Trump trial: Defense attorneys begin cross-examination of David Pecker

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.

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.

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.

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.