Trump’s lawyers seek to discredit testimony
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense team in his hush money case sought Friday to undermine the testimony of the prosecution’s lead witness and his account that a tabloid’s practice of helping to bury embarrassing stories about Trump was part of a scheme to aid the Republican’s 2016 campaign.
David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, returned to the witness stand for a fourth day as defense attorneys tried to poke holes in his testimony about his tabloid’s efforts to protect his old friend from potentially damaging stories using a catch-and-kill scheme.
Pecker’s testimony is crucial for prosecutors, who allege the effort was a way to illegally influence the 2016 election. Under cross-examination, Trump’s lawyers are trying to show that any dealings Trump had with Pecker were intended to protect Trump, his reputation and his family — not his campaign.
Pecker has testified that he hatched a plan with Trump and then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen in August 2015 for the National Enquirer to help Trump’s presidential campaign.
But, under questioning by Trump lawyer Emil Bove, Pecker acknowledged there was no mention at that meeting of the term “catch-and-kill,” which describes the practice of tabloids purchasing the rights to story so they never see the light of day. Nor was there discussion at the meeting of any “financial dimension,” such as the National
Enquirer paying people on Trump’s behalf for the rights to their stories, Pecker said.
Bove also confronted Pecker with statements he made to federal prosecutors in 2018 that the defense lawyer said were
“inconsistent” with the former publisher’s testimony earlier this week. Pecker previously testified that Trump thanked him during a White House visit in 2017 for his help burying two stories.
But according to notes cited by Bove in court, Pecker had previously told federal authorities that Trump did not express any gratitude to him during the meeting.
Pecker stuck to the story that that he gave in court. “The FBI notes that someone is writing down here could be wrong,” he said, adding: “I know what the truth is.”
Pecker’s cross-examination caps a consequential week in the criminal cases the former president faces as he vies to reclaim the White House in November.
At the same time jurors listened to testimony in Manhattan, the Supreme Court on Thursday signaled it was likely to reject Trump’s sweeping claims that he is immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case in Washington. But the conservative-majority high court seemed inclined to limit when former presidents could be prosecuted — a ruling that could benefit Trump by delaying that trial, potentially until after the November election.