Pecker Testifies in Trump Hush Money Case, Recalls Interactions with Trump and Cohen
David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer and a close associate of Donald Trump, returned to the witness stand on Tuesday in Trump’s hush money case. Pecker, who was the only witness on Monday, resumed his testimony just before midday following a morning hearing on the former president’s alleged gag order violations.
Pecker, who has had numerous personal interactions with Trump over the years, testified that he also worked closely with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Describing an August 2015 meeting with Trump, Cohen, and then-Trump aide Hope Hicks at Trump Tower, Pecker explained how he could be an asset to Trump. He said that he could “publish positive stories about Mr. Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponents, and I said I would also be the eyes and ears.” If he heard “anything negative” about Trump, or instances of “women selling stories,” Pecker said he “would notify Michael Cohen.”
From there, Pecker said stories could be purchased and “killed,” meaning they would go unpublished. “Prior to that August 2015 meeting, had you ever purchased a story in order to not print it, about Mr. Trump?” Steinglass, the prosecutor, asked.
“Uh, no,” Pecker said.
Pecker also testified that amid the height of Trump’s success with “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice,” the tabloid ran a reader poll asking if Trump should run for president. Though reader polls are unscientific, the results nevertheless strongly favored a Trump presidential run — so much so that Trump cited it during a subsequent “Today Show” interview about his aspirations for running for president.
Pecker also testified that he met Trump in the 1980s at Mar-a-Lago while there as a guest of a client. Prosecutors in Trump’s hush money case asked Pecker to point to Trump in court and to describe an item of his clothing, a standard part of criminal trials. As he acknowledged Trump and his “dark blue suit,” the former president grinned widely at his longtime friend.
When he bought the National Enquirer in 1985, Pecker said one of the first calls he received was from Trump, who said, “You bought a great magazine.” Pecker testified that his relationship with Trump grew with the success of Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice.” He said Trump would share content with him from the show that he could publish in his magazines free of charge.
“Our relationship started to grow even further” when Trump launched a celebrity version of “The Apprentice,” he said, citing widespread interest in the show and the notable names whom Trump eliminated each week using his catchphrase: “You’re fired!”
While Pecker had many personal interactions with Trump over the years, he said that once Trump hired Michael Cohen, he was told to go through the then-attorney. “If there was any rumors in the marketplace about Mr. Trump and his family, or any negative stories that were coming out, or anything that I heard overall, that I would go through — I would call Michael Cohen directly,” Pecker explained.
Prosecutors say Pecker worked with Trump and Cohen, on a “catch-and-kill” strategy to buy up and then spike negative stories. At the heart of the case are allegations that Trump orchestrated a scheme to bury unflattering stories about his personal life that might torpedo his campaign. Prosecutors and defense attorneys in opening statements Monday painted competing portraits of the former president — one depicting him as someone who sought to corrupt the 2016 presidential election for his own benefit and another describing him as an innocent, everyday man who was being subjected to a case the government “should never have brought.”
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments in internal business documents. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
In a short break Tuesday, Trump slammed the judge in the case over the gag order he is currently under. “HIGHLY CONFLICTED, TO PUT IT MILDLY, JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN, HAS TAKEN AWAY MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH,” Trump wrote on his social media site during a brief court break. “EVERYBODY IS ALLOWED TO TALK AND LIE ABOUT ME, BUT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF. THIS IS A KANGAROO COURT.”
Judge Merchan is currently weighing a decision on whether to find Trump in contempt of court and/or to fine him for what prosecutors say is a violation of a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about witnesses in the case. Prosecutors have sought at least $3,000 in fines over almost a dozen online posts that Trump made in recent weeks, including three Truth Social posts. Merchan said Tuesday he would not make an immediate decision.
