Avril Elfi from OAN
Wednesday, May 29, 2024 6:15 PM
The jury in the so-called “hush money” trial against former President Donald Trump has requested to hear testimony again, via recording, from both Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and businessman David Pecker.
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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is seeking to hear further testimony about the timing of the June 2016 call and what was discussed between Pecker and Trump, according to a copy of the transcript.
Pecker said he bought the Karen McDougal story and then advised Trump to “take it off the market.”
“I believed the story to be true,” Pecker said.
“I think it was very embarrassing for him and for his campaign,” Pecker added of Trump.
Pecker testified that Trump insisted he didn’t believe the stories because they were going to be leaked anyway and that he would be contacting the media again, and that Cohen called him that day or the next day telling him to buy the stories.
At another request, the jury asked about Pecker’s testimony regarding McDougal.At a second request, the jury asked about Pecker’s testimony regarding McDougal’s right to life.
Meanwhile, Steinglass questioned Pecker’s choice to walk away from the deal in order to give Trump McDougal lifetime rights to the subject matter through a third party. National EnquirerAmerican Media Inc. (AMI) bought the rights to this story.
Pecker claims he informed Cohen of his choice in early October 2016.
“I called Michael Cohen and told him that this agreement, this transfer agreement, is dead, I can’t go forward, this is a bad idea, and I want you to kill this agreement,” Pecker said. “He was very, very angry. Very upset. He was basically screaming at me. And I said, ‘You can’t go forward with this agreement. Kill it.’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry, Michael Cohen said, ‘The boss is going to be very angry with you.'”
He also said AMI had not been reimbursed for the money it paid for exclusive rights to the story about McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump.
Finally, they also demanded to hear Cohen’s testimony again regarding his meeting with Pecker in Trump Tower to discuss what AMI would do for the campaign.
When prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen what was discussed during the meeting and what agreement was reached, Cohen said Pecker told him he would “keep an eye out for any negative information about Mr. Trump, and help us find out before it comes out and stop it from coming out.”
Trump’s former lawyer went on to say that AMI had sent him previews of some of the articles it planned to publish and would show them to the former president.
Former President Trump is currently facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection with payments that allegedly helped prevent potentially damaging news from being made public.
Prosecutors allege that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, reimbursed Cohen for the payments to Daniels and gave him additional money in return for completing the assignment. They also allege that those transactions were falsely recorded in the company’s records as legal expenses.
Trump also pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied having sexual relations with the women.
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