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Jurors in the New York criminal case against President Donald Trump have heard three days of testimony from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. Pecker, a long-time friend and associate of Trump, testified regarding payments made to certain sources during the 2016 election.
According to Pecker, sources were paid for stories on the condition of signing nondisclosure agreements which prevented them from taking the same stories to other outlets for publication, per Washington Examiner. However, Pecker also testified that these arrangements are not uncommon and have been applied to public figures other than Donald Trump.
Trump’s defense team asked Pecker about a story regarding Rahm Emanuel, who served as Barack Obama’s chief of staff during his presidency. Pecker confirmed a similar arrangement was made to suppress a negative story about Emanuel.
Pecker testified that he made such a payment to purchase the story of Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who alleged an affair with Trump. Pecker stated he did not agree to do the same for Stormy Daniels’s story.
Alleged payments made by Michael Cohen, Trump’s attorney at the time, to Daniels form the basis for the current criminal charges against Trump. Pecker testified he had no knowledge of payments made by Cohen to Daniels in exchange for her story, according to Washington Examiner.
Pecker further testified that Trump seemed to have no knowledge of payments made by Cohen to Daniels. According to Pecker, when he brought up the subject of payments to Daniels, Trump had no idea what he was talking about.