said of the contract. The prosecution presented a $150,000 invoice to AMI from McDougal’s attorney Keith Davidson.
Pecker believed Trump and Cohen were aware of the McDougal contract. Howard and AMI’s general counsel also knew of it.
“Yes, I believe Donald Trump knew,” Pecker said. On August 10, 2016, five days after the contract was agreed upon, McDougal’s attorney sent her the payment. Pecker also answered affirmatively when the prosecution asked if he did not publish the story to ensure it did not influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
Merchan overruled objections from Trump’s defense attorney over questions to Pecker about the campaign-finance aspect of the McDougal payment. Pecker said he was aware the transaction was illegal and confirmed it was not disclosed in accordance with campaign finance laws.
“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” Pecker stated, referring to himself and Cohen. In October 2016, Pecker’s agreement with Cohen for the reimbursement fell apart after the pair devised an agreement to assign to Cohen the rights to the McDougal story. The Wall Street Journal ended up reporting on the National Enquirer purchase in November 2016 and Trump’s campaign at the time denied any knowledge of the situation.
Later in the day, Pecker testified that Trump accused either he or Howard of leaking the story, and the National Enquirer amended its deal with McDougal giving her permission to speak to the press.
The prosecution is attempting to portray the McDougal story as part of a pattern by Trump involving payments to prevent the release of allegations he had an extramarital affair in order to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is facing 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 payment Cohen sent to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to stop her from going public with allegations she and Trump had an extramarital affair in 2006. Trump has denied Daniels’s allegations.
The former president is being charged for falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to Daniels in alleged violation of campaign-finance violations, a federal crime that the Justice Department has not pursued against Trump.
Trump’s legal team is simultaneously arguing his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court. Before he entered the courtroom, Trump spoke to reporters about the presidential immunity case and criticized Merchan for not permitting him to go to oral arguments.
“We have a big case today this judge isn’t allowing me to go. We have a big case today at the Supreme Court on presidential immunity. A president has to have immunity if you don’t have immunity you just have a ceremonial president,” Trump said.
This is a developing story and it will be updated.