On his 3rd day of testimony, #Pecker, the fmr #NationalEnquirer publisher, described his involvement in the #CatchAndKill of the stories of 2 women who claimed to have had sex w/ #Trump: #KarenMcDougal, a Playboy model, & #StormyDaniels, the porn star whose 2016 #HushMoney payoff forms the basis of the #criminal case.

#law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#Trump is charged w/falsifying 34 business records to cover up a $130k payment to #StormyDaniels, who has said they had a sexual encounter in 2006 & was shopping that story in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump denies the charges & ever having had sex w/ either woman.

He could face probation or prison if convicted.

#law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#Pecker testified that as part of the #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #AMI paid #KarenMcDougal $150k for her story, w/no intention of ever publishing it.

Pecker expected repayment from #Trump. He asked #MichaelCohen who would handle it, & Cohen responded, “The boss will take care of it.”

Because Pecker had such a hard time getting Trump to pay, he was unwilling to buy the 3rd story: #StormyDaniels’s.

“I am not a bank,” Pecker recalled saying.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#Pecker suggested that #MichaelCohen buy #StormyDaniels's story, leading to the #HushMoney deal, repayments & records at issue.

The prosecution’s discussion of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal —brokered in summer 2016— demonstrated that the payment was part of a #conspiracy to #influence that year’s #election.

Pecker said that McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating #CampaignFinance #laws.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference #CatchAndKill

“I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself & I wanted also to protect Donald Trump,” #Pecker said.

Pecker was asked whether he believed #Trump was concerned that his wife or family would find out. But Pecker suggested that Trump’s concerns were electoral, not personal.

Pecker testified to at least 2X when Trump asked after #KarenMcDougal, referring to her at a Trump Tower meeting as “our girl.” He also asked about her during a meeting at the #WhiteHouse.

#law #TrumpTrial

The Trump Tower meeting also included #JamesComey, then the #FBI dir, #ReincePriebus, who was chair of the RNC, #SeanSpicer the WH press sec & #MikePompeo the dir of the CIA.

Totally normal.

At that meeting #Pecker reassured #Trump that everything was fine.

Trump then told the group that Pecker probably “knows more than anyone else in this room.”

“It was a joke,” Pecker testified, adding, “They didn’t laugh.”

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Pecker said on Tues he had agreed to be the “eyes & ears” of the #TrumpCampaign & used #AMI to deal w/threats to #Trump’s reputation.

After the #AccessHollywood tape came out in Oct 2016, where Trump’s boasts about groping women, one of Pecker’s editors scrubbed an AMI publication’s website of a 2008 article describing Trump as a “playboy man.”

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

Despite that, #Trump often made his displeasure known, #Pecker testified, either through #MichaelCohen or direct calls. Pecker described Trump as “very angry” & “very aggravated.”

Pecker said, “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor,” Pecker said, adding, “I still consider him a friend.”

Trump’s lawyers, led by Emil Bove, started their #CrossExamination trying to show that such deals were “standard operating procedure” in the supermarket #tabloid business.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

That offered the first look at defense’s strategy: normalizing #criminal acts.

The #CrossExamination also showed the seedier side of #tabloids, incl’g the admission that #Pecker’s magazines bought stories as leverage against #celebrities.

Pecker described a 2002 meeting in which #ArnoldSchwarzenegger asked Pecker not to run negative stories about him before his run for governor of California. He was elected & served 2003-2011.

#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference

#NationalEnquirer fmr publisher David #Pecker’s testimony is expected to conclude today. He’s already spent 3 days on the stand.

#Trump, addressing reporters before entering the courtroom, wished his wife, #Melania, a happy birthday on camera. Then entered the courtroom where he’s on trial for falsifying records to silence 2 women about having extramarital affairs w/him to hide it not from her but from his evangelical Christian electorate. JFC

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

#Trump is back w/ his criminally indicted adviser #BorisEpshteyn.

Justice Juan #Merchan is on the bench & announces a scheduling clarification, saying that another hearing to determine whether Trump violated his #GagOrder will be held next Thurs morning. We are still waiting for the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing on the gag order, in which prosecutors asked that Trump be held in #contempt & fined at least $10k.

#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics #NodFarter

#Pecker is back & takes the stand.

The jury is seated & one of the defense lawyers, Emil Bove, resumes his #CrossExamination. #Bove apologizes for making it seem yesterday as if Pecker had lied in a conversation w/ federal prosecutors about whether #HopeHicks had been present for a meeting in #Trump Tower.

Prosecutors have described the meeting, which occurred in 2015, as central to the #conspiracy at the heart of this case.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference

#Bove asks #Pecker to describe the negative stories that The #NationalEnquirer ran about #Trump's 2016 #Republican opponents, #BenCarson, #MarcoRubio & #TedCruz. He argues, as he did yesterday, that it was standard operating procedure to run articles like these, in which The NE reran previously reported content. Bove is still trying to convince the #jury that Pecker didn't have some special arrangement w/Trump: Instead, his publication was doing what it had always done.

