_-

the DON JONES INDEX…
		GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 4/29/24... 14,860.44 4/22/24... 14,879.35
	6/27/13… 15,000.00
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 4/29/24... 38/239.81; 4/22/24... 37,986.40; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for APRIL TWENTY NINTH, 2024

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH... AH HAH HAH HAH HAH! IT’S the CATCH-‘N-KILL-PECKER SHOW

Despite his four criminal and more civil cases, a total of 91 indictments (and rising) and denunciations from all of the usual suspects as well as disgruntled Haley voters (namely the moderately conservative suburban women whom Djonald UnFlustered dismisses), former President Trump appears to be in an (unhung) neck and neck race with current President Joe.

Not even the news that leading Veep candidates Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and failed-to-make Gov. Kari Lake (R-Az) have exploded their potentially by boasting of shooting an “untrainable” dog or backing off from glorifying the Arizona abortion decision and, thus, revealing her RINO horn has impacted his polling or fundraising. After all, there are still plenty of crazy MAGAmoms out there if Trump wants to twerk female (“hey... I’m MTG and I’m available!!!”) or he can back a black or just play safe with a vanilla fruitcake in a suit. Still, even though he said that the government’s latest witness in the only case likely to conclude before November... the alleged $130,000 hush money payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels... was still “a nice guy”, he has to be pecked off by the betrayal of his old friend and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker who ruled the roost (the witness box) all week recounting details small and smaller about how Trump (or, as the defendant claimed, his lawyers and his lawyers only) forked over the cash for failing to catch or kill Stormy’s sordid story.

As the government... in this case, New York AyGee Bragg and prosecutor Colangelo... would have the jury believe, the lonely billionaire sought the solace of poor porn star Stormy, then paid her $130,000, then cooked the books to make it seem a business expsnse.

Stormy Monday (and the rest of the week)

Timelines and takeaways from the Criminal Trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan – April 25^th through 30^th

A historic trial begins. Donald Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to cover up a sex scandal, is on trial in Manhattan. He is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted. Here are answers to some key questions about the case:

What is Trump accused of? The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to suppress her story of a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006. While serving as president, Trump reimbursed Cohen, and how he did so constituted fraud, prosecutors say.

Why did prosecutors cite other hush-money payments? Although the charges relate to the payment to Daniels, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is expected to highlight two other hush-money deals. Prosecutors say that the deals show that Trump had orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Who will the key witnesses be? Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness for prosecutors. Bragg is also expected to call David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former Trump aide, to shed light on the tumultuous period surrounding the payments. Trump said he plans to testify in his own defense.

Who is the judge? Juan Merchan, the judge, is a veteran of the bench known as a no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist. During the trial, Justice Merchan will be in charge of keeping order in the courtroom and ruling on objections made by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The jury will decide whether Trump is guilty.

What happens if Trump is convicted? The charges against Trump are all Class E felonies, the least severe felony category in New York. If convicted, Trump faces a prison sentence of four years or less, or he could receive probation.

How is The New York Times covering the trial? The Times will provide comprehensive coverage of the trial, which is set to last six to eight weeks. Expect live updates from the courtroom in Manhattan, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis from our reporting team.

Lawyers for Donald J. Trump on Friday grilled the former publisher of The National Enquirer, casting doubt on his explanation for why he suppressed salacious stories about the Republican presidential candidate before the 2016 election.

The witness, David Pecker, who has known Mr. Trump for decades, had faced a stern cross-examination from one of the former president’s defense lawyers, Emil Bove, who pressed Mr. Pecker

Mr. Bove sought to convince the jury of two fundamental points about the stories, which Mr. Pecker bought and then buried: Such arrangements, characterized by prosecutors as “catch and kill,” were standard for the publisher, and that Mr. Pecker had previously misled jurors about the details of the transactions. (New York Times, 4/24/24, Attachment One)

Mr. Bove sought to convince the jury of two fundamental points about the stories, which Mr. Pecker bought and then buried: Such arrangements, characterized by prosecutors as “catch and kill,” were standard for the publisher, and that Mr. Pecker had previously misled jurors about the details of the transactions.

A “nice guy”...

Legally, the most damaging aspect of Pecker’s occurred on Thursday, when... on the third day of his testimony... the former National Enquirer boss who used the publication to buoy Trump ahead of the 2016 election. “While Pecker’s testimony earlier this week contained plenty of damning evidence, the former tabloid boss dropped an under-oath bombshell when he recalled that Trump complained to him that Stormy Daniels had breached the hush-money deal she’d made with Trump fixer Michael Cohen after the porn star gave a televised interview about her alleged affair with the former president.” (Rolling Stone, April 25, 2024, Attachment Two)

Pecker testified to Trump’s knowledge of the Daniels agreement on Thursday. “He said that we have an agreement with Stormy Daniels that she cannot mention my name or anything like this and that each time she breaches the agreement it is a $1 million penalty, and based on the interview with Anderson Cooper, she owes me $24 million dollars,” Pecker said, according to NBC News.

Rolling Stone also reported that the Enquirer had previouslybought, and then killed, Playboy model Karen McDougal‘s story about her alleged affair with Trump. Pecker said on Thursday that Trump knew about the deal, which sent $150,000 to McDougal in exchange for her silence.

