Tabloid publisher says he promised to be Trump campaign’s ‘eyes and ears’ during 2016 campaign – Times of India

New York: Veterans Tabloid publishers He made this promise by testifying on Tuesday Donald TrumpThe “eyes and ears” of the period. 2016 presidential campaignDescribed how he promised then-candidates that he would help suppress damaging stories and even arranged to buy gatekeepers’ silence.
David Packer’s testimony seeks to bolster prosecutors’ contention about a decades-long friendship between Trump and the former National Enquirer publisher that culminated in an agreement to feed negative tips and stories to the candidate’s lawyers, in order to get them impeached.
Pekar, the first witness in Trump’s hish money trial in Manhattan, faces 34 felony counts related to a campaign to prevent damaging stories from surfacing in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Prosecutors claimed the effort to suppress indecent information was aimed at illegally influencing the election, enhancing the importance of the former US president’s first trial and the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go before a jury.
Sitting just feet away from Trump in the courtroom, Pekar detailed his close behind-the-scenes involvement in Trump’s journey from political novice to the Republican nomination and then to the White House. He explained how he and the National Enquirer turned the rumors into high-profile tabloid stories, lambasting Trump’s opponents and, just as importantly, how they used his connections to suppress scandalous stories about Trump, including a porn actor’s claim of extramarital sex a decade ago. .
Peck traced their relationship to a meeting in the 1980s at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and said that with the success of the real estate developer’s TV show “The Apprentice” and subsequent celebrity versions of the show, a friendship developed. .
Their relationship was cemented during a key meeting between Trump, his lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015, and another aide, Hope Hope Hicks, attended the meeting, where Peck was asked what she and her magazine could do to help. Can you? campaign
Pekar said he was willing to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents. But that’s not all, she told jurors how she told Trump: “I’m going to be your eyes and ears.”
“I said, anything I hear in the market, if I hear anything negative about myself, or women selling stories, I’m going to report it to Michael Cohen” so he can buy the rights and kill these stories.
“Then they will not be published?”
“So they won’t be published,” Peck replied.
To make their case, prosecutors showed screenshots of various Trump headlines published by the National Enquirer, including: “The Donald Dominates!” and “Global Exclusive: No One Knows Donald Trump.”
Pekar portrayed Cohen as a shadow editor of the Enquirer’s pro-Trump coverage, instructing the tabloid to follow any Republican candidate who gained momentum.
“I would get a call from Michael Cohen, and he would coach Dylan Howard and I on which candidate to pick and which direction we should go,” Peck said, referring to the tabloid’s then-editor.
Packer said he emphasized to Howard that his deal with the Trump operation was “highly, highly confidential.” He said he wanted the tabloid’s bureau chiefs to be on the lookout for any reports implicating Trump and said he wanted to vet them before alerting Cohen.
“I didn’t want other people to know about the deal I made and what I wanted to do,” added the former publisher.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges related to his role in the hush money. He was once a close friend of Trump, but their relationship has soured in alarming ways. Cohen, who is expected to be a star government witness, has frequently posted obscenities against Trump on social media.
Trump’s lawyers are expected to base their defense on attacks on Cohen’s credibility, but in their opening statement with Pekar, prosecutors want to focus on witnesses with far less shaky backstories.
Pack’s testimony before resuming Tuesday followed a hearing earlier in the day in which prosecutors asked Judge Juan Marchan for contempt of court and fined him $1,000 for each of his 10 social media posts, which they said violated earlier gags involving witnesses, jurors and Order prohibiting attacks on others. Other persons involved.
Murchin did not immediately rule, but he was skeptical of defense lawyers’ arguments that Trump was simply responding to attacks by others in his posts and was trying to comply with the order.
Packer’s testimony began Monday after opening statements that suggested a very different road map for the 12-person jury and, just as importantly, the voting public, in a case that will unfold against the backdrop of a hotly contested White House race in which Trump is not only the presumptive Republican nominee. A criminal defendant also faces the possibility of a felony conviction and imprisonment.
Prosecutors accused Trump of trying to illegally influence the 2016 campaign through a practice known in the tabloid industry as “catching,” in which he seized a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then blocking the payer’s deal to kill it. Tell this story to others.
In this case, it included paying porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to settle allegations of extramarital sex, which Trump has denied.
Defense lawyers say Trump is innocent and Cohen can’t be trusted.
Prosecutors also described other arrangements, including paying the former Playboy model $150,000 to suppress allegations of a nearly yearlong affair with the married Trump, which Trump has also denied.
In another instance, Pekar described how the Enquirer paid a janitor $30,000 for the rights to a rumor that Trump had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower. The tabloid concluded the story was untrue, and the woman and Trump denied the allegations.
Trump nodded as Packer described the tip he received in court.
Pekar said he called Cohen immediately after hearing the rumor, and Cohen said it was “absolutely not true” but that he would investigate whether the people involved actually worked for Trump’s company.
“I decided to buy this story because it could be an embarrassment to the campaign and Mr. Trump,” Peck said.
Asked by prosecutors who he understood to be his boss, Peck replied: “Donald Trump.”
Explaining why he decided to let the National Enquirer foot the bill, Peck testified: “It’s going to be a very big story. I thought it was important to take the story off the market.”
Peck said that if he published the story, it would “probably be the biggest sale for the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley.”
Prosecutors said the 34 felony counts of falsifying Trump’s business records stemmed from hush-hush payments made to Cohen by Trump entities.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though it’s unclear if Merchant will seek prison terms. A conviction would not prevent Trump from being re-elected as president, but since this is a state case, he cannot pardon himself if convicted. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

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