Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, said testimony that concluded Thursday’s criminal trial proceedings in her uncle’s hush money case was a “bombshell.”
Pecker, a longtime friend of the former president and former chairman, president and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer, took the stand again on Thursday as the only witness thus far in the Manhattan trial. Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by using former “fixer” and attorney Michael Cohen to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels’ allegations.
As part of an agreement that Pecker came to with Trump and Cohen in August 2015, in which Pecker would act as the “eyes and ears” of the campaign by stifling negative stories about Trump, Pecker said that he purchased the rights to a story that former Playboy model Karen McDougal was shopping in 2016.
Pecker’s testimony continues Friday morning.
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“Prosecutors are arguing this was not about keeping embarrassing stories from Melania but, rather, a calculated move to influence the outcome of the 2016 election,” Mary Trump wrote Thursday on her Substack. “At the end of the prosecution’s direct examination today, David Pecker corroborated the state’s entire argument.”
Pecker told the jury yesterday that coverup efforts he assisted in were designed to protect the then-Republican candidate’s 2016 campaign rather than his family, according to The Washington Post.
The Post also reported that in his second day of testimony, Pecker said that he didn’t think Trump and Cohen were trying to keep the news stories involving Daniels and McDougal out of the public domain to protect wife Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka or any other relatives.
“It was basically what the impact would be to the campaign and the election,” Pecker said.
Melania Trump is celebrating her 54th birthday. She hasn’t made an appearance at her husband’s trial. However, sources told the Seattle Times that Melania has privately called the proceedings a “disgrace,” equating the trial to “election interference.”
Pecker said he had a conversation with the president-elect at Trump Tower in January 2017, shortly before Trump’s inauguration, at which point Trump thanked him for paying McDougal for her silence and for assisting in other coverups.
Neither Trump nor Cohen brought up Trump’s marriage in subsequent conversations related to McDougal and later Daniels, Pecker added.
“His family was never mentioned and the conversation I had directly with Mr. Trump, his family wasn’t mentioned, so I made the assumption the [main] concern was the campaign,” Pecker testified.
Trump, who is under a gag order intended to prevent him from making public comments about witnesses in the trial, hasn’t publicly commented on Pecker’s testimony.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.