Former tabloid publisher David Pecker told the jury at the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump on Friday that he paid $150,000 for the rights to a Playboy model's claim of a monthslong affair with the future president so that he could kill the story "to help a presidential candidate" in the 2016 election, specifically his longtime friend Trump.
During more than three hours of cross-examination, Trump defense attorney Emil Bove tried to undercut Pecker's memory of how he helped Trump.
Pecker, the onetime publisher of the National Enquirer, conceded a couple of times that his testimony during four days of questioning this week differed in relatively minor ways from the interviews he had with investigators several years ago. More often than not, however, Pecker rejected Bove's attacks.
But Pecker agreed with Bove's contention that the payment to Karen McDougal, Playboy's 1998 Playmate of the Year, was to some degree more than an effort to keep her quiet about her involvement with Trump to hide the information from voters eight years ago.
American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company, published 65 health-related columns by McDougal that were ghost-written by others and put her on the cover of its lifestyle magazines.
But when Bove was finished questioning Pecker, 72, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass quickly pointed to the agreement American Media signed with federal authorities to avoid prosecution for a campaign finance violation by making the payment to McDougal.
The agreement said the company's "principal purpose" in signing the deal was "to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
Pecker, completing four days of testimony, said that the agreement to carry bylined McDougal pieces in the American Media magazines was "a disguise of the actual purpose. The actual purpose was to acquire her lifetime rights to the story, so it's not published."
'What should I do?'
Pecker on Thursday told the 12-member jury that he believed McDougal’s story of a liaison with Trump, even though the former president has denied it.
Pecker testified that Trump wanted to keep the information from voters ahead of his successful 2016 run for the White House. He also testified that Trump did not say he was looking to hide the news from his wife, Melania Trump, or eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.
"It wasn't, 'What would Melania say, or Ivanka?'" Pecker testified at the first-ever trial of a former U.S. president. "It was basically [about] what the impact would be to the campaign and the election."
At one point, Pecker said Trump asked him, "What should I do?"
Pecker said he told Trump he should “buy the story and take it off the market," but the tabloid ended up doing it for him. Pecker said the tabloid expected to get reimbursed but never was.
Paper routinely buys embarrassing stories, says witness
Under cross-examination from Bove, Pecker testified that the National Enquirer routinely bought embarrassing stories about celebrities like Trump to protect them or leverage the information for interviews with them.
Pecker said the tabloid often simply bought the information and killed it, a practice that came to be known as "catch and kill."
Pecker said he had for years given Trump a heads-up about stories the tabloid had learned about him from his days as a celebrity nightlife figure and real estate mogul in New York.
Pecker testified earlier this week that he has known Trump since the 1980s and still considers him a friend, even as he was testifying as a prosecution witness.
Through his questioning of Pecker on Thursday, Bove appeared to be trying to portray the purchase of McDougal’s story as business as usual at the tabloid, certainly nothing linked to accusations against the 77-year-old Trump.
Trump, now the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee who will run against President Joe Biden in the November election, is accused of falsifying business records to hide another payment - $130,000 to porn film actress Stormy Daniels to also keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 election about her claim of a one-night tryst with Trump a decade earlier.
Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime executive assistant at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate, was the second witness at the trial, telling jurors she once saw Daniels on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, where Trump's office is located.
Graff, a 34-year employee of Trump, verified for prosecutors that McDougal's name and "Stormy" were listed in the company's logs.
After Graff's brief testimony, Trump got up from his seat at the defendant's table as she was leaving the courtroom and greeted her, touching her hand.
Prosecutor questions third witness
As the trial drew to a close for the week, prosecutor Rebecca Mangold began questioning a third witness, Gary Farro, a banker who said he helped Michael Cohen, Trump's one-time lawyer and political fixer, create a bank account to facilitate the hush money payment to Daniels.
Farro said Cohen transferred money from his own assets to make the payment. Prosecutors say Cohen was then reimbursed by Trump in 2017 after he became president, the central transactions at the heart of the accusations against Trump.
Trump has denied McDougal's account and all 34 charges he is facing in the New York case, one of an unprecedented four indictments filed against the 45th U.S. president.
Trump also has denied the other 54 charges he faces, but the New York case is likely the only one to take place before the November 5 presidential election. National polls have shown that some Trump supporters may change their minds about voting for him if he is convicted.
If convicted in the New York trial, Trump could be placed on probation or imprisoned for up to four years.
Pecker said that in a 2016 conversation, Trump described McDougal as "a nice girl," leading Pecker to believe that Trump "knew who she was."
A year later, after Trump had become president, Pecker said Trump asked him "how Karen is doing" as they walked on the White House grounds. Pecker said he responded that she was doing well. "She is quiet," he recalled telling Trump.
