Tabloid killed stories for Trump: Witness
CAMPAIGN, NOT FAMILY, REASON FOR PAYING OFF PLAYBOY MODEL, PORN STAR, PECKER TELLS NEW YORK TRIAL
NEW YORK • Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker told the jury in Donald Trump's hush money trial that coverup efforts he assisted in were designed to protect the then-candidate's 2016 campaign, not his family.
The Supreme Court on Thursday morning also heard arguments about Trump's claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election. The justices seemed to agree, in broad terms, that Trump did not have blanket immunity.
On the witness stand, Pecker said he spoke directly with Trump and his aides about paying to shut down former Playboy model Karen McDougal's story about a year-long affair with Trump.
He also said he heard about a story involving Stormy Daniels. Pecker said he did not think Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen, his conduit at the time, were aiming to keep the stories of two women out of the news to protect wife Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka or any other relatives.
“It was basically what the impact would be to the campaign and the election,” Pecker said.
Pecker said he had a conversation with the president-elect at Trump Tower in January 2017, shortly before Trump's inauguration. At that session, Pecker said Trump thanked him for paying McDougal for her silence and for assisting in other coverups for Trump.
Neither Trump nor Cohen brought up Trump's marriage in conversations that happened over months about how to handle McDougal and later Daniels, the witness said.
“His family was never mentioned and the conversation I had directly with Mr. Trump, his family wasn't mentioned, so I made the assumption the (main) concern was the campaign,” Pecker testified.
The crux of the prosecution's case against Trump is that he falsified records to conceal the fact that Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she said happened a decade before.
Although the National Enquirer had paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about a relationship with Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 4, 2016, that the Enquirer had paid to kill the story, four days before the presidential election. The Enquirer responded with its own article that said it didn't pay for stories it wouldn't publish.
“Was that the truth?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked former Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
“No,” Pecker replied.
“Who authorized that story?” Steinglass asked.
“I did. … I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself, and I wanted to protect Donald Trump,” Pecker responded.
Pecker said he also spoke to Trump on the phone on Nov. 5, 2016, and told him that no one from the Enquirer had leaked the story.
“I don't believe that Donald Trump believed me over the phone,” Pecker said. “He was very agitated. He couldn't believe this happened. The call ended very abruptly. He didn't say goodbye.”
Pecker testified that he first learned of Daniels's alleged tryst with Trump days after the surfacing of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by their genitals.
Pecker said he was having dinner with his wife in early October 2016 when he got an “urgent call” from Dylan Howard, his company's former chief content officer.
According to Pecker, Howard said he'd received a call from two of his best sources that Daniels was trying to sell a story alleging a sexual relationship with Trump.
One of the sources, Keith Davidson, the lawyer for the Playboy model who received an earlier hush money payment, told him they could acquire the story from him for $120,000 “if we make the decision right now,” Pecker said.
The prosecution presented a text exchange between Pecker and Howard dated Oct. 9, 2016, two days after The Washington Post published the “Access Hollywood” tape story.
One text read: “Woman wants $120K has offers from Mail and GMA want her to talk and do lie-detector live. I know the denials were made in the past — but this story is true. I can lock it on publication now to shut down the media chatter and we can assess next steps thereafter.”
Based on the conversation, Pecker said, he knew the woman was Stormy Daniels. Pecker said he couldn't pay the $120,000. He told Howard to call Michael Cohen, Trump's then-lawyer.
Assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker why he didn't pay for the story. Pecker responded that his company had already paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who was shopping a story about a Trump affair — later determined to be untrue — as well as $150,000 to McDougal.
Howard offered to call Cohen and “advise him” on how to handle the situation, according to Pecker.
Steinglass asked why Pecker thought it would be a good idea to kick the matter over to Cohen.
“I thought it could be very damaging,” Pecker said. “It should come off the market. If anyone was going to buy it, I thought Michael Cohen and Donald Trump should buy it.”
In morning testimony, Pecker said he reached an agreement with Cohen in which a shell company created by Cohen would pay for the rights to McDougal's story.