After prosecutors’ key witness painted a sordid portrait of tabloid “catch and kill” schemes, defense attorneys in Donald Trump’s secret trial are set Friday to dig into an account by the former National Enquirer publisher and his efforts to protect Trump from negative criticism. stories during the 2016 elections.
David Pecker will return to the witness stand for the fourth day as defense lawyers try to unravel the testimony of the former National Enquirer publisher, who described helping bury embarrassing stories that Trump feared would harm his campaign.
It will cap a consequential week in the criminal cases facing the former president as he fights to win back the White House in November.
At the same time as jurors listened to testimony in Manhattan, the Supreme Court signaled Thursday that it was likely to reject Trump’s sweeping claims that he was immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case to Washington. But the high court, with a conservative majority, appeared inclined to limit the period in which former presidents could be prosecuted — a move that could benefit Trump by delaying that trial, potentially until after the November election.
In New York – the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial – the presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments intended to cover up stories negatives to surface in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Prosecutors say Trump sought to illegally influence the 2016 race through a practice known in the tabloid industry as “catch-and-kill”: detecting a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to this one, then kill it by means of agreements which prevent the person being paid. to tell the story to someone else.
Over several days on the witness stand, Pecker described how he and the tabloid turned rumors into splashy stories that vilified Trump’s opponents and, just as crucially, exploited his connections to suppress the sordid stories about Trump.
The charges relate to $130,000 in payments Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen. He paid this sum on Trump’s behalf to prevent pornographic actress Stormy Daniels from going public with her allegations of a sexual relationship with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied that this meeting ever took place.
During cross-examination that began Thursday, defense attorney Emil Bove asked Pecker about his recollection of specific dates and meanings. It appeared to lay the groundwork for the defense’s argument that any dealings Trump had with Pecker were intended to protect himself, his reputation and his family — not his campaign.
Pecker recalled how an editor told him that Daniels’ rep was trying to sell his story and that the tabloid could acquire it for $120,000. Pecker said he put his foot down, pointing out that the tabloid already had $180,000 in the hole for Trump-related catch-and-kill transactions. But, Pecker said, he told Cohen to buy the story himself to prevent Daniels from going public with his statement.
“I said to Michael, ‘My suggestion is that you buy the story and take it off the market because if you don’t and it gets out, I think the boss will be very angry with you .” »
Former President Donald Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to secret payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Here’s what you need to know.
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Richer reported from Washington.
NBC Chicago
