Pecker testifies he bought McDougal story so it did not ‘hurt Trump campaign’
Lauren Aratani
When asked why AMI paid Karen McDougal, David Pecker paused for a few second.
We purchased the story so it wouldn’t be published by any other organization.
When asked to clarify, Pecker said, reiterated:
We didn’t want this story to embarrass Mr Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign” – ‘we’ being ‘myself and Michael Cohen.’
Key events
Sam Levine
In September of 2016, Michael Cohen told David Pecker that Donald Trump wanted to acquire the lifetime rights to Karen McDougal’s story as well as all of the National Enquirer’s files on Trump.
Cohen called Pecker constantly about this, Pecker testified.
Even though Pecker said most of the content was old news files, Cohen said Trump still wanted it. Pecker said of Cohen:
He said the boss said that if I got hit by a bus or if the company was sold, he did not want someone else to potentially publish those stories.
Pecker testifies he bought McDougal story so it did not ‘hurt Trump campaign’
Lauren Aratani
When asked why AMI paid Karen McDougal, David Pecker paused for a few second.
We purchased the story so it wouldn’t be published by any other organization.
When asked to clarify, Pecker said, reiterated:
We didn’t want this story to embarrass Mr Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign” – ‘we’ being ‘myself and Michael Cohen.’
Pecker testifies he bought Karen McDougal story so it did not influence 2016 election
Sam Levine
Asked whether his principal intention in buying Karen McDougal’s story was to suppress it and prevent it from interfering in the election, David Pecker says:
Yes it was.
Lauren Aratani
Now we’re looking at documented evidence of American Media’s payment to Karen McDougal.
Prosecutors showed the invoice McDougal’s attorney sent to American Media and a record of the wire transfer for the $150,000 payment for her story.
Pecker testifies he believed Trump was aware of Karen McDougal contract
Sam Levine
David Pecker testifies that Karen McDougal’s contract with American Media Inc included provisions that she would write fitness columns, among other things, to justify the $150,000 it was paying her.
But the true purpose of the agreement, he testified, was to purchase her story about having an affair for Donald Trump. Pecker wanted to disguise the true purpose of the agreement for campaign finance purposes.
It’s important to note that Pecker has not said Trump or Michael Cohen directed him to do this, but rather it’s something he did on his own.
Pecker says he believes Cohen and Trump were aware of AMI’s agreement with McDougal.
Pecker testifies he negotiated $150,000 payment for Karen McDougal’s ‘life rights’
Lauren Aratani
We’re looking at the agreement American Media gave to Karen McDougal over the payment.
The agreement included language about a monthly column on ageing and fitness McDougal would write for the magazine, along with other work that McDougal would do for American Media.
David Pecker said that the main purpose of the agreement was to buy “life rights” to McDougal’s story on “any romantic, personal and/or physical relationship McDougal has ever had with any then-married man” – as the agreement reads – but the agreement included details about work McDougal would do for American Media to “substantiate the $150,000 payment”.
Prosecutors are emphasizing that Pecker and American Media appeared nervous about facilitating the hush-money payment and wanted to validate the payment by saying that the company was paying McDougal for work, not just for her story.
Sam Levine
David Pecker just recounted how he agreed to buy negative stories about Arnold Schwarzenegger in the early 2000s when Schwarzenegger was running for California governor.
The experience made him sensitive of campaign finance issues around buying stories for a candidate for office.
So when they negotiated the Karen McDougal contract, Pecker said, they wanted to make sure they met all of the obligations from a campaign finance perspective.
Martin Pengelly
David Pecker also described earlier this week a meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015 at which he, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen discussed how the National Enquirer could publish negative stories about opponents while quashing stories about Trump himself.
Again, prosecutors wanted to show Trump had been dealing with Pecker specifically to influence an election.
The relationship continued with Trump in power. In 2017, the New Yorker magazine described how Pecker rejected suggestions that the Enquirer cover a notable slap of Trump’s hand by his wife, Melania, on an overseas visit. Things unravelled when Stormy Daniels went public the following year.