“Do you know whether anyone other than Michael Cohen had knowledge of this contract?” the prosecution asked Pecker. “Yes, I believe Donald Trump did,” he replied.

Pecker also testified that he refused to purchase the story because he didn’t “want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star.”

“I am not a bank,” he said he told Cohen, advising the lawyer to “buy this story and take it off the market, because if you don’t and it gets out, I think the boss is going to be very angry with you.”

This allegedly led Cohen to buy Daniels’ silence himself, and Trump later reimbursed his lawyer for “servi,ces rendered.” Prosecutors say this was a crime, as the payment amounts to an illegal campaign expenditure. “They agreed to cook the books,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said during opening arguments, calling the scheme “election fraud, pure and simple.”

Reuters (April 24, Attachment Three) reported that Pecker’s quashed Stormy’s story “even though it would have boosted sales of his tabloid”.

"You killed the story because it helped the candidate, Donald Trump?" prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him.

Pecker said yes.

After Pecker's testimony, prosecutors called two more witnesses to boost their case.

Rhona Graff, who worked as Trump's business assistant from 1987 to 2021, testified she once saw Daniels at Trump Tower before he ran for president. She said she heard Trump say he was interested in casting her on "The Apprentice," the reality TV show he hosted.

She said the email addresses of Daniels and McDougal were stored in the computer systems of Trump's company.

Next, banker Gary Farro testified that Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, set up accounts with him shortly before the election for two shell companies, including one that was used to pay Daniels.

During cross-examination, Trump lawyer Emil Bove sought to undermine Pecker's credibility and sought to illustrate that Pecker's checkbook journalism was not confined to Trump... and the witness acknowledged that he’d also killed stories on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Marla Maples, Trump’s former wife.

Despite the testimony, Pecker’s still... according to his own statement as noted in The Hill (Attachment Four)... in Trump’s “good graces”.

“David’s been very nice,” the former president said Thursday morning, hours before the publisher would retake the witness stand for a third day, where he would reveal even more details of the backroom deals at the heart of the case. “He’s a nice guy.”  

“Do you have any bad feelings or ill will about the defendant?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked the publisher as the last question of his direct examination. 

“On the contrary,” Pecker said. “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor.” 

Trump would introduce Pecker to other New York executives and tip him off about news from his show, “The Apprentice,” which Pecker’s magazine readers would “religiously” follow. 

“He helped me throughout my career,” Pecker testified.  

Nonetheless, Pecker “gave a damning account of the tabloid’s role in helping stifle negative stories about Trump and elevate bad press – often untrue – about his political opponents” and unspooled a spooky story about killing a Trump Tower doorman’s accusation that Trump purportedly had an illegitimate child which... although proven false... motivated the publisher to buy it for $30,000 – knowing it would be “very embarrassing” to Trump’s campaign if it got out.

But he refused Cohen’s request for Stormy money, saying that he’d told the fixer that : “I am not a bank” which led to Cohen having to front the payoff out of his own pocket – the accounting upon which comprising the crime which seems most likely to send the Republican candidate to prison before November.

Djonald UnFazed also exuded benevolence on Friday afternoon as Rhona Graff began her testimony; the former president “smiling and chuckling” at Graff as she spoke positively of her former boss, calling him “fair and respectful.”

Next up, next week The Hill predicted... more FOTs (“friends of Trump”... including former spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former comptroller. Otherwise engaged are former attorney and NYC Mayor Rudy G. and Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff.

Both Giuliani and Meadows are each fighting two separate election-related indictments, one in Georgia, alongside Trump as a defendant, and now one in Arizona, for their alleged efforts in trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election.

Pecker, as depicted in a WikiBio (Attachment Five) is a born and bred New Yorker... born in the Bronx and graduating from Pace University in 1973. He toiled as an accountant for Price Waterhouse, then CBS and, in 1999, convinced investors to help him purchase American Media, Inc. (AMI), publisher of the Star, the Globe, the National Enquirer, and the Weekly World News.

There, he came under fire for allegedly extorting Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and journalist Ronan Farrow and, after El Patron was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by DA Bragg after reimbursed Cohen $420,000, for the payoff, “fees, a bonus and taxes, and illegally recorded the payments as legal fees. Proving that the payments were inherently linked to Trump’s political aspirations is critical to prosecutors’ ability to charge Trump with felonies in the case, as the falsifying business records charges are typically misdemeanors. Prosecutors must prove that Trump committed the alleged misdemeanors in conjunction with another crime—in this case violating campaign finance laws since the payment to Daniels exceeded federal contribution limits.”

Axios (April 25^th, Attachment Seven) reported that Pecker “was granted immunity from prosecution by the DOJ in 2018 for providing information to federal prosecutors about the hush money payments.” His jousting with Schwarzenegger (a more-or-less-failed “Apprentice” rival) was further explicated in the Independent U.K. – Attachment Eight (A) – while what the New York as “strong-arming” against Tiger Woods after catching him in a “sex romp” with mistress Mindy Lawton in his Escalade in 2007, “years before his extramarital affairs became public,” was depicted in the New York Post - Attachment Eight (B).

“He always said that they were all snakes,” a Woods insider tracked down by the Post recalled. “They promised to protect him, but that only went so far. When they had the chance, they ran the story of his cheating anyway. They really f—d him in the end.”

