Testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who took the stand Thursday for the third day this week, helped shape the roadmap for prosecutors' case against former President Donald Trump. .
From the details of business invoicing practices to revealing just how deeply involved President Trump was from start to finish, District Attorney's Office lawyers tell Pecker about payments to Stormy Daniels He explained much of what happened next to the jury, and kept the incident quiet. She is said to have had an affair with a real estate mogul.
The testimony was interspersed with juicy celebrity gossip and revelations about Trump's repeated questions about a Playboy model who also claims to have had an affair with Trump.
And after hours of unearthing new details, the defense on Thursday tried to portray Pecker as suffering from memory loss and acting for his own motives.
Here's what you missed on day 7 of Trump's hush money trial.
Mr. Pecker describes the sequence of events.
Prosecutors' case centers on accusations that former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she claims was an extramarital affair.
Mr. Pecker did not make those payments. But he says he did pay others who were buying salacious articles about Trump. And he told jurors that he had been in contact with Cohen about payments to Daniels, including asking President Trump to repay Cohen at his attorney's request.
Much of Mr. Pecker's testimony focused on his interactions with Playboy model Karen McDougall, who said he had a one-year affair with Mr. Trump.
Pecker testified that he paid McDougall $150,000. This was in return for both the rights to her stories, which he did not intend to publish, and the rights for McDougall to write the work for his publication. Mr. Trump testified that he did so after receiving assurances from Mr. Cohen that he would repay her at least the $125,000 he estimated was worth the rights to her article.
Mr. Pecker was concerned about the legality of his dealings with President Trump.
Mr. Pecker testified about new public evidence showing he is concerned about potential legal liability from paying for articles related to political candidates. That's why he and his lawyers decided not to seek reimbursement from President Trump for the payments to McDougal.
He acknowledged that his company lied to the Wall Street Journal about the deal with McDougall.
“I wanted to protect the company, I wanted to protect myself, and I wanted to protect Donald Trump,” Pecker said.
Mr. Pecker said President Trump tried to buy boxes of old research about him that the National Enquirer had kept.
Mr. Pecker testified that President Trump was obsessed with obtaining old boxes of documents and files belonging to the National Inquirer. Mr. Pecker said that Mr. Cohen called him “constantly” in September 2016, when Mr. Cohen, a presidential candidate, was negotiating how to pay for Mr. He reportedly requested that it be sent to a location.
At a meeting at Trump Tower in September 2016, Cohen continued to press Pecker about a box of National Enquirer documents Pecker had brought to New York from Florida.
Mr. Cohen told Mr. Pecker that Mr. Trump was nervous that the records and Mr. McDougall's articles remained in the hands of the National Enquirer, and that he was “not worried that he would get hit by a bus or that his company would be sold.” “We don't want anyone else to potentially publish those articles if we do something like that.”
“I'm not a bank”
Mr. Pecker detailed how the payments to Mr. McDougall were made, telling jurors that he took great care to keep other reporters from finding out.
Mr. Pecker planned to use Investment Advisory Services, a company run by former executives at his company, to make payments to a shell company set up by Mr. Cohen called Resolution Consultants.
“I do not want to receive checks from the Trump Organization through AMI,” Pecker testified. He said Cohen advised him to pay a flat fee for “advisory services.”
“Because I believe the payment would cause a lot of problems and say something to the editor, which is what I didn't want,” he explained.
Mr. Pecker also testified that he was tired of paying the bills. He said that as negotiations with McDougall dragged on, Mr. Cohen was “very upset” and wanted Mr. Pecker to pay him.
When it came time to pay Daniels, Pecker said he sat down.
“We've already paid $30,000 to the doorman. “We paid Karen McDougall $150,000, but I'm not the bank,” Pecker testified, adding, “We're not going to do this. No further payments or monies have been paid.”
President Trump asked for an update on McDougal
Mr. Pecker said Mr. Trump was “very upset” about a video of Mr. Trump that was posted on Radar Online, a website that Mr. Pecker's company had acquired, and that the video showed Mr. Trump as a “Playboy He was said to have described himself as a “man.”
The post was posted before AMI acquired Radar, and he directed Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard to remove it. It also included an audio clip of Trump.
Even after Trump took office, Pecker or his bodyguards repeatedly asked how McDougal was doing and referred to her as “our girl.”
Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. McDougall told Mr. Trump that he was “writing an article about her.” she is quiet In a private meeting in January 2017, President Trump thanked Trump for “addressing the McDougal situation and the doorman situation.”
The defense sought to sow doubts about Pecker's memory, motives and prosecutorial tactics.
Mr. Trump's lawyer, Emile Bove, who conducted cross-examination, initially tried to suggest that Mr. Pecker's recollection of the incident may have been updated by the district attorney's office.
“It's hard to remember exactly what happened almost 10 years ago, isn't it?” asked Bove.
“Yes,” Pecker answered.
Mr. Bove tried to prove that Mr. Pecker did not tell FBI agents that Hope Hicks was at the Trump Tower meeting in August 2015, but the details Pecker testified during the trial.
In testimony during cross-examination, Mr. Pecker said he learned from prosecutors about the phrase “catch and kill” used to describe the purchase of Mr. McDougall's article without any intention of publishing it.
Mr. Bove also had Mr. Pecker testify to other gossipy stories about celebrities and politicians he helped kill.
Mr. Pecker testified how he helped destroy the Planet Hollywood Restaurant Story to support Ron Perelman, one of its biggest advertisers through Revlon. And when he ran for governor of California, he made a pact with Arnold Schwarzenegger that he would not write negative articles about him in exchange for Schwarzenegger's blessing on his “huge acquisition.”
Pecker and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel were together with his brother Rahm Emmanual, an actor who had just finished his stint as White House chief of staff and was aiming to run for mayor of Chicago. He testified how he asked for help in suppressing potentially negative stories about Mark Wahlberg. “What Mr. Emanuel wanted was for you to help him cheat on Rahm Emanuel, right?'' “That's right,'' Pecker said. Rahm Emmanual is currently serving as Ambassador to Japan.
Pecker explained how he used a compromising photo of golf star Tiger Woods to try to get him to pose on the cover of another magazine.
The jury's attention seemed to be waning.
Jurors began taking notes during Pecker's testimony about Daniels, whose notoriety skyrocketed during the Trump era.
But the panel of New Yorkers who will try Mr. Trump in the case appears to have little interest in Mr. Pecker's accounting of payments to Mr. McDougal, whose name is not well known.
Marchan did not decide whether Trump violated the gag order.
Prosecutors charged President Trump with four new violations in the past three days. That included during an early morning stop outside the J.P. Morgan building under construction, when Trump warned Pecker and others: “I have a platform and I'm going to use it.” . ”
“Be nice,” he said.
But Marchan has yet to rule on whether Trump violated the order in a case that was previously discussed when prosecutors argued that Trump intentionally repeated violations and “appeared to be aiming” to get him jailed. I haven't put it down yet.
