David Pecker described his “catch and kill” strategy against Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods and Mark Wahlberg during Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday.
A former spokesperson for the National Enquirer accused Schwarzenegger, who was then married to Maria Shriver, of infidelity and sexual harassment shortly after Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for California governor in 2003. More than 30 women with claims have come forward to the magazine.
Silver-haired Pecker, 72, said he spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” writing negative articles about the bodybuilder-turned-movie star and had a magazine contract with his company, American Media Inc. did. [AMI]at that time.
“The agreement I made with Arnold was that I would call him and advise him on any stories that were out there. And I ended up acquiring them for a period of time and buying them. ” he said.
Schwarzenegger, who did not respond to requests for comment, was subsequently elected and served as governor from 2003 to 2011.
After Schwarzenegger became president, one of the women whose articles Pecker had purchased approached the Los Angeles Times, which published the article. When Schwarzenegger was asked about this by reporters, he said, “Ask his friend David Pecker.”
The episode was “very embarrassing for me and for the company,” Pecker testified.
Mr. Pecker provides evidence of how he bought up articles about Mr. Trump in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors say Mr. Trump worked with Mr. Pecker and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to buy negative stories about Mr. Trump and falsified business records to hide the payments in an attempt to influence the outcome of the election. He is accused of doing so.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Mr. Pecker said he had engaged in a decades-long practice of buying up people’s articles but not publishing them.
He said he bought a photo of golf icon Woods meeting a woman in a Florida parking lot in 2007 and used the photo to put Woods on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine. Ta.
Pecker said he also bought up an article about an argument between Wahlberg and his wife that was never published.
He also recalled catching and killing negative stories about Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor and well-known Democrat who was President Obama’s chief of staff and is currently the U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Earlier, during questioning by prosecutors, Pecker detailed a deal he made to suppress stories about former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougall’s affair with Trump.
Mr. Pecker testified that when Ms. McDougall first approached investigators about purchasing her articles, she said, “I didn’t want to become another Monica Lewinsky.”
Pecker said he offered McDougall $10,000 to tell his story, but McDougall declined.
He ultimately said he arranged to be paid $150,000 for the article and testified that he believed it to be true.
Pecker also spoke about how then-President-elect Trump was flippant about plans to “catch and kill” harmful reporting about him during a January 2017 Trump Tower meeting attended by FBI Director James Comey. As mentioned above, there were no opposing opinions at this meeting.
“He probably knows more about Pecker than anyone in this room,” Trump told the men.
“It was a joke,” Pecker added. “Unfortunately, they didn’t laugh.”
But the joke got to President Trump on Thursday. He smiled at the defense table.
Later in the same meeting, Trump mentioned McDougal, Pecker said.
“How is my daughter doing?” the president-elect is said to have said.
“She’s cool. She’s very quiet. No problem,” Pecker replied.
At the time, McDougall’s claims had already been revealed about two months ago by the Wall Street Journal ahead of the November election.
Pecker also reported that porn star Stormy Daniels published articles in multiple publications about her alleged 2007 night out with President Trump as her candidacy for president gained momentum in early 2016. He testified.
Jurors saw an Oct. 9 text from then-Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to Pecker. “Woman wants 120,000. I have an offer from [Daily] The Mail and GMA want to talk to her and have her take a lie detector test live. I know it has been denied in the past, but this story is true. You can now lock on publish to shut down media buzz and then evaluate your next steps. got it? “
Mr. Pecker replied that he could not afford that amount, and Mr. Howard suggested that he call Mr. Cohen about the matter, and a deal was eventually struck.
After Pecker, who retired as AMI’s CEO in 2020, finished testifying, prosecutors asked him if he had any ill will toward Trump.
He replied: “On the contrary, I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career.
He said they haven’t been in touch since 2019, but added, “I still consider him a friend even though we haven’t talked.”
After the day’s court proceedings, Trump spoke in the courtroom hallway.
Of Mr. Pecker, he said: You saw what happened. It was a breathtaking sight. That’s an amazing testimony.
“This is a trial that should never have happened, a lawsuit that should never have been brought.”
Pecker will return to the stand Friday to complete cross-examination.
