Former tabloid publisher David Pecker is back on the witness stand for a fourth day Friday at Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial, set to answer more questions about how he came to pay $150,000 for the rights to a Playboy model’s claim of a monthslong affair with the future president.
Pecker on Thursday told the 12-member jury that he believed Karen McDougal’s story of a liaison with Trump even though he has denied it.
Pecker testified that Trump wanted to keep the information from voters ahead of his successful 2016 run for the White House, and that Trump did not say he was looking to hide the news from his wife, Melania Trump, or eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.
“It wasn’t ‘What would Melania say, or Ivanka?’” Pecker testified at the first-ever trial of a former U.S. president. “It was basically [about] what the impact would be to the campaign and the election.”
At one point, Pecker said Trump asked him, “What should I do?”
Pecker said he told Trump he should “buy the story and take it off the market,” but the tabloid ended up doing it for him. Pecker said the tabloid expected to get reimbursed but never was.
Under cross-examination from Trump defense lawyer Emil Bove, Pecker testified that his grocery store newspaper, The National Enquirer, routinely bought embarrassing stories about celebrities like Trump to protect them or leverage the information for interviews with them.
Pecker said the tabloid often simply bought the information and killed it, a practice that came to be known as “catch and kill.”
Pecker said he had for years given Trump a heads-up about stories the tabloid had learned about him from his days as a celebrity nightlife figure and real estate mogul in New York.
Pecker testified earlier this week that he has known Trump since the 1980s and still considers him a friend, even as he was testifying as a prosecution witness.
Through his questioning of Pecker on Thursday, Trump lawyer Bove appears to be trying to portray the purchase of McDougal’s story as business as usual at the tabloid, certainly nothing linked to accusations against the 77-year-old Trump.
Trump, now the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate against President Joe Biden in the November election, is accused of falsifying business records to hide another payment, $130,000 in hush money to porn film actress Stormy Daniels to also keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 election about her claim of a one-night tryst with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump has also denied her account and all 34 charges he is facing in the New York case, one of an unprecedented four indictments filed against the 45th U.S. president.
Trump has denied all 88 charges he is facing, but the New York case is likely the only one to be underway before the November 5 election. National polls have shown that some Trump supporters may change their minds about voting for him if he is convicted.
If convicted, Trump could be placed on probation or imprisoned for up to four years.
Pecker said that in a 2016 conversation, Trump described McDougal as “a nice girl,” leading Pecker to believe that Trump “knew who she was.”
A year later, after Trump had become president, Pecker said Trump asked him “how Karen is doing” as they walked on the White House grounds. Pecker said he responded that she was doing well. “She is quiet,” he recalled telling Trump.
