Donald Trump sits in court during the second day of his hush money trial on April 23.Curtis Means/The Associated Press
At a Trump Tower meeting in August, 2015, David Pecker agreed to make his supermarket tabloid business the “eyes and ears” of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign by buying up scandalous stories about the real estate mogul and suppressing them, Mr. Pecker testified Tuesday at Mr. Trump’s criminal hush-money trial.
This meeting, which also included Mr. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen, kicked off what prosecutors allege was a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election, leading to violations of campaign-finance laws and falsified business records.
Earlier in the day, Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case, admonished Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, telling him that he was “losing all credibility” during a testy exchange over whether the former president should be held in contempt of court for bashing witnesses and prospective jurors online. The judge said he would rule on the matter later.
It was a second day of testimony for Mr. Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer. He told the state court he and Mr. Trump had been friends since 1989. Over the years, Mr. Trump gave him scoops about which contestants he planned to fire next on his reality television show, The Apprentice.
In June, 2015, Mr. Pecker attended Mr. Trump’s campaign announcement at Mr. Cohen’s invitation. Two months later, he said, Mr. Cohen summoned him to the meeting at Trump Tower. “They asked me what can I do and what my magazines could do to help the campaign,” Mr. Pecker recounted. “I said, I will be your eyes and ears.”
The plan, he said, was to look for “women selling stories” about Mr. Trump, buy the exclusive rights to them and ensure they were not published until “after the election,” or never, a practice known as catch and kill. The charges against Mr. Trump relate to a payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who says Mr. Trump cheated on his wife with her in 2006, but prosecutors are questioning Mr. Pecker about other payoffs in a bid to establish that it was all part of a larger plan to influence the election.
The first such story, Mr. Pecker said, was that of Dino Sajudin, a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed Mr. Trump had impregnated a housekeeper. Mr. Pecker said the Enquirer investigated the claim and found it “1,000-per-cent false,” but Mr. Cohen insisted it be bought. “If the story got out through another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign,” Mr. Pecker said.
His company, American Media Inc., paid Mr. Sajudin US$30,000, many times the US$250 to US$5,000 it usually shelled out for celebrity gossip, Mr. Pecker said. Mr. Sajudin’s contract with AMI, displayed in court, included a US$1,000,000 penalty for him if he told his story to other media. Mr. Pecker said the penalty was Mr. Cohen’s idea. Mr. Cohen “said that the boss” – Mr. Trump – “was very pleased,” Mr. Pecker said.
Mr. Cohen also vetted Enquirer stories disparaging Mr. Trump’s political opponents, Mr. Pecker said. One claimed that Senator Ted Cruz, one of Mr. Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination, had “five secret mistresses.” Another said neurosurgeon Ben Carson, another contender, once “left a sponge in a patient’s brain.”
The next catch-and-kill story came from Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate who contacted the National Enquirer through her lawyer, Keith Davidson. As the paper’s then-editor, Dylan Howard, flew to Los Angeles to interview her, Mr. Pecker said, Mr. Cohen was anxious for updates. “I had multiple calls every single day,” Mr. Pecker recalled. “Michael was very agitated. It looked like he was getting a lot of pressure.”
After the interview, Mr. Pecker said, Mr. Trump called to ask how it went. Mr. Pecker said he told Mr. Trump to “take this story off the market” by buying it. “Any time you do anything like this, it always gets out,” Mr. Pecker said Mr. Trump told him. Mr. Pecker’s testimony is expected to resume on Thursday.
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On Tuesday morning, Justice Merchan reserved his ruling on a prosecution motion asking that Mr. Trump be held in contempt for repeatedly attacking witnesses and prospective jurors on social media and his campaign website.
In one post, Mr. Trump referred to Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels, both expected to be key prosecution witnesses, as “two sleazebags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly.” In another, Mr. Trump complained about last week’s jury selection. “They are currently catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,” he wrote.
Picking a group of 12 jurors and six alternates was complicated by fears for jurors’ safety. One juror dropped out after saying she was getting pressure from friends and family who figured out she was involved in the case. Other potential jurors expressed anxiety and broke down crying in court.
Prosecutors asked that Justice Merchan fine Mr. Trump US$1,000 for each of 10 posts they said violated a gag order prohibiting him from intimidating witnesses, jurors, court staff and the judge’s family.
Mr. Blanche countered that Mr. Trump is “being very careful to comply with your honour’s rules.” Justice Merchan cut him off. “You’re losing all credibility, I have to tell you right now. You’re losing all credibility with the court,” the judge said.
The defence lawyer argued that Mr. Trump was responding to political attacks from Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels. Justice Merchan repeatedly interrupted to ask for an example of an attack or relevant case law, which Mr. Blanche did not provide. “I keep asking you over and over again for a specific example and I’m not getting an answer,” the judge fumed.
Mr. Blanche complained that prosecutors “get to speak as long as they want to” and pressed the judge on what he wanted. “I’m asking the questions, okay?” Justice Merchan fired back. “I’m going to determine whether your client is in contempt or not, so please don’t turn it around.”