MANHATTAN (CN) — A retired media mogul who claims to have had a longstanding transactional relationship Donald Trump described an elaborate scheme by the former president to cover up an affair with model Karen McDougal during testimony at Trump's ongoing criminal trial.
David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media, previously testified that he'd agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of Trump's first presidential campaign. Under the deal, he bought the exclusive rights to some of Trump’s more scandalous rumors in order to shield them from the public.
When Pecker caught word that McDougal, a former Playboy model, was claiming to have had a year-long affair with Trump, he said he immediately called Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen.
“First, he said the story wasn’t true,” Pecker said Thursday. But Pecker and Cohen both believed the rumor to be a threat to Trump’s campaign.
“I felt that this story should be purchased," Pecker testified. "I believed this story was true.”
Pecker said he eventually talked to Trump, who described McDougal as a “nice girl” and asked him if other publications were looking to buy her story.
“You should buy the story and take it off the market,” Trump eventually told him, Pecker testified.
Pecker agreed, but having recently paid $30,000 for the rights to another damning Trump rumor, he said he was hesitant for his company to front another $150,000 to buy McDougal’s. Pecker said Cohen was insistent that American Media be the side to pay, however.
“Why should I pay?" Pecker recalled asking Cohen. "I just paid $30,000 for the doorman story, now you’re asking me to pay $150,000 for the Karen story?"
Cohen repeatedly assured Pecker that he would be taken care of and told him not to worry about reimbursement because “the boss would take care of it,” Pecker testified Thursday.
So, Pecker drew up a contract for McDougal that stipulated American Media would pay her $150,000 for an array of services — including a batch of ghostwritten stories to appear in his magazines. He admitted Thursday that those services were added to “disguise the true nature” of the contract: to purchase McDougal’s love affair story about Trump.
The rights to “any romantic, personal and/or physical relationship McDougal has ever had with any then-married man” were to be transferred to American Media, one paragraph of the contract said. It was buried between details of McDougal’s purported work obligations.
Pecker said he paid McDougal, but Trump never reimbursed him. When Cohen finally tried, he did so by starting a shell company to discreetly wire the cash — and Pecker, fearful of violating campaign finance laws, pulled out of the agreement at the last minute, much to Cohen’s disdain.
“The boss is going to be very angry with you,” Cohen said, according to Pecker. “I can’t believe it. I’m a lawyer, I’m your friend.”
Prosecutors claim the incident was part of a broader effort from Trump to meddle with the 2016 election by killing negative press about his campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump last year, is accusing the former president of falsifying business records to cover up the supposed hush-money scheme.
Thursday was Pecker’s third day on the witness stand. So far, his recounting of events is nearly identical to that of the prosecutors. Trump pleaded not guilty last year to the 34 counts of falsifying business records.
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