#law #TrumpTrial

FYI
Yesterday, prosecutors asked #Pecker to walk through his non-prosecution agreement in connection w/the 2018 federal investigation into the actions of #MichaelCohen & #NationalEnquirer’s parent company #AMI.

#Merchan told the jury that it was offered to provide context & to help them assess Pecker's credibility. He added that it wasn’t evidence of #Trump's guilt.

#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

#Bove leading the #CrossExamination of #Pecker, is trying to drive home the idea that The #NationalEnquirer recycled news from other publications. It is seemingly an effort by Bove to show that Pecker wasn't moving mountains to find damaging info about Trump's Republican opponents during the 2016 presidential race.

#Trump is sitting at the defense table w/ his eyes shut as Pecker testifies.

#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter

#Bove spent a fair amount of time reviewing articles that he said had recycled content in them. But he didn't fully explain how this was standard practice for The #NationalEnquirer, & he has now moved on to another topic. It was somewhat difficult to follow what exactly it was that Bove was trying to imply.

Bove is currently arguing that it was fairly well-known, if not widely spoken about, that The NE was trying to help #Trump during his 2016 campaign.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

However when one of the negative stories about #TedCruz came out in 2016 #Trump said:

"I did not know about it, & have not, as yet, read it. Likewise, I have nothing to do w/ the #NationalEnquirer & unlike Lyin' Ted Cruz I do not surround myself w/ political hacks & henchman & then pretend total innocence."

The suggestion by Trump’s lawyer that what #Pecker did for Trump was #SOP is belied by ~20yrs of Pecker helping him.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference

#Bove is asking #Pecker about #Dino Sajudin, the #doorman w/a story to sell about #Trump fathering a child out of wedlock. Sajudin was at the heart of the 1st #CatchAndKill deal, in which The NE purchased the story & did not publish it. Bove asks Pecker to repeat that he believed that if the story were true, “it could be the biggest #NationalEnquirer article ever.” Bove appears to be trying to suggest that Pecker would have published it had he been able to verify it.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

Even though #Pecker knew the story was false, he paid $30k for it. He previously testified that he thought it would have been an embarrassment to the #TrumpCampaign. But #Bove is trying to get Pecker to agree that he instead paid for the story to avoid losing it to another publication.

Aside - Even when #Trump tried to run for president in 2012, Pecker advanced his #birther #conspiracy against Barack #Obama.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

Prosecutors repeatedly object to defense’s use of “President Trump” to refer to a meeting in June 2016, pointing out that #Trump wasn’t president at that point. Justice #Merchan sustains.

#Bove keeps jumping between topics during his #CrossExamination of #Pecker. Trump seemed engaged yesterday when this line of questioning began, today he’s more lethargic — sitting slumped in his chair, & he just tried to disguise a yawn.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #NodFarter

#Bove is making an important point right now about an agreement that The #NationalEnquirer made w/ #KarenMcDougal, the fmr Playboy model whose story about an affair w/ #Trump the tabloid purchased & sought to bury. Prosecutors had tried to suggest that the agreement - which included a number of different benefits for McDougal - was made to disguise a $150k #HushMoney payment.

Bove is pointing out that McDougal actually did receive the benefits of the agreement.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Bove tries to emphasize that #KarenMcDougal's primary focus was not cash, but the desire to restart her career.

#Pecker gets confused for a moment, but eventually agrees that McDougal was focused on her career. This is not an earth-shattering point, but, if the jury is able to follow it, it helps pick away at the prosecution's argument about this agreement.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

#Bove's point is that #AMI, The #NationalEnquirer's parent company, did print health columns by #KarenMcDougal - ghostwritten by others - & put her on magazine covers, not in The NE but in its lifestyle publications.

But after executing the deal in Aug, the company did none of that until well after WSJ reporters revealed the existence of the deal in Oct 2016.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial

When #Pecker wanted to put #KarenMcDougal on the cover of Men's Journal, she refused to cooperate, so they used an old image. His staff believed Pecker did that to make the case that their deal was legit.

#Bove presses Pecker about telling #MichaelCohen the agreement w/McDougal was "bulletproof."

Pecker was trying to please 2 conflicting parties: #Trump, who wanted the story buried, & his own lawyers, who were concerned that the deal w/ McDougal could be illegal.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Pecker doesn't want to say that he was being misleading, but #Bove is hitting on a contradiction: Either Pecker misled #MichaelCohen, or the legal agreement was in fact "bulletproof" & thus not unlawful.

- of course it doesn’t really matter because the charges have nothing to do w/the McDougal agreement, it’s discussion is purely background.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

#Bove raises the Jan 6, 2017 meeting that took place in #Trump’s office at TrumpTower w/ #JamesComey, then the #FBI dir, #MikePompeo, soon to be the #CIA dir, #ReincePriebus, soon to be the #WhiteHouse chief of staff, & #SeanSpicer, soon to be the WH press sec.

