US Newspaper Publisher Admits “killing” Story Of Donald Trump’s Affair

Former publisher of National Enquirer, David Pecker, on Friday at the criminal trial of the former US President Donald Trump, admitted that he stopped a story about an alleged affair to help Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.

Speaking, 72-year-old Pecker, while testifying for a third day at Trump’s trial, said he suppressed the story even though it would have boosted sales of his paper.

Reuters reports that Pecker agreed with a prosecutor who asked whether it would have been “National Enquirer gold” to publish the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s claim that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

Pecker however said that he decided not to publish the story after paying McDougal for it, because it would have hurt Republican Trump’s chances of winning the election over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker, “You killed the story because it helped the candidate, Donald Trump?” to which Pecker said yes.

The exchange was said to have bolstered previous testimony in which Pecker said he worked with Trump’s campaign to suppress allegations of adultery at a time when the then-presidential candidate was facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior.

Pecker was the first witness in the case, which accuses the 77-year-old former President Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

However, Trump has pleaded not guilty.

But Pecker testified his tabloid paid for the rights to two such stories he never published, a tabloid practice referred to as “catch and kill.”

Pecker also alerted Trump that Daniels was looking to sell her story of a sexual encounter with Trump.

The defense reportedly argued the hush money payment was made to spare Trump’s family embarrassment, not to protect his presidential campaign.

Trump, a businessman whose first public office was the White House, denies an encounter took place.

After Pecker’s testimony, prosecutors called two more witnesses to boost their case.

Rhona Graff, who worked as Trump’s business assistant from 1987 to 2021, testified she once saw Daniels at Trump Tower before he ran for president. She said she heard Trump say he was interested in casting her on “The Apprentice,” the reality TV show he hosted.

Graff said the email addresses of Daniels and McDougal were stored in the computer systems of Trump’s company.

Trump shook her hand when she left the witness stand.

Banker Gary Farro testified that Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, set up accounts with him shortly before the election for two shell companies, including one that was used to pay Daniels.

The trial was scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

Reuters reports that during cross-examination, Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, sought to undermine Pecker’s credibility, asking Pecker whether he had inaccurately testified that Trump thanked him at the White House for handling the negative news stories.

That conflicted with a report by FBI agents who previously interviewed Pecker, which said Trump had not expressed gratitude.

Pecker said the FBI report could be wrong, telling the New York court’s 12 jurors and six alternates, “I know what I testified to, and I know what I remember.”

When Bove asked Pecker whether his statements aligned with facts contained in an agreement by the Enquirer’s parent company to cooperate with legal authorities to avoid prosecution, Pecker denied any substantial mismatch.

Bove further sought to illustrate that Pecker’s checkbook journalism was not confined to Trump.

Under questioning by Bove on Thursday, Pecker said the Enquirer paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain stories from women who came forward during Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2003 run for California governor to say they had affairs with him.

Responding, Pecker said the first time he gave Trump a heads up about a negative story was in 1998 in relation to Marla Maples, his wife at the time.

Prosecutors said that Pecker’s arrangement with Trump corrupted the 2016 election. He agreed to cooperate to avoid criminal charges.

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