Donald Trump offered to take a DNA test to refute a false story that he had fathered a “love child” with a Trump Tower maid, his successful hush money trial heard.
Former National Enquirer editor David Pecker, who learned of the false story, said it would have been the magazine’s biggest story “since the death of Elvis Presley” if it had been true.
Pecker, the first witness in the case, told how his magazine bought the story from a Trump Tower doorman for $30,000 as part of a plan to stop the publication of damaging allegations about Trump.
Trump repeatedly shook his head and laughed as details of the story, which Pecker said turned out to be “1,000 percent false,” were presented in court.
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in New York
David Pecker is questioned by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass during the criminal trial of former US President Donald Trump accused of falsifying business records to hide money paid to hush porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, at Manhattan State Court in New York City. York, USA, April 23, 2024. in this courtroom sketch
Karen McDougal at the Playboy Golf Finals Party. Playboy Mansion, Los Angeles, 2007
The court also heard how the tabloid alerted Trump to allegations of an affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal.
In extensive testimony, Pecker detailed how he had committed to “detecting and eliminating” bad stories about Trump in the 2016 election campaign.
The tabloid boss told the court he had been Trump’s “eyes and ears” looking for claims from women that could harm his friend, whom he called the “most eligible bachelor.”
After forging a deal with Trump, he also published negative stories about his rivals and opponents, including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton.
Pecker is the first witness in Trump’s historic trial in Manhattan, where he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Those records relate to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about allegations of an alleged affair.
Trump, the first former president to face a criminal trial, shuffled papers and watched Pecker intently as he testified a few feet away.
Pecker described to the jury of five women and seven men a key meeting in August 2015 at Trump Tower.
It also included Trump’s “fixer,” Michael Cohen, and another aide, Hope Hicks, who was “in and out” of the meeting.
Porn star Stormy Daniels received a $130,000 payment from Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump watches as David Pecker testifies at his trial
Natalie Harp is among Trump’s communications aides who have attended the trial.
The editor, who had already been friends with Trump for decades, said he was asked what he could do for the campaign.
Pecker said he volunteered to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents.
She then told Trump, “I’ll be your eyes and ears,” detecting “anything I hear in the market, anything negative about you or about women selling stories.”
It was agreed that he would notify Cohen so that the rights to the stories could be purchased and “they would not be published.”
Pecker said: ‘We used checkbook journalism and paid for stories.
“When someone is running for public office like this, it’s very common for these women to call a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories.”
Prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked Pecker about the deal with former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sadujin.
In late 2015, Pecker said Howard had received a tip about a story.
He said: “Dino was on the market, peddling the story that Donald Trump fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid in Trump Tor and the maid worked in his attic.”
At this, Trump repeatedly shook his head.
Donald Trump with former Playboy model and actress Karen McDougal
Former Enquirer national editor David Pecker
Pecker said he immediately called Cohen and gave him the names of the doorman and housekeeper.
Cohen told him the story was “absolutely false.”
Sajudin then signed a deal for them to have exclusive rights to the story.
Pecker said Cohen thanked him and said “the boss will be very pleased.” The boss would be Donald Trump.”
According to Pecker, Cohen said that “Mr. Trump would take a DNA test, he is German-Irish and this woman is Hispanic and it is absolutely impossible.”
Pecker said, “I told Michael Cohen it won’t be necessary, we’ll look at the history.”
The National Enquirer hired a private investigator and established that “it was absolutely 1,000% false.”
But Pecker said they paid for it because if it “went out to another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing for the campaign.”
He said: ‘I bought the story. If the story were true and he published it, it would probably be the biggest sale in the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley.
Trump laughed after the Elvis mention.
Pecker said that if the story had been true, he would have waited until after the 2016 election to publish it.
Protesters at Donald Trump’s trial
Pecker also detailed the case of Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, who he learned had offers from media outlets to buy her story about an affair with Trump.
The National Enquirer interviewed McDougal, and Pecker kept Cohen informed.
Cohen suggested they talk through the encrypted Signal app instead of a landline.
Pecker also received a call from Trump and told the presidential candidate that he should buy the story, but Trump said, “I don’t buy any stories.”
The tabloid’s editor said Cohen began to become “very agitated” as if he was “under a lot of pressure” to get details of the Enquirer’s interview with McDougal.
Pecker said: ‘He kept calling and seemed increasingly anxious. I assumed that he had a conversation with Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump was asking Michael Cohen if we heard anything.
Pecker said he told Cohen to “relax.”
He also recounted telling National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard that the agreement, which was not in writing, was “highly confidential.”
Michael Cohen, who will be the star witness in the case
‘I told whatever story there is about Donald Trump, his family, the election, whatever. I want you to look at the stories,” Pecker said. ‘I want you to bring them to me. We’ll have to talk to Michael Cohen. You’ll call him or I’ll call him and we’ll tell him what the stories are.’
Pecker said Cohen would call him and say “we’d like you to publish a negative article” about a rival.
He told the court: ‘Let’s say it’s Ted Cruz. He would send me information about Ted Cruz or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio, and that was the basis of our story. From there we will embellish it.”
The prosecutor asked Pecker who he thought Cohen meant by “we.”
He said: I assumed you were talking to Mr. Trump.
Donald Trump and his lawyer Todd Blanche leave the court
The court was shown headlines from the National Enquirer that included “Clumsy surgeon Ben Carson left sponge in patient’s brain” and “Ted Cruz embarrassed by porn star” and “Pervert Ted Cruz caught cheating.”
Another headline was: “Donald Trump criticizes Ted Cruz’s father over photo with assassin JFK.”
Pecker confirmed that Carson and Cruz had been rising in the polls when the stories were published.
He said: ‘After the Republican debates, and based on some of the success that some of the candidates had, I would get a call from Michael Cohen and he would tell me which candidate and which direction we should go. That’s the process.
‘We also sent him PDFs of the story before it was published so he could see the direction we were going.
‘He commented on them. We would add content based on the information Michael Cohen had.
Judge Juan Merchán presides over the trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York.
Pecker, 72, told jurors that he has known Trump since the 1980s and once worked with him at a magazine called ‘Trump Style.’
He said Trump was a fixture on the covers of the National Enquirer, and a poll found that 80 percent of the magazine’s readers said they would support him if he ran for president.
He described Trump’s approach to money as “very cautious and very frugal” and called him a “micromanager” in business.
Prosecutors showed an email from Cohen inviting Pecker to Trump’s 2015 campaign launch.
“No one deserves to be there more than you,” Cohen wrote.