Even more partisan was today’s AP expose in which the politician and peckerman alleged colluded in numerous media scams... an “astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid (which) may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died.” (Attachment Nine)

“It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of the Enquirer from 2014 to 2017. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.”

That courtroom testimonty could kill off or even seriously obstruct the reputation of a tabloid tell-alls like the Enquirer (or its even more squamous nephew, the Weekly World News) was catnip to the “sober” AP which hailed its premature burial after Pecker’s progress to another world – AP’s David Bauder declaring that, however its stories “danced on the edge of credulity”, the Enquirer was a cultural fixture from the 1960s onward in its place on racks at supermarket checkout lines, “where people could see headlines about UFO abductions or medical miracles while waiting for their milk and bread to be bagged” or, at its most grating and most profitable, displaying pix of Elvis Presley in his coffin for its front cover of the issue that sold 6.9 million copies, according to the 2020 documentary, “Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer.”

“Celebrity news was a staple,” the AP said, and the Enquirer paid sources around Hollywood to learn what the stars’ publicists wouldn’t say. “It may have been true. It may have had just a whiff of truth. It was rarely boring.”

The tabloid busted and broke the careers of Gary Hart and John Edwards and only the catch-and-kill saved Schwarzenegger during his chase of California’s governorship; a template for Pecker’s comfort and joy to Trump at the expense of political rivals like the Clintons or, later, Ted Cruz.

On Thursday, Pecker was back on the witness stand to tell more about the arrangement he made “to boost Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016, tear down his rivals and silence any revelations that may have damaged him.” (Elizabeth Williams via AP – Attachment Eleven)

His exodus from American Media in 2020 was - recalled the New York Post, (August 21, 2020 Attachment Twelve) – conditional to a deal to sell off the company to a hedge fund that enriched, but disempowered, the disgraced catch-and-killer... himelf caught and killed when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos claimed that Pecker and the National Enquirer were trying to blackmail him over his affair with Lauren Sanchez and Federal investigators were pumping up the pressure on Woody.

“In exchange for turning rat, Pecker and former Enquirer editor Dylan Howard were granted immunity in the federal case in the US Southern District of New York.”

Under the restructuring, the wholesale distributorwas to be renamed Accelerate 360 which, in addition to magazines, also distributes candy, gum, health bars mini-hand sanitizers and other items sold at the front of 55,000 retail outlets nationally. The Enquirer, Star, Life & Style, OK! and other will now be headed by former group publisher Chris Scardino; Pecker was demoted to “senior executive advisor.”

As the trial closed for the weekend, “secret deals, six-figure payoffs, salacious stories -- the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker in Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has offered a rare window into the tabloid practice of checkbook journalism, where a publication pays its sources.” (ABC, April 26^th, Attachment Twelve)

The scheme to “catch and kill” unflattering stories about Trump now lies at the heart of the prosecutors’ case, “alleging Pecker arranged to pay sources for the rights to such stories to suppress them.”

Editors at the magazine could spend up to $10,000 to get ahold of a story, but any payment exceeding that amount required sign-off from Pecker, he testified.

Pecker said that he retained "the final say on the celebrity side of the magazines."

“We used checkbook journalism and we paid for stories,” Pecker added.

Ridiculous condemnations sprouted up from Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, who told ABC News that: “It’s definitely not within the bounds of journalistic practice,” and pompously preaching that: “Journalists exist to report the news, not suppress it.” Or just make it up.

The Society of Professional Journalists, a nationwide organization representing journalists, further condemned checkbook journalism in a statement on Tuesday in response to testimony in the hush money trial.

“It is clearly unethical,” SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins said in a stirring but equally ridiculous statement.

And, amidst many more self-serving statements from the untabloid press, checkbook journalism is protected by the First Amendment. John Watson, a professor of journalism at American University who focuses on ethics, told ABC News, told ABC that the press enjoys wide latitude around how and what to publish.

"The First Amendment protects any sort of expression, outside of obscenity," Watson said, while acknowledging other exemptions for false and defamatory speech.

Over the waters in France, the august and influential Le Monde cited Pecker’s “fabricated scoops (and) concerted attacks on the billionaire's rivals” (April 24, 2024, Attachment Thirteen)... perhaps falling short of the mark only in failing to note that Djonald is probably not a billionaire any more... pending the litany of litigation he is facing.

Even the once-friendly Fox piled on the abuse... reporting that, in addition to the Stormy scandal-turned-crime, Pecker, on his second day of testimony, calmly described forking over cash in two such instances: one for a story that turned out to be flatly untrue, and one to buy the silence of former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who’d alleged a 10-month affair that Trump denies.

Pecker said former Trump fixer Michael Cohen invited him to the candidate’s June 2015 launch, part of an effort to show how close he was to Trump and his team. (The personal Fox favorite: He pitched a magazine called Trump Style, and Trump would leak him the ratings for "The Apprentice," which the Enquirer would publish.)

Stormy-fixer Cohen would call, the Fox said, and ask for a negative story on, say, Ted Cruz, send the information, "and we’d embellish it from there." This led to the infamous “Daddy Killed JFK” fiasco as well as "Ted Cruz Sex Scandal: 5 Secret Mistresses" Or there would be a request for a hit piece on another Trump rival (turned dogsbody): "Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s Brain."

