Shortly after the criminal trial adjourned for the day, Donald Trump left the courtroom and told reporters that the payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen were properly labeled as legal fees.
“The truth is, no one can say what to call this,” President Trump told the media. “If a lawyer files a bill or an invoice and you pay the bill…it’s a very small line…it’s not like you can tell the story of your life.”
“They reduced it to legal costs. Now I’m indicted,” Trump said.
The former president also tried to paint Cohen as an unreliable witness, saying he was “not very good in many ways” as a lawyer.
President Trump’s motorcade then departed the courthouse.
-Mike Pappano
David Pecker left the witness stand after his first testimony. He is scheduled to return to the witness stand tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET.
In his brief testimony, Pecker suggested that former National Enquirer chief content officer Dylan Howard, who prosecutors allege was a participant in the capture-and-kill scheme, would be too ill to testify. .
Mr. Pecker appeared to greet Mr. Trump and his lawyers as they emerged from the courtroom.
The court then ended its day.
Trump left the courtroom surrounded by Secret Service agents and staff, Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten, and others.
Judge Marchand is scheduled to hold a contempt hearing tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET on President Trump’s alleged violation of the limited gag order in the case.
David Pecker, who once called Donald Trump “a personal friend of mine,” was all smiles as he took the stand as the trial’s first witness, defying the gravity of the moment.
When prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked Pecker about the various phone numbers he had trouble remembering, Pecker burst into laughter into the microphone, shaking the audience.
Pecker, 72, was the publisher of the National Enquirer, and prosecutors said Pecker had published harmful articles about President Trump, including false claims by a doorman that Trump fathered a beloved child and a Playboy model. He said he was “acting as a co-conspirator” in buying up articles and helping to destroy them. Trump has denied both allegations about a sexual relationship with him.
Mr. Trump, who once said Mr. Pecker would be a “great” choice to be Time’s editor, listened with a disgruntled look on his face, leaning forward in his chair and folding his arms on the table.
Mr. Pecker testified that he had the final say on whether to publish articles about celebrities.
“I had the final say on the celebrity side of the magazine,” Pecker said. “We used checkbook journalism. We paid for the stories.”
Mr. Pecker is testifying under subpoena. He also has a non-prosecution agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors called former American Media Inc. executive David Pecker as their first witness.
Prosecutors said Pecker, then head of the National Enquirer, conspired with President Trump and Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to kill negative stories about Trump in 2016. He claims that he helped influence the election.
