David Pecker, former CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), a media company that publishes the tabloid ‘National Enquirer’, admitted this Tuesday as a witness during the trial against former US President Donald Trump in New York that he published articles for favor the tycoon during the 2016 election campaign.
Pecker, Trump and the magnate’s then lawyer, Michael Cohen, had a meeting in August 2015 in which they reached an agreement for the manager to buy any story that could damage his image during the election campaign or publish articles to favor him against other candidates, such as Republican Ted Cruz or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“Michael Cohen would call me and say, ‘We would like you to publish a negative article about Ted Cruz,'” Pecker said during his testimony, referring to the then-Republican presidential candidate and senator from Texas.
Regarding Clinton, he noted that Trump was “pleased” when he suggested publishing negative stories about the Democratic presidential candidate, adding that these types of articles were “very salable” in the tabloid.
Pecker has indicated that the agreement they closed with Trump was not put in writing because it was made “between friends.” “I think it was mutual benefit. It helped his campaign and it also helped me,” he added, as reported by CNN.
Pecker has explained that the tabloid’s editor-in-chief, Dylan Howard, informed him in June 2016 of the story of Playboy model Karen McDougal, who had allegedly had an extramarital affair with Trump, and whom he paid about $150,000 to buy his silence. Cohen’s reaction when he found out was to assure that this story was “absolutely false.”
The former executive director of AMI relates that every time Cohen called to talk about McDougal – he often got on the phone with him even a couple of times a day – he seemed “more anxious,” as if he were under pressure.
Likewise, he explained that the tabloid decided to buy the story of Dino Sajudin, a former employee of the Trump Organization who claimed that the tycoon had had a child out of wedlock, because “it would have been very embarrassing” for it to come to light in the middle of the election campaign. , even though he knew the story was “1,000 percent false.”
The confidentiality agreement guaranteed that this story would not be leaked. “By paying the $30,000, you had the complete exclusive and the option to publish the article or not,” he said. Pecker has further claimed that he withheld publication of this story until after the 2016 presidential election at Cohen’s request.
Shortly before, Judge Juan Merchan, who is leading the case against Trump, held another hearing after the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a motion against Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order against him.
The Prosecutor’s Office has presented eight messages from the former president on social networks and two on his election campaign website in which he shared comments about lawyer Michael Cohen, for which he has requested a fine of $1,000 for each publication.
The 34 charges that Trump faces for falsifying business records date back to an investigation launched by the Manhattan district attorney’s office following an alleged plan by the tycoon to bury several sex scandals in the media during the election campaign. for the 2016 presidential elections.