Still, The Hill said Trump was in an apparently forgiving mood Thursday morning, hours before the publisher would retake the witness stand for a third day, where he would reveal even more details of the backroom deals at the heart of the case. “David’s been very nice,” the former president said.” (Attachment Fifteen) “He’s a nice guy.”  

In return, the liberal and normally combative Slate played it straight as the week’s testimony(Attachment Sixteen) opining that Daddy DA Bragg’s strategy was evolving into that dark hole of prosecutorial adventure... an official conspiracy theory.

“The word “conspiracy” was not a prominent feature of Bragg’s pretrial legal filings. But it came up again and again in the first two days of presentation to the jury this week. The idea of a “conspiracy” was so central to the prosecution’s case—and maybe so ominous-sounding—that Trump’s defense team even tried to get prosecutors to stop using the word.

“It’s understandable why they’d do that,” Slater Jeremy Stahl stated. “Taking part in a “criminal conspiracy” sounds a lot worse than allegedly violating Byzantine campaign finance laws that nobody really understands and that might not normally even be enforced properly anyhow.”

Baby Doc DA Matthew Colangelo’s opening arguments focused heavily on an August 2015 meeting among Trump, Cohen, and Pecker, who has also been the prosecution’s first witness against Trump. “During this, the word “conspiracy” came up more than a few times. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” Colangelo argued. “Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again.” Colangelo said “conspiracy” more than a dozen times during that opening argument.

At one point in the testimony on Tuesday, Slate pointed out, the prosecution “tried to add that 2016 Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon also may have conspired with Pecker. Defense attorney Emil Bove objected, and complained to the judge that the “whole line of questioning” about co-conspirators should be inadmissible because conspiracy was never charged, meaning the defense was resultingly not given fair notice about who might be considered a co-conspirator.

“But prosecutor Joshua Steinglass stepped in to argue that “there is conspiracy language” in one of the election statutes charged, which makes his team’s use of the word fair game. Justice Merchan agreed. The problem for the defense is that “conspiracy” sure sounds worse than friends working together to “influence” an election.”

Slate ruminated that Trump’s legal team intended to counter Pecker’s testimony on cross-examination, portraying Pecker as a sleazebag who betrayed his friend—a “rat” in Trump parlance—to save his own skin. And this is exactly what they did... despite Trump’s own forgiving attitude. The defense also portrayed the unusual cooperation deal that Trump had with Pecker as what Slated called “typical of journalist–source relationships, which often involve reporters trying to curry favor with the people they cover in exchange for information.”

At the close of Friday’s cross-examination, the Explainer (April 26^th, Attachment Seventeen) propounded six “key takeaways” from Pecke’s pronouncements... these being...

Pecker grilled on editorial process, 2015 meeting

Term ‘catch-and-kill’ not used in 2015 meeting

Karen McDougal deal

Longtime Trump aide testifies about Daniels, McDougal contacts

Trial hears from third witness

Gag order hearing next week

The WashPost’s review of Friday’s development noted that that last which, like a conviction for fraud might have resulted in his serving time at New York’s jail complex on Rikers Island or in state prison (if only for a few hours, or days).

The former president’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, said there was "absolutely no willful violation of a gag order" and that his client was allowed to respond to attacks by Cohen and Daniels.

It was "silly," Merchan said, to assume the gag order was somehow waived because Trump had been attacked.

Finally, the judge scolded Blanche: "You’re losing all credibility with the court. You’ve presented nothing."

Monday morning’s outcome found Marchan... who coulda, mighta locked Djonald up for the weekend and spoil his weekend of campaigning and fundraising chose, instead, to fine him... all of $9,000.

Another wet blanker!

