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 is seated & one of the defense lawyers, Emil Bove, resumes his #CrossExamination. #Bove apologizes for making it seem yesterday as if Pecker had lied in a conversation w/ federal prosecutors about whether #HopeHicks had been present for a meeting in #Trump Tower.
Prosecutors have described the meeting, which occurred in 2015, as central to the #conspiracy at the heart of this case.
Bove asks #Pecker about how #Comey & Trump later had a contentious relationship. Prosecutors object, & Bove asks for a sidebar. Justice #Merchan sustains the objection.
#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 doesn't want to say that he was being misleading, but #Bove is hitting on a contradiction: Either Pecker misled #MichaelCohen, or the legal agreement was in fact "bulletproof" & thus not unlawful.
of course it doesn’t really matter because the charges have nothing to do w/the McDougal agreement, it’s discussion is purely background.
#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.
Lots of evidence per the disguised monetary transactions related to the #KarenMcDougal deal. But most of the #jurors are still paying close attention, turning their heads from the prosecutor, Joshua #Steinglass, to the #witness, #Pecker, & back again.
"This is a very, very large purchase," #Pecker says of paying $150k to #KarenMcDougal.
Prosecution introduces invoices & vouchers showing the payments to McDougal.
#Steinglass, prosecutor, is walking Pecker through a pretty extensive set of exchanges w/ #MichaelCohen & then transactions to create a payment voucher for McDougal's lawyer.
There's a sense of anxiety around all that was taking place to try to justify this payment internally & to placate #Trump's team.
#Pecker is now describing Trump's interest in obtaining boxes of material regarding #KarenMcDougal, saying that #Trump was worried about what would happen if Pecker got "hit by a bus" or his company was sold. Trump "did not want someone else to potentially publish those stories."
Pecker testifies that he was expecting to be paid back for the $150k he sent to Karen McDougal. This is a very important bridge to the third & final #HushMoney deal.
In addition to $150k for her lifetime rights, #Pecker says that #KarenMcDougal had a number of other requests, including being able to write for celebrity magazines, appearing on the cover of health & fitness magazines, & starting her own fitness clothing line & beauty product line. She also wanted to work as a red-carpet anchor.
#Pecker is now describing a 2002 conversation w/ #ArnoldSchwarzenegger where he asked Pecker not to run negative stories about him before his run for governor of California. He was ultimately elected & served from 2003-2011.
Pecker says that women did come forward about relationships that they had w/Schwarzenegger & he did not publish stories on them. One that Pecker passed on ended up in The Los Angeles Times.
Hours before court was set to begin today, #Trump made a campaign stop at a construction site in Manhattan, where he was asked about David #Pecker’s testimony & their relationship. “David’s been very nice," Trump said. "He’s a nice guy.”
(He was nice, but his testimony has been seriously damning to Trump)
Trump was also asked whether he would pay fines if Justice #Merchan found that he had violated the #GagOrder imposed on him by the court. “Oh, I have no idea,” he said.
#Pecker says he didn’t want The #NationalEnquirer associated w/a porn star [puhlease, what it might soil their stellar journalistic reputation?], meaning #StormyDaniels, because one of the tabloid's biggest distributors was Walmart, where a lot of families shop.
The 12 jurors & 6 alternates were seated & David #Pecker resumed his testimony about #KarenMcDougal, a fmr Playboy model who said that she had a sexual relationship w/ #Trump. Prosecutors had saved the specifics of McDougal's story for today. It's an attention-catching way to start & the jurors are listening closely in these opening moments.
"He's doing what the order tells him not to do," Christopher #Conroy, a prosecutor, about #Trump's alleged additional violations of the #GagOrder.
They described Trump's comments at an event this morning as another violation.
Trump was asked by reporters about David #Pecker's testimony, & Trump called Pecker
"a nice guy." Prosecutors say it was a message to Pecker & others: be "nice," or get attacked. (yeah I don’t know about that one)
#Pecker says allegations about women & #Trump were always met by this response from #MichaelCohen, Trump's fmr fixer: "It's not true."
#Cohen, Pecker & #DylanHoward, the #NationalEnquirer editor who interviewed #KarenMcDougal, had a phone call after the interview. Howard said that McDougal claimed to have had an affair w/Trump. Cohen immediately denied the affair happened, but then said that he would look into it. Eventually, he said that a member of the group should try to buy the story.
#Trump muttered something out loud when #Pecker offered this analysis.
#Steinglass just brought up #HopeHicks, Trump’s fmr comms aide, asking about an email chain that was forwarded to her the day after the #AccessHollywood tape came out. Steinglass asks Pecker if he’s ever known Trump to use email. The answer was no (tho in the last ~18 mos, Trump started texting w/people for the 1st time).
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 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."