Donald Trump is the first former US president to face a criminal trial, accused of falsifying business records to pay hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up their alleged affair in the run-up to the 2016 election.
A newspaper chief was Donald Trump’s “eyes and ears” and killed unfavourable stories about him in the run-up to the 2016 election, a court has heard.
Trump has made history as the first former US president to face a criminal trial.
He stands accused of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels in an effort to cover up their alleged affair and falsifying business records in order to do so.
David Pecker, the former boss of publisher AMI, took the stand as the first witness in the trial, as he described participating in a “catch and kill” scheme with Trump and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to bury unfavourable press coverage during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Manhattan’s criminal court also heard Mr Pecker, who signed a “non-prosecution” agreement with prosecutors after AMI admitted to making hush-money payments, describe his role as being the “eyes and ears” for Trump.
Mr Pecker said he would flag stories to Mr Cohen, who would check if they were true or not. This agreement was never put in writing but Mr Pecker divulged it to Dylan Howard, editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, one of his publications.
Mr Pecker told the court of a meeting he attended in August 2015 with Trump, Mr Cohen, and Hope Hicks, the communications director for the former president.
‘I would be the eyes and ears’
He said: “At that meeting with Donald Trump, they asked me what can I do to help the campaign.
“I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponents.
“I said that I would also be the eyes and ears.”
In particular, Mr Pecker said that he would notify Cohen if he heard any negative stories relating to Trump and alleged relations with any women “because Mr Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women”.
He added: “It was clear that, based on my past experience, that when someone was running for public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up magazines like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories.”
The court heard of one such example where Mr Pecker paid $30,000 (£24,000) to buy a story about Trump allegedly fathering an illegitimate baby with a maid.
Mr Pecker said: “I immediately called Michael Cohen and told him exactly what I was told.
“I gave the name of the housekeeper in the penthouse and asked him to verify it first with the Trump Organisation payroll.”
Buying off negative press
Mr Pecker bought the story but said investigators found the story to be untrue and says Cohen told him it was “absolutely not true”.
He added: “I made the decision to buy the story because it could have been embarrassing to the campaign and Mr Trump.”
Hanging over today’s proceedings were allegations that Trump violated a gag order in social media posts and on his campaign website.
The gag order restricted Trump’s public speech on jurors, potential witnesses and some others involved in the case.