	Our Lesson: April Twenty Second through Twenty Eighth, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024 Dow: 38,239,98	It’s Earth Day. CBS tells Don Jones to stop hating on sharks because they kill fish that would damage the endangered coral reefs. President Joe celebrates by allocating $7B to solar power. One publicity scooping app is the powering up of powerless Navaho communities in the Southwest. As Stormy Davis trial begins, Biden also says that Donald Trump “corrupted” the 2016 election, countering Djonald’s contention that Joe stole 2020. On the stand, Catch-and-Kill Pecker pecks out a story to help the prosecution (and save his own red, woody arse) and admits to having used “checkbook journalism”. Ahhh hah hah ahhh hah! Team Trump’s lawyers say that any crimes are the fault of... other lawyers. SCOTUS kicks off a busy week taking on the homeless (whose numbers are increasing by leaps and bounds as high rents, foreclosures and evictions increase). Republicans like Saint Ron in Florida and liberals like Gavin Newsome in California say: “Lock them up!” Police are otherwise busy fighting mobs of pro-Hamas anti-Semitic rich students at elite universities, demonstrating against Israel. Speaker Mike, nonetheless, approves military aid to Tel Aviv, as to Kyev and Taipei, earning enmity (and strange harmony with the left) from MTG and the Maga Mob. In other crime news, a criminally country culprit in Vancouver throws a cellphone at Luke Bryan, causing him to take a pratfall worthy of Canada’s funniest videos.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 Dow: 38,503.69	It’s the first full day of Passover. While elite student mobs call for destruction of Israel and extermination of the Jews, the donor class passes over George Santos who reports a treasure chest of... zero... and quietly abandons his restoration bid. The talking class responds to Trump’s first day in court by contending that he looks “diminished and defeated”. Jonathan Karl opines that not only is he not concerned about the $1,000/day fines for violating his gag order, he actually hopes that Judge Marchan will send him to jail so he can double down on martyrdom claims. On Pecker’s second day on the stand, he implicates Michael Cohen as well as Djonald. With his November foe stuck in court (and complaining about the thermostat), President Joe goes to toasty Florida to seek votes, blame Trump for extreme anti-abortion laws and congratulate himself for the arms bill – including the provision to make the ChiComs sell TikTok. He may regret it because Gen. Z social mediots are so afraid of losing their forum for fun and trivia that they will turn out and vote for Trump. But there is more to teenage activism... while the serious kids are rioting against the cops and Jews, the Tik Tok toenails are fighting for their right to party and Swifties are even dipping their toes in economic waters to protest the “funflation” of concert ticket prices.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 Dow: 38,460.92	Under a “pink” or “frog” full moon, the young are still croaking out against Israel while the middle aged and elderly are protesting the extension of the proposed anti-abortion ban in Idaho to the country and, then, the world. But there may be hope... Supreme scryers say Amy Coney Barrett may be escaping Camp Trump and even perhaps joining the three female liberals... which would place defeat within reach. But Himself says the Supremes have “handled the matter brilliantly.” The Senate passes the pro-war toy and anti-TikTok legislation 79 to 18 despite the teenage TT addicts complaining that “...TikTok just helps me to be myself in front of a large audience.” (Of ChiCom spies!) Speaker Mike, after securing the arms deal, becomes collateral damage to the elite university pro-Hamas ultra liberal protesters who boo and heckle him wherever he goes, screaming that “we do not want our tuition money going for genocide” and joining MTG in denouncing Jews and calling for universities to boycott any company that does business with Israel. Their icons in Hamas release videos of Hershel Goldberg Polin with his blown off arm on the 201^st day of his captivity. The Hamastages in Gaza cannot escape but police horses in London do and race through the streets awhile before the authorities rein them in.
Thursday, April 25, 2024 Dow: 38,460.72	New wave of pitched battles on campuses between police and pro-Palestinian (and now and again left-wing neo-Nazi) protesters demanding American sanctions and University divestiture against and from Israel – a bizarre replay of 1968 anti-Vietnam War protests. As violence mounts, Speaker Johnson threatens to call in the National Guard (for a Kent State redux?). Emory police use tasers and stun guns (and, according to the liberal Guardian UK) rubber bullets on tent city occupiers. Trekking further back in time, Americans and Arizona politicians pivot and propagandize on hyper-extreme 1864 abortion law as legislators debate repeal. Many pro-lifers love the law, but fear it may destroy Team Trump in November (as well as legions of local Republicans). Nostalgia also takes a bow as Ohio police do a George Floyd on black man after a traffic accident, another Boeing (a 747 sold to Lufthansa) narrowly escapes crash at LAX and... on the brighter side... the NCAA gives Reggie Bush back his Heisman now that his crime (marketing his name and likeness) is no longer criminal. This enables the NFL draft to begin without (or with fewer) distractions.
