Donald Trump sits with members of his defense team in a Manhattan criminal courtroom as his hush money trial continues in New York City, April 25, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | via Reuters
Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday afternoon began cross-examining former national investigator David Pecker, who was the first to testify in Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial.
The questioning comes three days after Pecker was on the witness stand in a landmark trial in which he is being grilled by Manhattan prosecutors for participating in a “catch-and-kill” plot to benefit the 2016 presidential election. It started near the end of the eye.
But earlier Thursday, Mr. Pecker said he refused to pay for the story of Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Mr. Trump several years ago.
Mr. Pecker testified that he turned down Mr. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen’s request to obtain Mr. Daniels’ article for $120,000 and bury it.
“I’m not a bank,” Mr. Pecker recalled telling Dylan Howard, the tabloid’s editor-in-chief at the time.
Pecker said on stage that his publisher had already paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to silence negative news about Trump during the 2016 election. He pointed out that he paid $150,000.
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s lawyer at the time, asked Pecker to also pay for Daniels’ story, but Pecker refused. “I have no intention of getting involved with porn stars,” the former CEO of American Media testified.
Mr. Pecker added that Mr. Cohen, who ultimately paid Mr. Daniels $130,000 of his own money, later complained that Mr. Trump had not yet reimbursed him.
Mr. Pecker gave this testimony just meters away from Mr. Trump, who is indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a plot to buy Daniels’ silence and influence the 2016 presidential election. Ta.
Pecker dishes
These are just a few of the many details Mr. Pecker gave about his relationships with Mr. Trump and his aides during the third day of testimony in the historic trial.
Mr. Pecker testified that he believed Mr. Trump would pay him back if he bought the story from Mr. McDougal, who claimed to have had an affair with the former president.
Pecker said he told the then-presidential candidate during a June 2016 phone call that he should buy the article to “take it off the market.” In a subsequent conversation, Cohen told Pecker to listen to McDougall and said, “Don’t worry, I’m your friend. Your boss will figure it out,” the former CEO said. It is said that he spoke.
Pecker, who believed the story to be true, said he understood it to mean he would be “reimbursed by either the Trump Organization or Donald Trump.”
The former tabloid publisher also testified that the purpose of purchasing McDougal’s articles was to suppress negative news about Trump before the 2016 election.
“I didn’t want this article to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt his campaign,” Pecker said.
He testified that American Media never repaid the $150,000 payment to Mr. McDougal.
However, during a conversation with Pecker in January 2017, President Trump is said to have asked, “How is my daughter doing?” I mean McDougall. According to Pecker, during the meeting, President Trump expressed his gratitude for Pecker’s “handling of the McDougal issue” and the “doorman issue.”
That same month, Pecker said the newly elected Trump invited him and his wife to the White House. Mr. Pecker’s wife didn’t want to go, so she brought Mr. Howard and another colleague in her place.
At the White House, Pecker said President Trump pulled her aside and asked, “How’s Karen doing?” Pecker replied, “She’s quiet, everything is fine.”
Pecker said he agreed to amend the non-disclosure agreement to allow McDougal to speak to reporters who had already contacted him after the 2016 election.
Mr. Pecker said that after his interview with Mr. McDougal aired in March 2018, President Trump called him and was “very upset” to hear that the agreement had been changed.
Mr. Pecker told Mr. Trump that he planned to extend Mr. McDougal’s contract, a decision that was approved by two members of the White House staff at the time, adviser Hope Hicks and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. .
Publisher admits campaign finance violations
Mr. Pecker testified that he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission. When he called Mr. Cohen for advice, his attorney said he received the same letter and told Mr. Pecker not to worry.
“Jeff Sessions is attorney general and Donald Trump has him in his pocket,” Pecker recalled Cohen saying.
Mr. Pecker then testified about a non-prosecution agreement that federal prosecutors in New York had entered into with American Media in connection with the payments to Mr. McDougal. A statement of facts attached to the contract states that American Media did not report to the FEC that it “paid the model $150,000.”
“We have admitted to campaign finance violations,” Pecker testified.
He also revealed that he entered into a cooperation agreement in October 2019 with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump in the hush-money case.
This courtroom sketch shows President Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan state court in New York City in 2016 on charges of falsifying business records to hide money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels. We watch as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass questions David Pecker. April 25, 2024.
Jane Rosenberg Reuter
The trial, which began in earnest with opening statements Monday, is expected to last six weeks.
Thursday’s testimony will be Pecker’s third day on the stand. On Tuesday, he detailed how he agreed to help Trump’s 2016 campaign by warning the then-candidate of damaging information and preventing it from being released to the public.
He described his involvement in a deal that paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for a story about Trump fathering a child with a maid.
Mr. Pecker concluded that the story was false, but said he had purchased exclusive rights to it in order to “take it off the market.”
“I made the decision to buy this article considering the possibility of embarrassing the campaign and Mr. Trump,” he testified.
Mr. Pecker also said that at Mr. Cohen’s request, he and his tabloid intended to “glorify” negative stories about Mr. Trump’s political opponents.
