There is no food or coffee allowed inside ctrm, means reporters have not eaten or had anything to drink (unless they brought water bottle) since 8:30 am- it's 2:30 pm
-No cellphones or reading material allowed
Bathroom brks are ~5 min for 20 reporters
Reporters are confined to ctrm: not allowed to get up, talk to ea other (besides quick whispers) or check phones til floor is cleared - for ex court broke at 2 but still inside the courtroom
Prosecutors in Trump’s #criminal trial say he has violated a #GagOrder barring him from attacking #witnesses, #jurors & others close to the case. Testimony is set to resume later Tuesday morning.
#Pecker specifically said he was introduced to him through Nick Ribis, then a casinos exec for #Trump &, until the early 2000s, one of his long-serving lawyers.
When Pecker ID’d Trump, he lifted his head & smiled tightly.
#Steinglass asked about "The Apprentice," which Pecker called "an instant success."
#Pecker said that he's had "a great relationship w/ Mr. Trump over the years," & that he launched a magazine w/him called #Trump Style. When he proposed the magazine, Pecker says, Trump's biggest question was, "Who's going to pay for it?"
Pecker never did say who paid for it.
Prosecutors situated Pecker in Trump's orbit before the jury. He didn’t come across as a combative witness, but as a fan, friend & ally of Trump.
#Pecker said he came to consider #Trump a friend, including in 2016. "I would call him Donald," Pecker said.
Pecker described a symbiotic relationship between Trump & The #NationalEnquirer centered in part around "The Apprentice."
Pecker said that Trump would tip him off first as to who was going to be fired - "or eliminated," as Pecker put it - from the show, & NE would write about it.
#Trump's history of tipping off #tabloids about his life was a known fact well before TheApprentice.
"He was very cautious & very frugal, #Pecker said of Trump's approach to #money.
Testimony from Pecker that establishes Trump's track record of keeping a close eye on his #finances - “almost a micromanager," Pecker said - will help prosecution prove that Trump falsified #HushMoney records to cover up a sex scandal to influence the 2016 election.
#Pecker described what he called his 1st meeting w/ #MichaelCohen, in 2007. He said #Trump introduced them at his office, & he was told to route all communications to Trump through Cohen.
#Steinglass then asked him to clarify: it was their 2nd meeting, they met yrs earlier at a bar mitzvah.
Pecker said after Trump announced he was running for president, his conversations w/Cohen became more frequent. They would check in weekly, even daily, if they had active issue to discuss.
Prosecutors are using him to establish 2 things: that Trump was a "micro-manager," particuarly w/money, & that he delegated point people for others to deal with.
This was the jury’s intro to the weird world of Trump's relationship w/ Pecker's supermarket tabloid. It will help establish why Pecker would agree to a #CatchAndKill operation to aid Trump #politically.
#Pecker said he didn't know what the meeting was about before he arrived. When he got there, #MichaelCohen & #Trump asked him what he & his magazines could do "to help the campaign.”
That quote goes directly to the argument that the #HushMoney payments were made to help Trump win.
In #Blanche’s opening, he said Trump's dealings w/Pecker were regular practice in #journalism.
But a #political#candidate flat-out asking a publisher "to help the campaign" is NOT NORMAL.
#Pecker described himself as broker of the #CatchAndKill schemes. He or others would help #MichaelCohen suppress negative stories about #Trump, especially w/respect to "women selling stories."
Pecker basically confessed to creating #FakeNews on behalf of Trump.
Pecker said he expected "there would be a lot of women who would come out to try to sell their stories,” because he was known as "the most eligible bachelor & dated the most beautiful women." (His words)
#Pecker was asked if Bill & Hillary #Clinton's names came up. Pecker said when you run a magazine, you choose the topic of the week. Coverage of #HillaryClinton running for president that described #BillClinton as "a womanizer" was a big seller, he said. "I was running the Hillary Clinton stories, I was running Hillary as an enabler for Bill Clinton, w/respect to all the womanizing."
#Pecker suggested that there was a "mutual benefit" to running the stories — it would help #Trump's campaign, & "it would also help me."
Pecker basically testified the symbiotic / parasitic relationship between the campaign & The #NationalEnquirer.
Asked about Trump's reaction to the stories, Pecker said, "he was pleased." He said that #MichaelCohen was also pleased about "the way I was going to handle these issues."
#Pecker repeated that "writing positive stories about Trump & covering the election, & writing negative stories about his opponents" helped them both, increasing #tabloid newsstand sales while benefitting the #TrumpCampaign.
★ Importantly, #Steinglass asked him to clarify that suppressing negative news about #Trump only benefitted the candidate, not the tabloid. Pecker agreed.
When #NationalEnquirer covers were shown, #Trump leaned toward the monitor in front of him & squinted to get a closer look at a collection of headlines praising him.
They included:
"Donald Trump - Cruzin to victory! Ted endorses Donald" & "Obama's Half Brother
#Trump was all over on the negative coverage of #TedCruz in 2016. The #TrumpCampaign acted like it came about organically & Trump was just reacting to it.
Pecker was asked about #MichaelCohen's relationship to the Trump campaign. #Pecker said Cohen always said he didn't work for the campaign, & that he was instead "Mr. Trump's personal attorney." But he also testified that Cohen fed them negative info about opponents.
"Michael was physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on," #Pecker said. He added that #MichaelCohen wasn't officially employed by the campaign, & may have heard things “informally" or "injected himself into it."
Pecker threw defense a bone when he said he didn’t know who Cohen spoke to, & that Cohen may have been acting of his own volition by getting more involved w/the campaign. [sure]
Pecker was being asked about an infamous #NationalEnquirer story linking Cruz's father to the JFK assassination. He said it originated w/ #DylanHoward, The Enquirer's editor.
#Pecker said that after the #Republican#debates, #MichaelCohen would call him & direct him to focus the negative coverage on whichever candidate had been most successful.
Pecker's testimony isn't just damaging to #Trump. He’s killing his career by going through headline after headline & suggesting he attacked Trump's rivals to aid Trump.
#Pecker was asked about being introduced to #SteveBannon, #Trump's top strategist, in Oct 2016. He recalled Trump said, "I believe you & Steve would get along really well.”
This all happened around the time of #Wikileaks email dump, after a hack of #HillaryClinton's adviser John Podesta's acct, & the Trump team used that material A LOT.
@timo21@Nonilex I was thinking about journalistic credibility and what the fallout from the #trumptrial will bring. The person pointing fingers and screaming #FakeNews certainly had a hand in making it a reality.
Trump visibly responded when this story came up. Like yesterday, he frowned & shook his head.
Pecker said the love child story would’ve been a big story, & he believed it was important to have it "removed from the market." #MichaelCohen told him "the boss would be very pleased."
#Pecker said #MichaelCohen called him furiously denying the child was Trump's, saying he offered to take a DNA test & bc #Trump was German-Irish & the woman was Hispanic, it was impossible.
FTR, Pecker was saying that #Cohen indicated a child w/a #Hispanic woman couldn't be Trump's. (#Racist 🤬 that he is)
Trump often talks "good genes" & bloodlines. He denigrates #immigrants from #LatinAmerica & says undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."