In the ongoing case against former President Donald Trump, spearheaded by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, former American Media Inc. (AMI) chairman David Pecker testified on Thursday.
The case revolves around allegations of falsified business records. AMI, under Pecker's leadership, published the National Enquirer.
Pecker's testimony revealed that Trump was seemingly unaware of the reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels story involving Michael Cohen. "Trump had no idea what Pecker was talking about," he stated during his testimony, as reported by NBC News.
Emil Bove, Trump's defense attorney, cross-examined Pecker, probing into the publishing practices under his tenure at AMI. Bove asked, "Under your watch, you only published about half the stories that you purchased, is that right?" Pecker confirmed this, stating, "Thats about right."
Further questioning revealed that AMI had instances where they purchased stories to use as leverage against celebrities. Pecker confirmed this, stating, "Thats correct." He also admitted to purchasing stories to coerce celebrities into participating in interviews or to use their likeness, and even to use against them, with no intention of publishing the story.
Bove asked, "AMI has used hundreds of thousands of source agreements for these purposes, correct?" Pecker responded with a simple "yes."
The defense attorney also delved into Pecker's relationship with Trump, asking whether he had a long-standing strategy of not publishing negative stories about Trump. Pecker confirmed this, adding that he had informed Trump about a negative story involving Marla Maples back in 1998. When asked if he had tried to stop the story and whether he ran positive Trump stories for monetary gain, Pecker responded affirmatively.
Bove further questioned Pecker about his dealings with public figures such as Ron Perlman of Revlon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tiger Woods. He revealed that AMI had used photos of women meeting with Woods in a parking lot to coerce him into appearing on the cover of Mens Fitness. Pecker confirmed this.
Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama and current ambassador to Japan under President Biden, was also mentioned. Pecker admitted that Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood agent, had requested his help in suppressing a story about Rahm Emanuel's alleged affair in 2009.
Bove also scrutinized Pecker's recollection of a meeting with Trump and Cohen in August 2015. He noted discrepancies in Pecker's account of when the meeting took place. Bove also inquired about Pecker's frequency of meetings with prosecutors, to which Pecker responded that he had met with prosecutors four or five times this year and federal prosecutors five or six times.
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