PECKER UP: National Enquirer publisher to be 1st witness in Trump hush money trial
David Pecker is known as a longtime associate of Donald Trump, and on Monday, he will reportedly be the first to take the witness stand in the former president’s felony hush money trial.
Pecker has a significant role in the case himself. Trump is being tried for falsifying business records to cover up hush money and “catch and kill” schemes that were allegedly orchestrated to keep voters from knowing about Trump’s rampant infidelity and sexual predation.
As the CEO of American Media Inc, the parent company of The National Enquirer, among others, Pecker has already admitted to helping carry out the “catch and kill” schemes. The tabloid would offer to pay individuals for their negative stories about Trump, with the contract stating that they couldn’t speak publicly about the matter themselves until after publication, then would hold the story and not publish it — effectively silencing people who believed they were coming forward.
Pecker admitted to this back in 2018, according to The Guardian, specifically confessing to buying the story of Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who said that she had an affair with Trump.
He’s particularly relevant because he’s expected to testify that the scheme to cover up the story was not just to keep the sordid details of an alleged affair from embarrassing Trump or making it to his wife, but to keep it from affecting an election. That supports the payment being both election interference and a campaign finance violation.
Trump is being charged with falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanor charge unless it’s being done to cover up other criminal acts, in which case it becomes a felony. So, it seems, the first order of business for the prosecution is to prove the prior criminal acts. The New York Times reports:
“Mr. Pecker, who ran the company that owned The National Enquirer, is set to go first, and is expected to recount for the jury several conversations with Mr. Trump about the hush money, according to a person familiar with the plan.”
Trump has devoted time and attention to attacking other potential key witnesses, particularly his former attorney Michael Cohen, who is expected to testify about arranging the payments but has said little or nothing about Pecker.
On Friday, the prosecution refused to give Trump’s team a witness list but said they would make contact with the lawyers to release the name of the first witness on Sunday. However, the prosecution emphasized that if Trump posted about the individual, his legal team would never be given that courtesy again.
The identity of the individual who gave the information to The New York Times remains unknown.
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