The former tabloid publisher David Pecker will continue testimony at Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial on Thursday, following his testimony earlier in the week.
Pecker, the former chief executive of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer, testified that he used his position to help Trump kill negative stories that threatened his campaign.
After Trump announced his run for presidency, he invited Pecker and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, to a meeting at Trump Tower, Pecker said. Trump said he was looking for a media insider who could help suppress negative stories – a tactic prosecutors call “catch-and-kill”.
“They asked me what can I do – and what magazines could do – to help the campaign,” Pecker said, adding that he said he would be the “eyes and ears” for the campaign.
Prosecutors allege Pecker ultimately connected Trump to the adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, before the election. Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, allegedly covering up a $130,000 payment in 2016 to Daniels over a 2006 affair.
Along with Daniels, prosecutors allege American Media paid off two others who had salacious stories about Trump: a doorman who said Trump had a child out of wedlock, and a former Playboy model who said she had an extramarital affair with Trump.
Pecker confirmed that American Media paid the doorman, Dino Sajudin, $30,000 for his story, essentially quashing it by not making it public.
Before Pecker’s testimony ended for the day on Tuesday, prosecutors had begun to ask him about Karen McDougal, the Playboy model prosecutors say was paid $150,000 by American Media for her story about an affair with Trump. Though the trial ended for the day before Pecker could talk about the payment, Pecker said Cohen appeared to be under a “lot of pressure” to get answers on McDougal as the National Enquirer investigated her story.
Also on Tuesday – the trial was off on Wednesday – Juan Merchan, the judge, held a hearing on Trump’s alleged violation on his gag order, barring him from speaking publicly about prosecutors, witnesses, the jury, court staff and their relatives.
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Prosecutors say Trump violated the gag order 11 times, posting on social media attacking Cohen and Daniels. Trump’s lawyers argue that Trump did not violate the gag order and was responding to “political attacks”. Prosecutors said Merchan should hold Trump contempt of court and fine him $1,000 for each violation. Merchan has yet to rule on the alleged violations.
Pecker is the first witness to testify in the trial, which is in its seventh day and is expected to last six weeks.