Former publisher David Pecker, who paid McDougal for her story, revealed why Trump did not want to buy the rights to her claims.
Former President Donald Trump knew that former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about their yearlong relationship would get out, according to trial witness David Pecker.
While testifying in Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, Pecker said that Trump told him he did not believe in buying stories because they « always get out. »
Pecker, the only witness that the jury has heard from thus far, returned to the stand on Thursday for a third day of testimony in the hush money case. Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to a hush money payment that was made by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels’ allegations.
Pecker is the former chairman, president and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer. As part of an agreement that Pecker came to with Trump and Cohen in August 2015, in which Pecker would act as the « eyes and ears » of the campaign by stifling negative stories about Trump, Pecker said that he purchased the rights to a story that McDougal was shopping in 2016.
McDougal claims to have had an affair with Trump during his marriage to Melania Trump.
Pecker said that in June 2016, he received a call from Trump after Dylan Howard, the former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, verified McDougal’s story.
