David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial about the “catch and kill” deals between the former president and the tabloid, which detailed the arrangements involving Trump's former doorman and a ex-Playboy model were involved.
Pecker's testimony comes a day after prosecutors alleged that Trump greenlighted the catch-and-kill schemes in which the National Enquirer would buy exclusive rights to someone's allegedly damaging information about Trump to prevent it from being accessed by anyone else released and then would not publish the information. story itself. The former tabloid chief said he and Trump's legal team were working together agreed to the plans at a meeting in August 2015, which prosecutors say constitutes a criminal conspiracy.
The first of those incidents involved Trump's former doorman, Dino Sajudin, who spread a story about Trump fathering a child with a Trump Tower maid in the 1980s, Pecker told jurors. Pecker said he contacted Trump's then-attorney, Michael Cohen, who told him the story was “absolutely untrue” but asked him to look into it anyway.
Pecker eventually agreed to buy the rights to the doorman's story for $30,000. He said Cohen then told him, “The boss will be very pleased,” referring to Trump, who had announced his presidential campaign in June 2015. Prosecutors then showed jurors a copy of the November 2015 agreement.
If the story were true, Pecker testified, “it would probably be the National Enquirer's biggest sale since the death of Elvis Presley.” However, Pecker said that, according to a conversation he had with Cohen, the National Enquirer would have waited until after the 2016 election to publish anything if the story could be verified, but he told the jury it turned out to be untrue.
Pecker also testified Tuesday that he heard former Playboy model Karen McDougal was shopping a story about an alleged romantic affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007, while Trump was married to Melania. Pecker said Cohen told him the story was a fabrication, but that he should look into it anyway. He said Cohen then asked if they could move their call from a landline to the encrypted app Signal.
After a National Enquirer editor interviewed McDougal, Pecker said, Trump called him to talk about it. Pecker said he suggested that Trump himself buy exclusive rights to her story, but Trump declined. Pecker added that Cohen “kept calling me” to ask about the McDougal interview and that he was “very excited. It seemed like he was putting a lot of pressure to get the answer right away.
American Media Inc., the parent company of National Enquirer, confirmed rather that it paid McDougal $150,000 for the story specifically to help protect Trump's 2016 campaign. Prosecutors alleged that Trump and Cohen planned to set up a shell company to reimburse AMI, but that fell through. according to Forbes.
The court ended Tuesday with just over two hours of testimony from Pecker. The trial will resume on Thursday morning.
Sara Boboltz contributed reporting.
