Donald Trump sits in a Manhattan Criminal Courtroom with members of his legal team for the continuation of his hush money trial in New York City on April 25, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Via Reuters
Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon began the cross-examination of former National Enquirer David Pecker, the first witness to testify in Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial.
The questioning began near the end of the Pecker’s third day on the witness stand in the historic trial, where he has been grilled by Manhattan prosecutors about his participation in “catch and kill” schemes to benefit Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Earlier Thursday, however, Pecker said he refused to pay porn star Stormy Daniels for her story of allegedly having sex with Trump years earlier.
Pecker testified that he declined a request by Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen to kill Daniels’ story by acquiring it for $120,000 and then burying it.
“I am not a bank,” Pecker recalled telling Dylan Howard, the tabloid’s editor in chief at the time.
Pecker noted on the stand that his publishing company had already paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman and $150,000 to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to silence negative news about Trump during the 2016 election.
Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen asked Pecker to pay for Daniels’ story as well, but Pecker said he refused. “I am not going to be involved with a porn star,” the former CEO of American Media testified.
Pecker added that Cohen, who ultimately paid Daniels $130,000 with his own money, later complained to him that he had not yet been reimbursed by Trump.
Pecker gave that testimony just feet away from Trump, who is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying Daniels’ silence.
Pecker dishes
Those were just a few of the many details Pecker shared about his relationship with Trump and his aides during his third day of testimony in the historic trial.
Pecker testified that he believed Trump would reimburse him if he bought the story from McDougal, who claimed she had an extramarital affair with the former president.
Pecker said he told the then-presidential candidate in a June 2016 phone call that he should buy the story to “take it off the market.” Cohen, in a follow-up conversation, told Pecker to purchase McDougal’s story, saying, “don’t worry, I’m your friend — the boss will take care of it,” according to the ex-CEO’s testimony.
Pecker, who believed the story to be true, said he understood that to mean “that I would be either reimbursed by the Trump Organization or by Donald Trump.”
The former tabloid publisher also testified that the purpose of buying McDougal’s story was to suppress negative news about Trump before the 2016 election.
“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” Pecker said.
He testified that American Media was never reimbursed for the $150,000 payment to McDougal.
But Trump, in a January 2017 conversation with Pecker, allegedly asked, “How’s our girl doing?” referring to McDougal. Trump in that meeting thanked Pecker for “handling the McDougal situation” and the “doorman situation,” according to Pecker.
That same month, Pecker said the newly elected Trump invited him and his wife to the White House. Pecker’s wife didn’t want to go, he said, so he brought Howard and another associate instead.
At the White House, Pecker said Trump pulled him aside and asked, “How is Karen doing?” Pecker replied, “She’s quiet, everything’s good.”
Pecker said he agreed after the 2016 election to amend McDougal’s confidentiality agreement in order to let her speak to reporters, who were already reaching out to her.
After an interview with McDougal aired in March 2018, Pecker said, Trump called him and got “very aggravated” when he heard that the deal had been changed.
Pecker told Trump that he planned to extend McDougal’s contract — a decision that two then-White House staffers, advisor Hope Hicks and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, approved of.
Publisher admits campaign finance violation
Pecker testified that he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission. When he called Cohen for advice, the lawyer said he got the same letter and told Pecker not to worry.
“Jeff Sessions is the attorney general, and Donald Trump has him in his pocket,” Pecker recalled Cohen saying.
Pecker then testified about a non-prosecution agreement that federal prosecutors in New York struck with American Media related to the payment to McDougal. A statement facts attached to that agreement notes that American Media never reported to the FEC “that it had made the $150,000 payment to the model.”
“We admitted to a campaign finance violation,” Pecker testified.
He also revealed that he had signed a cooperation agreement in October 2019 with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump in the hush money case.
In this courtroom sketch, former U.S. President Donald Trump watches as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass questions David Pecker during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City on April 25, 2024.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
The trial, which began in earnest Monday with opening statements, is expected to last six weeks.
Thursday’s testimony marked Pecker’s third day on the witness stand. On Tuesday, he detailed how he agreed to help Trump’s 2016 campaign by alerting the then-candidate of damaging information and working to keep it from the public.
He described his involvement in a deal to pay a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for his story that Trump had fathered a child with his maid.
While he concluded the story was untrue, Pecker said he bought the exclusive rights to the story in order to have it “removed from the market.”
“I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment to the campaign and Mr. Trump,” he testified.
Pecker also said he and his tabloid would “embellish” negative stories about Trump’s political rivals after being asked to do so by Cohen.
