Former Enquirer publisher is crucial to Trump’s hush money trial — here's why

22 April 2024

With 12 jurors and six alternative jurors having been sworn in, opening statements in former President Donald Trump's hush money/falsifying business records trial are expected to begin on Monday, April 22. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. alleges that Trump falsified business records when hush money payments were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

The first witness in the case, according to NBC News, is likely to be former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker.

Forbes' Sara Dorn, in an article published on April 22, lays out some reasons why Pecker's testimony is "crucial" to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s allegation "that Trump, with Pecker's help, sought to kill allegations he had an affair before the 2016 election."

"Pecker promised Trump, after he launched his first presidential bid in 2015, he would act as his 'eyes and ears" by alerting him to potentially negative stories about him, publishing others about Trump's rivals, and orchestrating a series of 'catch and kill' schemes to silence damning allegations against him, according to prosecutors," Dorn explains. "Pecker, who from 1999 to 2020 served as CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., now A360 Media, alerted Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen that adult film star Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her story of a 2006 one-night stand with Trump, according to prosecutors."

The reporter adds, "Cohen then negotiated the hush money payment for Trump, both Cohen and prosecutors say."

Other key witnesses expected to testify include Cohen, Daniels, former Playboy model Karen McDougal and former Trump White House adviser Hope Hicks.

According to Cohen, Trump had extramarital affairs with both McDougal and Daniels.

Dorn points out that although hush money payments made to McDougal are not part of Bragg's case against Trump, "prosecutors are expected to use them to bolster their claim that the $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels — money prosecutors say Trump's company reimbursed him for under the guise of legal services — was actually an unreported, and illegal, campaign expense."

The Forbes journalist notes, "If convicted, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison and a $5000 fine for each of the 34 felonies, though it's unlikely he would receive a prison sentence since he’s never been convicted of a crime."

Read Forbes' full report at this link.

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