Magazine publisher David Pecker is scheduled to be the first witness in former President Trump’s criminal hush money trial. The New York Times reported on Sundaythe first criminal trial against a former president is set to begin on Monday.
The case against Trump centers on payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, with prosecutors saying the former president illegally concealed payments days before the 2016 election and talked about past allegations of extramarital affairs. He claims he was trying to silence him.
Pecker, then the publisher of the National Enquirer, admitted to carrying out a “capture and kill” scheme to help Trump win the 2016 election. The scheme consists of the unethical practice of paying sources not to talk negatively about a subject. , in this case Trump.
Around the same time as the payment to Daniels, Mr. Pecker’s media company paid $150,000 to actress Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump. The company then deliberately suppressed McDougall’s story until after the election.
Citing a person familiar with the prosecution’s defense plans, the newspaper reported that Pecker’s testimony is expected to center around his conversation with Trump about hush money payments.
Other prominent witnesses expected to be called in the case include Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer who made the payments to Daniels, Daniels himself and aide Hope Hicks.
It is unclear whether the former president will take the stand in his defense.
President Trump denounced the incident as a political distraction from the 2024 election. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
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