Friday, April 26, 2024 Dow: 38,085.80	It’s National Pretzal Day and lawyers for and against Donald Trump are twisting and turning technicalities into salty snacks to bedazzle the Stormy jury (above). Amidst the other civil and criminal trials, SCOTUS seems hesitant to support Presidential immunity, and partisan furor over the One Six might mean the cases of all of those “patriots” (or “insurrectionists” if you will) will have to be kicked back down to lower courts, In other, perhaps related, news, a NY appeals court vacates the sex crime convictions of Harvey Weinstein, causing violated women... the famous and squamous... to howl. Ashley Judd says, of Harvey and his ilk: “First they take your body, then they steal your time.” The DA promises to hold another trial and, since Weinstein is also serving a California sentence, the good news for women is that he won’t be out on bond in the near future. There’s good and bad news for travelers – male and female. Carnival Cruise rehabilitates its image (somewhat) when sailors rescue shipwrecked and drowning Cuban refugees. The bad is that Americans who go to the Turks and Caicos Islands (where the money goes) are arrested for forgotten bullets in their luggage and sentenced to 12 years. And the ugly is that there’s another near disaster at JFK airport where five planes engage on a death dance on the runway. (At least Boeing is not at fault; authorities blame tired and stressed air traffic controllers.)
Saturday, April 27, 2024 Dow: Closed	President Joe meets and greets a four year hostage relased in the earlier cease fire deal and begs Bibi to go back to negotiating with Hams (and various other playets) and not to invade Rafah. According to the Hamas government in Gaza, 34,000 Palestinians have been killed so far – some Hamas, most not (including 14,000 children). With starvation at hand, America is working on its floating pier to offload food and medicines. Boeing blunders causing Southwest to cut back on flights, close presence at some airports and lay off employees without pay so they can’t pay their rents, become homeless and... depending on another SCOTUS scuffle... get arrested for sleeping, hide under bushes from police and be fined money they don’t have if the Supremes rule on an Oregon “lock up the homeless” bill. Two million Teslas are recalled for autopilots that, as repairmen say: “provide a false sense of security.” The UAW scores a double, winning a new contract in the South (Tennessee) and against foreign car and truckmakers in the U.S. And if they move offshore, there’s always the Stagecoach... not an 1864 vehicle but a festival in Palm Springs that opens with Jellyroll and with rumours that Queen Bee or even Taylor will show up.
Sunday, April 28, 2024 Dow: Closed	TV Sunday talk begins Saturday night with the Correspondents’ Dinner (aka Nerd Prom) where, unlike Djonald UnMirthful, President Joe give and takes jokes with Jost (SNL’s Colin – Trump’s new go against guy, replacing Kimmel) and cracks ‘em up with lines like: “I’m a grown man running against a six year old.” And then dawn brings the serious stuff (as well as tornadoes, Hamas hostage videos and reports of black bears invading small Northern California towns. George Stephanopolous djenounces Djonald (he was Clinton’s former SecPress,duh!) with the scale of his criminality being “so staggering that it may become numbing” while Justice Kagan opines, off the bench, that: “The President is not a Monarch!” (More on Trumptrials above) Talking head Dan Abrams calls the Stormy case “a souped up misdemeanor” and predicts a hung jury – but Norm Eisen (a Brookings fellow) says he’s headed for “conviction and jail.” (And re-election?) Former Trump lawyer Tim Parlatone opines that “politics has devolved.” At least there’s next year... the NFL holds its yearly draft. Caleb Williams goes to Da Bears as Number One and, days later, Alabama safety Jalen Key goes to the Jets as Mister Irrelevant.
In another slow week marked by deals pending (arms for Israel and Ukraine), peace not pending (for Israel and Ukraine), Stormy (Daniels) squibbets (above) and stormy weather (that, fortunately, killed only one American) and the Wayback Machine taking Arizona way back to 1864, the Don fell a little further below bedrock... primarily because of all that spending (worthy or not) with no source of revenue to accommodate it. As private and public debt teeters on the brink of the trillion dollar cliff, Don Jones sat, entranced, at the NFL draft as Mrs. Jones (perhaps) celebrated Caitlin’s Nike deal and Nazis, in disguise as sweet, rich college kids, denounced the Jews on Passover Week.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Negative/harmful indices in RED. See a further explanation of categories here…

