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David Pecker, the former CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media, told jurors today how the tabloid assisted Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaign with positive stories on the candidate and negative, sensationalized articles on his rivals.
At an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, Pecker pledged the resources of his tabloid publishing empire to help Trump, his friend and frequent cover-story subject, get elected president.
“They asked me what can I do and what the magazines could to do to help the campaign?” Pecker said on the stand, recalling a meeting with Trump, lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump 2016 presidential campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks.
“I said what I would do — I would publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would run negative stories about his opponents,” Mr. Pecker told jurors under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass in a second day of testimony in the hush money trial against Trump.
Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, said he also told Trump, “I would be your eyes and ears,” explaining, “If I hear anything negative about yourself or if I hear anything about women telling stories, I will notify Michael Cohen.”
In some cases, Pecker said that they would send stories to Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, for review before publication.
Pecker said he told AMI’s chief content officer and Enquirer editor in chief, Dylan Howard, to notify the east and west coast bureaus that they should flag Trump stories for his review. “I said that any stories that are out there commenting about Donald Trump, commenting about his family, commenting about the election, I want you to vet the stories, and bring them to me… and then I said we’ll have to speak with Michael Cohen.”
If any story needed to be kept out of public view, Pecker said he would help his friend Donald Trump — “as I had done before” — by buying sole rights to the unflattering information from the source and then burying the story.
That arrangement emerged from meeting that lasted 20-25 minutes and it was never committed to writing, Mr. Pecker said,
“It was just an agreement among friends,” Mr. Pecker testified.
The result was a steady diet of stories in Pecker’s tabloid, National Enquirer, praising Trump and skewering his opponents based on information fed to Pecker by Cohen, the former publisher testified.
Jurors saw a collection of all-cap Enquirer headlines shown on a video screen. including “MELANIA TRUMP: HOW SHE HOPED DONALD WOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT,” and “DONALD TRUMP BEATING HILLARY IN KEY SWING STATE POLL.”
For opponents, the headlines included, “BUNGLING SURGEON BEN CARSON LEFT SPONGE IN PATIENT”S BRAIN!” and “TED CRUZ SHAMED BY PORN STAR.”
Ted Johnson contributed to this report.