Bove asks #Pecker about how #Comey & Trump later had a contentious relationship. Prosecutors object, & Bove asks for a sidebar. Justice #Merchan sustains the objection.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference #conspiracy

#Bove’s voice got very sharp as he asked #Pecker about whether Pecker had made an error yesterday when he said #Trump thanked him for his #CatchAndKill of the doorman’s story. “Was that another mistake?” the lawyer asked, loudly. “Do you believe that President Trump said that to you as you sit here right now?”

Bove reminds Pecker that it’s a crime to lie under oath.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

Pecker reiterates that #Trump thanked him at the Jan 6, 2017 meeting at Trump Tower, in front of a group of future admin ofcls.

#Bove is suggesting that #Pecker testified inconsistently: in 2018, acc/to #FBI notes, he told agents that Trump had not thanked him at the Jan 6 meeting. That contradicts w/what he said yesterday & again today. Pecker resisted the implication that he contradicted himself but agrees. Bove is satisfied& the jurors are excused for a break.

#law #TrumpTrial

The jury & judge are back in the courtroom after midmorning break, David #Pecker is on the stand & his #CrossExamination is now resuming.

#Bove is back on cross, #Blanche, another defense lawyer, sits in Bove’s empty seat. Blanche seems intent on flanking #Trump as much as possible.
(Maybe to prod him awake before he starts to drool)

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #NodFarter

#CrossExamination resumes

#Bove asks #Pecker's about his meetings w/prosecutors.
Pecker says they were not "stressful," as #Trump's lawyer suggests, he says he wanted it to be over - who wouldn’t?

The defense presents #AMl's non-prosecution agreement w/SDNY.

Bove suggests AMI was having financial issues at the time - were discussions w/the Hudson News Group to acquire the #NationalEnquirer.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Bove asks, “You knew that to consummate that deal, you had to finalize the investigations, correct?”

#Pecker admits that put some pressure on the negotiations, but says, “From the tabloid's standpoint, that would have added on to the stress of the transaction.” He doesn’t say it put personal pressure on him.

Pecker says, “There was no drop dead date, that it had to be completed by a certain time.”

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

Again the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal is beside the point when it comes to the charges. As I said, its discussion is just background.

#Bove is trying to discredit #Pecker.

Bove asks, “If #AMI had been indicted, that would have affected the value of its assets?”

Pecker says yes but notes that AMI was never charged or prosecuted.

Yesterday, Pecker said, “We admitted to a campaign violation."

Bove notes "there is no violation in this agreement."

"In this agreement, no," Pecker says.

#TrumpTrial

#Bove points out the section of the non-prosecution agreement stating the federal govt "will not criminally prosecute" #AMI.

Asked whether there's mention of a #CampaignFinancial violation in the agreement, #Pecker answers, “No."

Bove tries to get Pecker to say money wasn’t part of the #Trump Tower meeting agreement.

Pecker corrects Bove, “There was a discussion that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign," including notifying #MichaelCohen of women selling stories.

#TrumpTrial

#Pecker says that led to the #HushMoney payoffs to the women.

#Bove has been trying to get him to admit that his testimony contradicted what his attys told the state in 2019. The statement in question concerns the Trump Tower meeting in 2015, in which Pecker agreed to help #CatchAndKill negative stories about #Trump.

Bove said Pecker’s lawyer had told state prosecutors that it was inaccurate that Pecker had agreed, at that meeting, to suppress the stories on Trump's behalf.

#law #TrumpTrial

But #Pecker clarifies that what his lawyer said in 2019 was simply that he had never offered to buy those stories on #Trump’s behalf. As Pecker reminds us, he instead offered to serve as Trump’s eyes & ears, looking out for negative stories.

Several times now #Bove has tried to catch Pecker in a lie. But Pecker is not going along w/it, he is repeatedly disagreeing w/Bove & fighting back against the attacks. It’s hurting defense more than helping.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Bove concludes cross, asking Pecker about his obligations in cooperating w/the prosecution at this trial.

#Pecker says, “I’ve been truthful to the best of my recollection.”

Asst DA #Steinglass begins his redirect.

Steinglass asks about #KarenMcDougal's contract & Pecker's testimony that its "true purpose" was to #CatchAndKill her story.

Pecker agrees w/that the purpose of the provisions about McDougal's career was to establish "plausible deniability."

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial

#Steinglass shows #Pecker the provision of #AMI's non-prosecution agreement that reads:

"AMI's principal purpose into entering into the agreement was to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."

Pecker agrees it was true.

Steinglass asks Pecker about a plan to sign over #KarenMcDougal's life rights to #MichaelCohen (it was abandoned)

Exhibit from yesterday detailing the original plan:

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference