The testimony by #StormyDaniels that she did not care about money might be undercut by text messages between her agent at the time, Gina Rodriguez, & the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, w/ the 2 of them bidding back & forth until they got to $120k. The Enquirer’s publisher David #Pecker would not pay saying, “I am not a bank.” Which is how #MichaelCohen ended up taking over the deal.
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
Regarding #Trump’s comments about David #Pecker being nice, prosecutor Conroy argued it was a threat to other witnesses “be nice or else face attacks” not sure that will work. Conroy called Trump’s statements as “air of menace” I agree, but if we’re supposed to infer for a #GagOrder that gets a little tricky.
👀 On the recording, #MichaelCohen is talking to #Trump, it sounds like #HopeHicks in the background. Cohen is explaining they had just gotten served by The NYT to unseal records from Trump’s first divorce, from Ivana Trump.
At the end of the tape, Cohen tells Trump,
“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David.”
The [#NationalEnquirer’s David #Pecker]
#HopeHicks is testifying in detail how #Trump praised David #Pecker, then the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, after the tabloid ran a story saying one of his #GOP presidential rivals, Dr. Ben Carson, had left a sponge in a young girl’s brain. “Mr. Trump was congratulating him on the great reporting,” she recalls. “This is Pulitzer-worthy,” Hicks says she recalls him saying.
#HopeHicks was Trump's WH communications director when #KarenMcDougal sued to be released from her #AMI contract that barred her from speaking about her relationship w/ #Trump.
Hicks testifies Westerhout, Trump's exec asst, texted her, "Hey - the president wants to know if you called David #Pecker again?"
She adds that when she spoke to Trump after McDougal was interviewed on CNN by Anderson Cooper, she didn’t “recall him mentioning Mr. Pecker in those conversations."
#Bove builds on the #MichaelCohen was freelancing angle, he gets #HopeHicks to agree that Cohen "went rogue" & did things that were “unauthorized."
Hicks helps the defense out by saying, "He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix-it, & it was only because he first broke it."
Bove, moves on to when Hicks worked on #Trump's 1st campaign saying the work she did for Trump, & the work done by #Pecker, ( #NationalEnquirer) was all standard operating procedure for a candidate.
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016. #GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
#Bove’s voice got very sharp as he asked #Pecker about whether Pecker had made an error yesterday when he said #Trump thanked him for his #CatchAndKill of the doorman’s story. “Was that another mistake?” the lawyer asked, loudly. “Do you believe that President Trump said that to you as you sit here right now?”
Bove reminds Pecker that it’s a crime to lie under oath.
Pecker reiterates that #Trump thanked him at the Jan 6, 2017 meeting at Trump Tower, in front of a group of future admin ofcls.
#Bove is suggesting that #Pecker testified inconsistently: in 2018, acc/to #FBI notes, he told agents that Trump had not thanked him at the Jan 6 meeting. That contradicts w/what he said yesterday & again today. Pecker resisted the implication that he contradicted himself but agrees. Bove is satisfied& the jurors are excused for a break.
The jury & judge are back in the courtroom after midmorning break, David #Pecker is on the stand & his #CrossExamination is now resuming.
#Bove is back on cross, #Blanche, another defense lawyer, sits in Bove’s empty seat. Blanche seems intent on flanking #Trump as much as possible.
(Maybe to prod him awake before he starts to drool)
#Bove asks #Pecker's about his meetings w/prosecutors.
Pecker says they were not "stressful," as #Trump's lawyer suggests, he says he wanted it to be over - who wouldn’t?
The defense presents #AMl's non-prosecution agreement w/SDNY.
Bove suggests AMI was having financial issues at the time - were discussions w/the Hudson News Group to acquire the #NationalEnquirer.
#Bove asks, “You knew that to consummate that deal, you had to finalize the investigations, correct?”
#Pecker admits that put some pressure on the negotiations, but says, “From the tabloid's standpoint, that would have added on to the stress of the transaction.” He doesn’t say it put personal pressure on him.
Pecker says, “There was no drop dead date, that it had to be completed by a certain time.”
#Bove points out the section of the non-prosecution agreement stating the federal govt "will not criminally prosecute" #AMI.
Asked whether there's mention of a #CampaignFinancial violation in the agreement, #Pecker answers, “No."
Bove tries to get Pecker to say money wasn’t part of the #Trump Tower meeting agreement.
Pecker corrects Bove, “There was a discussion that I was going to be the eyes and ears of the campaign," including notifying #MichaelCohen of women selling stories.
#Bove has been trying to get him to admit that his testimony contradicted what his attys told the state in 2019. The statement in question concerns the Trump Tower meeting in 2015, in which Pecker agreed to help #CatchAndKill negative stories about #Trump.
Bove said Pecker’s lawyer had told state prosecutors that it was inaccurate that Pecker had agreed, at that meeting, to suppress the stories on Trump's behalf.
But #Pecker clarifies that what his lawyer said in 2019 was simply that he had never offered to buy those stories on #Trump’s behalf. As Pecker reminds us, he instead offered to serve as Trump’s eyes & ears, looking out for negative stories.
Several times now #Bove has tried to catch Pecker in a lie. But Pecker is not going along w/it, he is repeatedly disagreeing w/Bove & fighting back against the attacks. It’s hurting defense more than helping.
“All that base loved reading positive stories about Donald Trump. And when he announced his presidency, going from The Apprentice to running for the president of the United States, our sales increased. Newsstand sales increased,”Pecker says.
Steinglass sums it up as follows, “Running stories about Mr. Trump appealed to your readership.”
#Pecker will be back on the stand when court resumes.
Before leaving, Todd #Blanche, one of Trump's attys, asked Justice #Merchan to direct prosecutors to say who the next #witness would be. One of the prosecutors responded that Susan Necheles, another #Trump lawyer, already knew. Trump leaned over & asked Necheles, “Who is it?” She seems to have responded because he said, “Ah.” Then he got up.