ECONOMIC INDICES		(60%)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE	RESULTS by PCTG.			SCORE		OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/17/13 [revsd. 1/1/22	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	LAST WEEK	THIS WEEK	RESULTS by STATISTIC.
Wages (hrly. Per cap)	9%	1350 points	4/22/24	+0.27%	5/24	1,501.89	1,501.89	https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 29.79 nc
Median Inc. (yearly)	4%	600	4/22/24	+0.033%	5/6/24	669.73	669.95	http://www.usdebtclock.org/   39,492
Unempl. (BLS – in mi)	4%	600	4/22/24	+2.63%	5/24	600.31	600.31	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/  3.8
Official (DC – in mi)	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.18%	5/6/24	236.65	236.23	http://www.usdebtclock.org/      6,757
Unofficl. (DC – in mi)	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.10%	5/6/24	250.53	250.27	http://www.usdebtclock.org/     12,768
Workforce Participation Number Percent	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.343% +0.0006%	5/6/24	302.27	302.27	In 161,840 Out 100,082 Total: 261,922 http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 61.789
WP % (ycharts)*	1%	150	4/22/24	+0.32%	5/24	151.43	151.43	https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.70
OUTGO	(15%)
Total Inflation	7%	1050	4/24	+0.4%	5/24	962.47	962.47	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.4
Food	2%	300	4/24	+0.1%	5/24	273.80	273.80	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.1
Gasoline	2%	300	4/24	+1.7%	5/24	233.15	233.15	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm    +1.7
Medical Costs	2%	300	4/24	+0.5%	5/24	290.49	290.49	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.6
Shelter	2%	300	4/24	+0.4%	5/24	264.72	264.72	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.4
WEALTH
Dow Jones Index	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.666%	5/6/24	318.63	320.75	https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 38,239.61
Home (Sales) (Valuation)	1% 1%	150 150	4/22/24	+9.50% +1.42%	5/24	142.13 277.27	142.13 277.27	https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M):  4.38 Valuations (K):  384.5
Debt (Personal)	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.95%	5/6/24	266.77	264.24	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    75,925
GOVERNMENT	(10%)
Revenue (trilns.)	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.29%	5/6/24	407.37	408.56	debtclock.org/       4,807
Expenditures (tr.)	2%	300	4/22/24	+2.41%	5/6/24	312.83	305.29	debtclock.org/       6,766
National Debt tr.)	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.063%	5/6/24	387.95	387.70	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    34,695
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.12%	5/6/24	397.98	397.49	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    99,895
TRADE	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	4/22/24	+0.07%	5/6/24	298.34	298.12	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    8,280
Exports (in billions)	1%	150	4/22/24	+2.26%	5/24	163.34	163.34	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 263.0
Imports (in billions))	1%	150	4/22/24	-2.20%	5/24	165.05	165.05	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 331.9
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)	1%	150	4/22/24	+2.18%	5/24	305.05	305.05	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 68.9
SOCIAL INDICES		(40%)
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Affairs	3%	450	4/22/24	-0.1%	5/6/24	448.47	448.02	With too many tourists, Venice begins thwacking them with fines and fees. American tourists arrested in Turks & Caicos for having forgotten bullets in luggage – face twelve years. Passover begins in the MidEast as Ramadan ends. A “ruling council” attempts to stabilize Haiti while India’s Trumpish PM Modi destabilizes relations with Muslims, calling them “infiltra(i)tors”.
War and terrorism	2%	300	4/22/24	-0.1%	5/6/24	287.24	285.95	Hamas releases more taunting coerced videos of tortured American hostage as SecState Blinken asserts, as ever, that a deal is near then goes to China to warn Xi about arms for Russia. (TikTok goes unmentioned.) Israel scapegoats two IDF officers in World Food Center massacre as “miracle baby” dies amidst Rafah rubble and President Joe shows off a 4 year old hostage survivor.
Politics	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.1%	5/6/24	477.62	478.10	Zelenskyy praises Speaker Mike, who prayed then pivoted to support aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan over screechings from the Freedom Caucus and pro-Hamas protesters at elite American colleges who accuse Jews of genocide. Pro-Israel politicians claim many are “outside agitators” and philosophy professors. Papua New Guinea criticized Biden for suggesting that cannibals on the island had eaten his uncle during World War II.
Economics	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.1%	5/6/24	442.36	442.80	Fed reports interest rates rise again to 7.17%. Liberal FTC revises overtime and non-compete laws to favor workers as UAW celebrates first Southern wins in Tennessee and North Carolina and first unionization of foreign (German) auto factories in America. But wage incrases in California cause fast food prices to rise and Swifties protest “funflation” concert ticket price spikes.
Crime	1%	150	4/22/24	+0.4%	5/6/24	235.20	236.14	Secret Service blames “Eastern Europe gangs” for EBT/food stamp cards and causing poor Americans to starve. Attack on LA Mayor called crime, not terror but overall shootings, scams, robberies and sex crimes are down for the week except that one naked man causes consternation at Starbucks.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.1%	5/6/24	386.03	386.42	Earth Day kicks off with people advocating kindness to... sharks? President Joe announces grants for solar power to install the grid in shut out Navajo Nation and opens applications for the American Climate Corps. Tornadoes batter the Midwest, destroying Sulphur (Ok) and Waterloo (Nb) but killing only one.
Disasters	3%	450	4/22/24	-0.2%	5/6/24	419.67	418.83	Travel good: Carnival Cruise rescues shipwrecked Cuban refugees. Travel bad: Near airplane catastrophes at JFK runway while, also in New York, emergency chute falls off Delta’s Boeing 767. (There are now so many Boing blunders that Southwest is chasing bankruptcy, cutting flights, closing airport stations, firing employees without compensation.) On the ground, fiery train derailment in Ohio spreads clouds of toxic gas.
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX		(15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	4/22/24	-0.1%	5/6/24	635.91	635.27	Student rioters party like it’s 1968 – except that it’s against the Jews. They’ll have more time since Congress told the ChiComs: sell TikTok or we’ll ban it. In the Senate, Mark Warner (D-Va) calls it “creative... but Chinese” while Ed Markey (D-Ma) cites First Amendment protections. Quiet students voice their quiet resentments over losing graduation ceremonies after losing their high school graduations to plague... even quieter youth pass up college altogether as too expensive and full of useless courses that don’t prepare grads for Life After. But don’t act out your grievances in school – Tennessee votes to let teachers carry guns.
Equality (econ/social)	4%	600	4/22/24	-0.2%	5/6/24	648.77	647.47	Caitlin Clark is NikeRich but now new and old WNBA fans are asking what about the rest of the players? In Ohio, George Floyd “can’t breathe” sequel, cop accused of choking and murdering black driver after traffic stop.
Health	4%	600	4/22/24	-0.2%	5/6/24	466.20	465.27	FDA announces Bird Flu has spread to humans, dolphins and cows. Bad burgers recalled for E. Coli while two million Teslas are recalled for autopilot systems that “offer a false sense of security” and Hyundai recalls cars that just stop for no reason on busy freeways. Longest haul plague patient dies after 613 days.
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.2%	5/6/24	466.01	466.94	Busy week for SCOTUS: jailing the homeless, Idaho abortion law. and immunity law, causing MAGA to charge: “If you don’t have immunity, you have a ceremonial Presidency. 139 Nassar sex crime victims share $1B settlements from NCAA, Michigan and DOJ. NY appeals court exonerates Harvey Weinstein of sex crimes but sends him to California to serve his sentence there as Ashley Judd recalls his crimes.
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS			(6%)
Cultural Incidents	3%	450	4/22/24	+0.2%	5/6/24	527.22	528.27	Stagecoach Fest in Palm Springs opens with Jellyroll and rumours that Taylor and/or Queen Bee might perform. Fanthing throws a cellphone at Luke Bryan whose pratfall doesn’t cause serious injuries. A chockablock sports week as MLB gets underway, NFL draft week highlights QB Caleb Williams going to the Bears as Number One; NBA playoffs continue as Caitlin supplements her 76K WNBA salary with $28M Nike deal. Reggie Bush gets his Heisman back after college athlete marching laws eased. And the Library of Congress has inducted 25 more Masters of Music ranging from Perry Como to the Notorious B.I.G. (see attachment below) RIP: TV stars Marla Adams (“The Young and the Restless”) and Partridge Family’s rocker David Cassidy, conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, journalist Terry Anderson (six years a hostage in Lebanon).
Misc. Incidents	3%	450	4/22/24	-0.1%	5/6/24	512.57	512.06	As National Fertility Week ends, the CDC says American fertility is down. (See last week’s Lesson) Famous French Moulin Rouge windmill collapses, as does famous American windbag George Santos, who ends his quest to retun to Congress after raising zero money. A lot of Joneses will miss the Lyin’ King and his comic relief... but not enough to give him a dime.

