‘Catch and kill’: David Pecker told how he fought with Trump over payments made to various women

Former National Enquirer editor David Pecker testified at Donald Trump’s criminal trial Thursday that he argued with Trump and his former lawyer before the 2016 election over who should buy the silence of women who they stated that they had sexual encounters with him, according to Reuters.

Pecker’s second day of testimony offered new evidence that he worked as Trump’s “eyes and ears” to suppress stories that could have hurt the businessman-turned-politician’s presidential bid at a time when he was facing multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.

New York prosecutors have accused Trump of falsifying business records to cover up the activity, which they say corrupted the election. Trump pleaded not guilty. Pecker is not facing charges.

Pecker, 72, said American Media, owner of the Enquirer, paid to buy the stories of former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007, and a former janitor of Trump Tower who said Trump fathered an illegitimate child, which turned out to be untrue.

The tabloid didn’t publish either story, but made sure rivals wouldn’t either – a practice known as “catch and kill”.

Pecker said he alerted Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, when he heard that porn star Stormy Daniels was looking to sell her story about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump for $120,000 in the weeks before the election.

Pecker said he was not interested in paying Daniels at that time because he had already paid for the other stories.

“I thought it should be taken off the market, and if anyone was going to buy it, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump should buy it,” Pecker said.

Pecker said Cohen pressured him to buy Daniels’ story, but said he didn’t want to be involved with a porn star.

Cohen said he eventually paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet and received $420,000 back from Trump after the election. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying accounting records for labeling his payments to Cohen as legal fees.

Before that, Pecker said, American Media bought McDougal’s story and signed an agreement to use a shell company to secretly sell it to Trump.

“He was very angry, very upset, basically yelling at me”

Pecker said he canceled the deal after speaking with an attorney for the company.

“Michael Cohen said, ‘The boss is going to be very angry with you.’ And I said: ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going any further, the deal has been canceled,’ Pecker said.

“He was very angry, very upset, basically yelling at me,” Pecker said of Cohen.

Pecker said Trump became angry when Pecker allowed McDougal to speak to the media after the Wall Street Journal revealed the hush-hush deal.

“He was very upset. He couldn’t understand why I did it,” Pecker said.

McDougal is expected to testify later in the trial.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and McDougal.

Hush money payments themselves are not illegal, and Trump’s lawyers have argued that Daniels’ payment was personal and unrelated to his campaign.

Prosecutors say the payment was a campaign expense that should have been disclosed and that Trump’s deal with the Enquirer deceived voters by suppressing stories about the alleged extramarital affairs at a time when he was facing allegations of sexual misconduct.