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Items tagged with: pecker
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor asks #MichaelCohen specific questions about the recording.
Cohen says that when he insisted that David #Pecker be paid, he made reference to Pecker's dossier on #Trump. And he says that while he said "financing," he meant "funding," meaning he was asking how Pecker would be repaid for silencing #KarenMcDougal's story.
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #StormyDaniels
Prosecution presents details of the financial transactions that #MichaelCohen originally planned to use to reimburse David #Pecker for the payment to #KarenMcDougal.
Cohen says that Pecker was not the one who was ultimately going to pay to silence the story. It was "Mr. Trump." &, as we look at his call history, he says that a 7-min call placed to Trump on 29 Sept, 2016 -a month before the election — was to inform #Trump that the McDougal matter was “being resolved."
#MichaelCohen says after all that, #Pecker called & told him that #Trump would not have to pay. Cohen said he looked forward to telling Trump this, because it "would make him very happy."
Cohen says Pecker's explanation was that the #KarenMcDougal deal had ended up being good for his co. But the jury heard from Pecker during his testimony, that he had spoken to his general counsel & decided that he did not want to be repaid - because he was worried about committing a #crime.
#MichaelCohen says he had >30k contacts in his phone.
Cohen explains that part of the reason there were so many is because Trump had his own contacts synced onto Cohen's phone for ease.
Cohen describes his relationship w/ David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, & the 1st witness at this trial. Pecker testified that he, Cohen & #Trump entered into a secret plan to suppress negative stories about Trump in 2015.
#MichaelCohen has corroborated some of what #Pecker said about when he first met Cohen.
Cohen says he sometimes contacted Pecker using the encrypted application #Signal - one of the small pieces of corroboration.
Prosecutors look for these opportunities to join up 2 different witnesses' testimony wherever possible.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen has now testified that he, #Trump & David #Pecker, the publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, entered into a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump. He says Pecker "would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out" & try to stop it from doing so.
This is the #conspiracy prosecutors allege Trump participated in - 1 of the potential #crimes that transforms the charges Trump is facing into #felonies.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen is asked how he monitored the progress of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal, & says he did so by text, phone & the app Signal. The prosecutor doesn't dwell on it, but that is documented evidence, & jurors heard from other witnesses, especially David #Pecker, just how much Cohen contacted the parties during that period in 2016.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#MichaelCohen goes through his text messages w/ #DylanHoward, editor of The #NationalEnquirer, about #KarenMcDougal.
"I've got this locked down for you," Howard tells Cohen of the McDougal story. "I won't let it out of my grasp."
Cohen is asked about having been present for a conversation that #Trump had w/ David #Pecker about a week after those texts were sent. Cohen says Trump asked Pecker "how things were going," & Pecker said they had it under control.
#MichaelCohen describes a call when that David #Pecker said that it would take $150k to "control the story," referring to #KarenMcDougal's claims. Cohen testifies that #Trump said "no problem — I'll take care of it," meaning, Cohen says, that Trump would pay him back.
This demonstrate just how desperate Trump was to keep these stories suppressed: A lot of evidence has been entered about how frugal he was. (Though Trump never paid Pecker back for McDougal's story.)
#MichaelCohen reads more text exchanges w/ #NationalEnquirer’s #DylanHoward.
Jurors have already heard a recording, secretly made by Cohen as he talked to #Trump about #KarenMcDougal, corroborating this part Cohen's testimony.
Cohen said that #Pecker had told him the agreement w/McDougal was “bulletproof." That is exactly the same word that Pecker told the #jury that he had used w/Cohen.
#MichaelCohen is now recalling David #Pecker applying pressure to get reimbursed for paying off #KarenMcDougal. "It was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company," he says. He adds that he had several conversations w/ #Trump about that fact. The jury is likely to again hear the recording that was played earlier.
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Pecker "insisted" on being paid back, #MichaelCohen says. He even met w/Cohen at his favorite Italian restaurant. "He expressed his anger that I need to get this money back," Cohen says. Trump kept insisting he would "take care of it." But never did.
Cohen says Pecker intimated that he had known #Trump for years & had essentially compiled a dossier on him, which he would use if need be. Cohen worried that Pecker might release some very damaging stories about Trump.
#Pecker's mounting frustration about paying to kill stories on #Trump's behalf & not getting repaid is what leads to Pecker refusing to pay for #StormyDaniels story, & #MichaelCohen taking over as the funder of the #CatchAndKill operations.
Cohen testifies about recording #Trump directing him to pay David #Pecker back in cash — the jury has heard this recording.
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Importantly, New York has a "one-party consent" law as to recording conversations. If a single party consents to a recording, it is #legal.
Jurors are played, for the 2nd time, the recording that #MichaelCohen described.
Jurors read the transcript of the recording on screens as the audio plays.
Cohen addresses the payment to #Pecker, referring to the publisher as "our friend David." Court again hears #Trump ask about financing & then advising Cohen to "pay in cash."
#TrumpTrial 🧵
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016.
#GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
#criminal #law
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/30/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
The people called the first #witness & #DavidPecker was sworn in.
#Pecker of The National Enquirer, was part of the #CatchAndKill #conspiracy that #Colangelo described in his opening statement, w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen.
Prosecutor Joshua #Steinglass questioned Pecker. He began by asking him basic biographical information.
At that point, #Merchan stopped testimony, to ask jurors if they'd like writing materials to take notes. At least 10 raise their hands.
Questioning resumed.
#Pecker says of his time at The #NationalEnquirer: "We used checkbook #journalism, & we paid for stories.”
#Steinglass asked him whether he had "final say" over editorial decisions. Pecker said anything >$10k had to be approved by him.
Pecker said in his experience, the only thing that's important "is the cover" of a magazine.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Steinglass asked #Pecker to recount his work cell phone number at the time.
That may seem small but it's important — it's a good bet that those numbers will come up when #evidence is presented.
#Trump leaned forward on the defense table as he listened to Pecker's testimony. As Pecker spoke about editor meetings, Trump passed notes to 2 of his lawyers before reportedly “glaring” at Pecker on the stand.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker described the types of people #tabloids typically use as sources: hotel workers, limo drivers, lawyers, etc.
#Trump's lawyers have tried to depict the ##NationalEnquirer #tabloid as a media company like any other. But Pecker's testimony that they practiced “#CheckbookJournalism," & his description of their editorial practices, undermines that argument.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
After a short #testimony, #Pecker was dismissed from the stand. He’ll be back tomorrow.
Justice #Merchan told jurors about the schedule & asked them not to discuss the case w/ anyone & not to read about it. He asked them to put it out of their minds.
[signing off]
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo says #Pecker will testify that $150k was more than The #NationalEnquirer would typically have paid for such a deal, & that Pecker had trouble being reimbursed. Crucially, Colangelo says, Pecker will testify that he spoke to #Trump about it.
Colangelo mentions an audio #recording #Cohen made between himself & Trump discussing the #McDougal deal.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
