Former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker has taken the stand as the prosecution’s initial witness in the trial involving former President Trump.
Prosecutors contend that Pecker aided Trump in numerous ‘catch and kill’ schemes, acquiring rights to potentially damaging stories and refraining from publishing them. At the core of this case, Trump faces accusations of falsifying business records pertaining to the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election, allegedly intended to silence her claims of a past sexual encounter with Trump. (Trump denies any wrongdoing.)
Pecker, a former CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), parent company of the National Enquirer tabloid, has been a long-time associate of Trump. According to a 2018 non-prosecution agreement between AMI and the U.S. Department of Justice, Pecker met with Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen prior to the 2016 election, discussing the suppression of unfavorable stories about Trump by purchasing their rights and refraining from their publication.
Prosecutors anticipate arguing that Pecker played a pivotal role in the purported scheme to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels when she threatened to disclose an affair with Trump before the 2016 election. According to the New York Times, Pecker informed Trump that Daniels intended to sell her story about their alleged sexual encounter (which Trump denies), prompting Cohen to offer Daniels a $130,000 payment.
Prosecutors will posit that Pecker assisted Trump in multiple ‘catch and kill’ schemes, where the National Enquirer acquired rights to stories but never published them. As explained by Joel Kaplan, a professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, ‘By paying for it, and essentially having them sign a non-disclosure agreement or a contract, they were able to kill stories.’
One such instance involved Pecker and Dylan Howard, former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, collaborating with the Trump campaign to pay model and actress Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story alleging a relationship with Trump, as indicated in a Federal Elections Commission filing with AMI. A 2018 non-prosecution agreement revealed that AMI acknowledged the McDougal payment exceeded the company’s typical expenditures for stories because Trump’s lawyer Cohen had assured Pecker that AMI would be compensated for it. Trump brokered the McDougal deal with Pecker, although he has denied directing Cohen to violate the law.
In this case, Trump faces charges of falsifying business records related to the Stormy Daniels payment, intending to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Kaplan emphasizes that Pecker’s testimony is crucial for the prosecution to demonstrate that critical information was withheld from the public. ‘By entering into this catch and kill agreement, he was able to prevent the publication not just by the National Enquirer, but by anyone, of information that could have been important to the American people before they voted.’ Kaplan concludes, ‘That’s the theory of the case.’
