In Donald Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial, former National Enquirer David Pecker was the first witness to testify. Manhattan prosecutors have questioned him about his involvement in “catch and kill” schemes to benefit Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Pecker testified that while he paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman and $150,000 to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to silence negative news during the election, he refused a request to pay porn star Stormy Daniels for her story.
Pecker believed Trump would reimburse him for buying McDougal’s story and testified that he understood he would be reimbursed by the Trump Organization or Trump himself. The purpose of acquiring McDougal’s story was to suppress negative news about Trump before the election. Pecker was never reimbursed for the $150,000 payment to McDougal. Trump thanked Pecker for handling the McDougal situation and the doorman situation during a conversation in January 2017. Pecker’s wife did not attend a meeting at the White House in 2017, so he brought an associate instead.
Just weeks after the 2016 election, Trump asked Pecker about McDougal’s situation and expressed aggravation after learning her confidentiality agreement had been amended to allow her to speak to reporters. Trump approved of extending McDougal’s contract, a decision White House staffers Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders also approved of. Pecker admitted to a campaign finance violation related to the payment to McDougal and cooperated with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in October 2019.
Pecker gave details of his involvement with Trump’s 2016 campaign during his testimony. He described agreeing to help by alerting Trump of damaging information and working to keep it from the public. Pecker detailed a deal to pay a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for a story about Trump fathering a child with his maid. Pecker concluded the story was untrue but bought the exclusive rights to it to remove it from the market and avoid embarrassment to the campaign and Trump. He also admitted that his tabloid would “embellish” negative stories about Trump’s political rivals when asked to do so by Michael Cohen.
