NEW YORK: Former Natio­nal Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified on Friday at Donald Trump’s criminal trial that he suppressed a story about an alleged affair to help Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, even though it would have boosted sales of his tabloid.

Testifying for a third day, Pecker, 72, 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.

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

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

‘Timeline inconsistencies’ in publisher’s testimony noted during cross-examination

The exchange 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 is the first witness in the case, which accuses Trump, 77, of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

He has testified that his tabloid paid to “catch and kill” two such stories and alerted Trump that Daniels was also looking to sell her story of a sexual encounter with Trump.

However, the defence side argued the hush-money payment was made to spare Trump’s family embarrassment, not bolster his campaign.

Trump denies an encounter took place and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Rhona Graff, who worked as Trump’s business assistant from 1987 to 2021, testified that 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. She added that 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.

Under cross-examination, Trump lawyer Emil Bove sought to undermine Pecker’s credibility.

During the cross-examination, Bove sought to ruffle Pecker by noting timeline inconsistencies, while also casting the “catch and kill” tactics described by prosecutors as “business as usual”.

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

Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges. The trial, which is expected to run through May, could be the only one of his four criminal prosecutions to be completed before his Nov 5 election rematch with Demo­cratic President Joe Biden.

One of those cases, which charges Trump with trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, has been delayed for months by the US Supreme Court as it considers Trump’s argument that presidents should be immune for actions they take while in office.

In oral arguments on Thursday, justices on the conservative-majority court signaled support that Trump should have some level of protection from criminal charges.

Justice Juan Merchan, who is hearing the New York hush money case, has yet to rule on a request by prosecutors to punish Trump for allegedly violating a gag order that bars him from publicly criticising witnesses, some court officials and their relatives.

Merchan said he would hold a hearing next Thursday to examine what prosecutors say are further gag order violations.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2024