Melania Trump’s former spokesperson said Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders would reach out to her to see how the first lady was “dealing” with rumors of the Karen McDougal affair, but she did not share details of an “agreement” with the National Enquirer. .
The revelation came as former National Enquirer CEO David Pecker testified in the Donald Trump case about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Pecker was speaking of a joint call with Hicks, who served as White House communications director, and Sanders, who was White House press secretary at the time and now governor of Arkansas, about a “catch and kill” contract. ” awarded to McDougal. .
Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for the former first lady, with Melania Trump
Stephanie Grisham, who served as Melania’s communications director and chief of staff, said the duo of taxpayer-funded White House aides never mentioned any monetary payments to her.
“Funny thing, they kept calling me a lot to see how MT was reacting to all the Clifford/McDougal news, but they didn’t bother to share this information with me,” Grisham wrote on X.
Melania Trump was reportedly shocked when reports emerged about her husband’s alleged affairs. He has denied them and called the trial against her a “witch hunt.”
Pecker testified that he had spoken with Hicks and Sanders, two of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers in the White House, about whether McDougal’s “catch and kill” contact should be extended.
“They both said they thought it was a good idea,” Pecker said.
However, the company did not extend the contract, as they settled a lawsuit McDougal filed against them to regain his lifetime rights.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, the National Enquirer paid tens of thousands of dollars for stories about Trump to keep them out of the public eye.
McDougal received $150,000 for her accusation of having an affair with Trump, which Trump denies. The Enquirer never published the story in a practice known as “catch and kill.”
Pecker is testifying as Trump faces 34 felony challenges over a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, made during the 2016 campaign, to keep her quiet about her allegation of an affair.
When it came to Daniels’ claims, Pecker said he stood his ground.
“I’m not going to pay for this story,” he told jurors Thursday.
Pecker already had $180,000 missing on other Trump-related stories when Daniels arrived.
Former US President Donald Trump watches as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass questions David Pecker during Trump’s criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records to hide money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (left) with then-President Donald Trump and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (right) in the Oval Office in January 2018.
Former President Donald Trump sits between his lawyers Emil Bove (left) and Todd Blanche.
Trump seen with former Playboy model Karen McDougal
Pecker also testified that Trump invited him to a White House dinner in July 2017 to thank him for helping the campaign.
Pecker brought with him his then-publisher Dylan Howard and other business partners. They posed for photos with Trump in the Oval Office. Pecker said they were joined at the dinner by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and press adviser Sean Spicer.
At one point in the evening, Pecker said Trump asked him for an update on Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate turned model.
‘How is Karen?’ she recalled Trump saying as they passed through the rose garden from the Oval Office to the dining room.
“I said she’s fine, she’s calm, everything’s fine,” Pecker testified.
But months later, in March 2018, the president became enraged when McDougal gave an interview to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Pecker testified.
“I thought we had an agreement with Karen McDougal that she can’t give interviews or appear on any television stations,” Trump told Pecker over the phone, the former National Enquirer editor said.
He said he explained to the then-president that the agreement had been changed to allow her to speak to the press after a November 2016 Wall Street Journal article about the tabloid’s $150,000 payment to McDougal.
‘Mister. “Trump got very angry when he heard that he had changed it and he couldn’t understand why,” Pecker told jurors.
Trump was generally furious about the leak to the Journal and accused Pecker of being behind it.
‘How could this happen? I thought you had this under control,” Pecker says Trump asked him.
“Either you or one of your people leaked this story.”