It all means one Enquirer story from 2016, used by prosecutors this week, has acquired an irony all of its own. “Ted Cruz Shamed by Porn Star,” the headline read, above a picture of a woman wearing a bikini.
The actual story was about the Texas senator having to pull an ad when an actor had turned out to work in adult films. The headline and picture led readers to other conclusions.
Such is the world of the gutter press, from which Pecker came, to help Trump pull America into a gutter all of his own.
Who is David Pecker and why is he a key witness?
Martin Pengelly
As the longtime chief executive of American Media Inc, David Pecker developed a symbiotic relationship between Donald Trump and the National Enquirer, an AMI tabloid specialising in salacious scandal.
Pecker is a key witness (with a non-prosecution deal) because when Trump ran for president in 2016, Pecker helped Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, orchestrate payoffs to Daniels, Karen McDougal (a former Playboy model who also claimed an affair) and a Trump Tower doorman trying to sell a story about a supposed illegitimate child. On Tuesday, Pecker, 72, told the court:
I’ve had a great relationship with Mr Trump over the years, starting in 89 – I had an idea of creating a magazine called Trump Style and I presented it to Mr Trump and he liked that idea a lot. He just questioned me: who is going to pay for it?
Despite Trump’s famous enthusiasm for obtaining other people’s money – and equally famous ability to lose his own – Pecker described Trump as “very knowledgable … very detail-oriented … almost a micromanager”.
The prosecution was attempting to show jurors a picture of Trump intimately involved not only with models and adult film stars but in deals to keep them quiet.
Lauren Aratani
David Pecker is emphasizing that he expected to be reimbursed for the $150,000 payment he made to Karen McDougal.
He recalled a call he had with Michael Cohen where he asked him:
Why would I pay? I just paid $30,000 for the doorman story. Now you’re asking me to pay $150,000 for the Karen story and all these additional items that she wants to do. I don’t have a problem doing anything else you request … that’s not an issue. $150,000 – who is going to reimburse me for this?
Pecker said Cohen reiterated:
I’m your friend, the boss will take care of it.
Sam Levine
Once Dylan Howard had negotiated the price with Karen Mcdougal, David Pecker asked Michael Cohen again who was going to pay the $150,000.
Cohen again said, “I’m your friend, don’t worry about it, the boss will take care of it,” Pecker testified.
Prosecutors are establishing that this was done with Trump’s approval, not just Cohen acting alone.
Lauren Aratani
Prosecutors had David Pecker emphasize that Michael Cohen didn’t seem to have the direct authorization to reimburse for any payment to Karen McDougal.
They seem to want to emphasize to jurors that Trump, not Cohen, was ultimately behind the payment. Pecker says:
Every time we went out for lunch, I always paid. I didn’t think (Cohen) had any authorization… without Mr. Trump’s approval.
Pecker testifies Cohen said ‘the boss will take care’ of McDougal story payment
Sam Levine
David Pecker says that he advised Trump to buy the Karen McDougal story because:
I believed the story was true. It would have been very embarrassing to himself and also to his campaign.
After he spoke with Trump, Pecker said Michael Cohen followed up and advised him to go ahead with purchasing the story. When Pecker asked who would pay for it,
He said to me, don’t worry, I’m your friend. The boss will take care of it.
Pecker took that to mean he would be reimbursed by Trump or the Trump Organization.
Donald Trump is sitting expressionless as Pecker testifies.
Lauren Aratani
David Pecker says that he, Michael Cohen and Dylan Howard discussed buying Karen McDougal’s story, discussing other potential offers she said she was getting.
One was from ABC, “they were offering her a slot on Dancing with the Stars”, and the other was from a “Mexican group” that was reportedly offering a large sum (over a million) for the story. Pecker says he didn’t believe that this Mexican group existed.
Pecker had a call with Donald Trump in June 2016 where Trump said he spoke to Cohen about McDougal.
Trump said “Karen is a nice girl” and asked Pecker whether he believed the Mexican group existed, but Pecker told Trump “I think you should buy the story and take it off the market.”
