The former National Enquirer editor described in court Thursday how Donald Trump called him furious when details of a secret deal with Playboy model Karen McDougal became public just four days before the 2016 election.
David Pecker’s testimony revealed how an “agitated” Trump, already facing questions about his treatment of women because of the “Access Hollywood” tape, accused his company of leaking the information to the Wall Street Journal.
‘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.”
Pecker, 72, is a key witness in the case against the former president.
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.
Former President Donald Trump sits between his lawyers Emil Bove (left) and Todd Blanche.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from revealing an affair she claimed she had with Trump in 2006.
Pecker described Tuesday how he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower.
He said the National Enquirer’s network of sources would seek out negative stories about the candidate, allowing it to buy them in what prosecutors said was a “catch and kill” scheme.
On Thursday he described conversations with Trump fixer Michael Cohen and a plan to buy McDougal’s story about another alleged affair.
On November 4, 2016, The Journal reported that Pecker’s company, American Media, paid McDougal $150,000 but had not published his account.
The report cited “documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the matter” in the article that was published four days before Election Day.
At the time, Pecker denied that his company was removing negative stories about Trump. In court he admitted that the statement was false.
“I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I also wanted to protect Donald Trump,” he said.
Trump listened intently as Pecker described how McDougal wanted $150,000, plus writing jobs and other business opportunities, for her claims of an affair. He sometimes passed notes to the lawyers sitting next to him.
Trump seen with former Playboy model Karen McDougal
Trump addressed a television camera in the hallway before entering room 1530.
Pecker said Cohen had initially asked him to bear the costs.
“I said, ‘Michael, why should I pay?’ “I just paid $30,000 for the janitor story,” he said, referring to another deal to silence a janitor who claimed Trump had fathered an illegitimate child (a story that turned out not to be true).
“Now you’re asking me to pay $150,000 for Karen’s story, plus all those other extras she wants to do.”
Pecker said Cohen told him, “Don’t worry about it.” I am your friend. The boss will take care of it.
He said he signed an agreement with Cohen to give the rights to the story to a shell company, which would cover his tracks.
But he later said he canceled the deal after speaking with a company lawyer.
“I’m not going to go ahead with it, it’s a bad idea and I want you to break the agreement,” he told Cohen.
“He was very angry, very upset, basically yelling at me.”
He added that Cohen told him: ‘The boss is going to be very angry with you.’
When the details emerged in the media, Cohen messaged him to tell him to expect a call from Trump.
Pecker testified that he had been friends with Trump for decades and had helped eradicate negative stories during the 2016 election after a key meeting at Trump Tower.
Trump leaves the courtroom during a break in the proceedings on Thursday
During the testy Saturday call before the election, Pecker denied being the source.
“There’s no way we’re giving this information to the Wall Street Journal,” he said.
The call ended abruptly.
“He didn’t say goodbye, which is very unusual,” Pecker said.
The exchange creates a sense of panic within Trump World, with details of the deal appearing in newspapers just as voters were due to go to the polls.
Thursday began with prosecutors charging Trump with several more violations of a gag order, designed to protect witnesses.
The judge was already considering whether to hold Trump in contempt and fine him for what prosecutors say are 10 counts of failing to comply with the order. On Thursday morning they added four more charges, including comments he made about Cohen and that the jury was “95 percent Democrats.”
Merchan has yet to make his decision.
There was also debate over whether text messages between National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and a family member could be used in court.
“At least if he wins, I will be pardoned for election fraud,” Howard said in one of the messages sent during Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The messages were read aloud by a prosecutor.
In another message, Howard said Trump “just got named president-elect.”
“My God,” was the response, causing laughter in the gallery.
The defense said the messages were “hearsay” and the judge decided to keep them out of the trial for now.
Before heading to Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday morning, Donald Trump stopped to greet hundreds of union workers and sign MAGA hats.
Workers at the site gathered outside while others stood on the scaffolding to take a look.
Trump’s lawyers asked last week that they could skip Thursday’s hearing so the former president could attend a Supreme Court hearing where another legal team argued he was entitled to immunity for acts committed in office.
“I think the Supreme Court has a very important argument before it today,” he told reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom. “I would have loved to be there.”
Trump began his day with an early morning visit to a construction site in Manhattan, where he was greeted with chants of “USA, USA.”
He signed caps of his followers and harshly criticized the judicial procedure.
“This is all election interference,” Trump told the crowd about his multiple legal battles before attacking President Joe Biden.
‘We are winning by a lot. He is the worst president in the history of our country. He makes Jimmy Carter look cool.