Timothy Birdnow

Trump's attorneys tore some big holes in the prosecution's case in the bogus Stormy Daniels "hush money" trial.

Considering the gag order put on it, this should be the "hush Trump"  case.

FTA:

On Friday, Emil Bove, an attorney for Donald Trump, continued questioning Pecker, (from the National Inquirer) who claimed during his testimony that he purchased the rights to multiple unfavorable stories about Trump to ensure they never went to publication. Pecker's actions were referred to as a "catch-and-kill" scheme.

Pecker claimed that he had an arrangement with Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen to ensure the stories never saw the light of day. Also, during his testimony, he said he expected to be reimbursed directly by Trump or the Trump Organization for the scheme.

Pecker gave former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story. She claimed that she had had an extramarital affair with Trump. Pecker admitted that Trump never reimbursed him for his purchase of the story. Bove attempted to poke holes in Pecker's testimony, noting that the story would have been beneficial for the tabloid to run, and McDougal was trying to restart her career at the time she made the allegations.

Additionally, Pecker said he paid $30,000 for the exclusive rights to another story that turned out to be untrue, though he admitted he would have run the article if it had been accurate. He also did not receive any money from Trump for that story.

Despite previously being interested in McDougal's story, Pecker claimed that he "didn't want anything to do" with porn actress Stormy Daniels' story. She also claimed she had an affair with Trump.

"I said to Michael Cohen that after paying for the doorman story and the Karen McDougal story, I wasn't going to pay anything further and I wasn't a bank," Pecker testified.

During his testimony earlier this week, Pecker claimed that Trump had thanked him for not running the unfavorable stories. However, Bove pointed out that in a 2018 interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pecker did not state that Trump had expressed any gratitude toward him or the tabloid for such actions.

"Are you suggesting the FBI made a mistake here?" Bove asked Pecker.

Pecker acknowledged that the bureau's notes were inconsistent with his testimony.

"I know what the truth is, I can't state why this is written this way. I know what was said to me," he responded.

Bove questioned whether Pecker still has equity in the National Enquirer's parent company, AMI. Pecker replied that he does.

"Part of AMI's business model was to purchase stories, correct?" Bove questioned.

Pecker confirmed that the company did regularly buy the rights to news stories and that the practice was not unique to Trump. The former publisher noted that there were other celebrities who were promoted by the tabloid and provided a warning when negative press was about to be published. Pecker previously said that he had a similar arrangement with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He admitted that publishing negative stories about Trump dating back to the 1990s was "not good for business." Pecker further acknowledged that he had never heard the term "catch and kill" prior to the case. Additionally, many of the negative articles about Trump's presidential opponents published by the National Enquirer were "not exclusive" to the tabloid, indicating that other media outlets had first reported the stories.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:58 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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