The Don Jones Index for the week of April 22nd through April 28, 2024 was DOWN 9.91 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

LAWYER TRIES TO SHAKE HIS CONFIDENCE

David Pecker, who was the keeper of Donald J. Trump’s secrets, insisted he had testified truthfully about his dealings with the former president.

By Jesse McKinley and Jonah E. Bromwich April 26, 2024

Lawyers for Donald J. Trump on Friday grilled the former publisher of The National Enquirer, casting doubt on his explanation for why he suppressed salacious stories about the Republican presidential candidate before the 2016 election.

The witness, David Pecker, who has known Mr. Trump for decades, faced a stern cross-examination from one of the former president’s defense lawyers, Emil Bove, who pressed Mr. Pecker about two deals he had reached in 2015 and 2016 with people who were seeking to sell stories about Mr. Trump.

Mr. Bove sought to convince the jury of two fundamental points about the stories, which Mr. Pecker bought and then buried: Such arrangements, characterized by prosecutors as “catch and kill,” were standard for the publisher, and that Mr. Pecker had previously misled jurors about the details of the transactions.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.

In one particularly tense moment, Mr. Bove pushed Mr. Pecker to explain a seeming discrepancy between his testimony this week and notes from a 2018 interview with the F.B.I. Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Trump had thanked him after the election for helping to conceal one such story, but the interview notes did not record Mr. Trump’s expression of gratitude.

Mr. Pecker, who ultimately acknowledged the inconsistency, resisted Mr. Bove’s implication that there was a contradiction and said he had been honest in his testimony.

“I know what the truth is,” Mr. Pecker said, suggesting F.B.I. agents might have erred in their notes. “I can’t state why this is written this way. I know exactly what was said to me.”

Mr. Pecker’s testimony was crucial for the Manhattan district attorney’s office as prosecutors seek to show that Mr. Trump was part of a three-man conspiracy to bury negative stories as he worked to win the presidency. Prosecutors argue that Mr. Trump eventually falsified records to hide a third hush-money deal in order to conceal the payment that his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, had made to the porn star Stormy Daniels.

The former president faces 34 felony charges and could spend four years in prison if convicted. He denies all charges.

The prosecution witnesses who followed Mr. Pecker on Friday provided a less dramatic conclusion to the trial’s first week of testimony.

The Criminal Trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan

A historic trial begins. Donald Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to cover up a sex scandal, is on trial in Manhattan. He is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted. Here are answers to some key questions about the case:

What is Trump accused of? The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to suppress her story of a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006. While serving as president, Trump reimbursed Cohen, and how he did so constituted fraud, prosecutors say.

Why did prosecutors cite other hush-money payments? Although the charges relate to the payment to Daniels, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is expected to highlight two other hush-money deals. Prosecutors say that the deals show that Trump had orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Who will the key witnesses be? Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness for prosecutors. Bragg is also expected to call David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former Trump aide, to shed light on the tumultuous period surrounding the payments. Trump said he plans to testify in his own defense.

Who is the judge? Juan Merchan, the judge, is a veteran of the bench known as a no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist. During the trial, Justice Merchan will be in charge of keeping order in the courtroom and ruling on objections made by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The jury will decide whether Trump is guilty.

What happens if Trump is convicted? The charges against Trump are all Class E felonies, the least severe felony category in New York. If convicted, Trump faces a prison sentence of four years or less, or he could receive probation.

How is The New York Times covering the trial? The Times will provide comprehensive coverage of the trial, which is set to last six to eight weeks. Expect live updates from the courtroom in Manhattan, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis from our reporting team.

Rhona Graff, Mr. Trump’s former executive assistant and gatekeeper at Trump Tower, testified about entries from the Trump Organization computer system that contained contact information for Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, and for a “Stormy.”

The day’s last witness was Gary Farro, who was Mr. Cohen’s banker when the former fixer executed financial transactions with First Republic Bank to enable the hush money payment to Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Farro will return to the witness stand on Tuesday, when court resumes. He is expected to take less time testifying than Mr. Pecker, who began his four days on the stand on Monday and said that he had come to an agreement with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen in a meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015.

There, Mr. Pecker said, he agreed to run what amounted to a covert propaganda operation for Mr. Trump, trumpeting his candidacy while publishing negative stories about his Republican opponents. Most importantly, Mr. Pecker said, he had agreed to be the campaign’s “eyes and ears,” watching out for potentially damaging stories.

On Friday, Mr. Bove called this testimony into question, arguing that Mr. Pecker’s promotion of Mr. Trump and denigration of other candidates was simply “standard operating procedure” for a tabloid, recycling titillating stories to sell magazines in supermarket checkout aisles.

Mr. Pecker agreed, without embarrassment, that such stories appeared in his publications. But he fought back several times as Mr. Bove sought to cast doubt on his credibility.

Mr. Bove focused on an August 2016 agreement that Mr. Pecker’s company, AMI, made with Ms. McDougal.

What to Know About Our Coverage of the Trump Trial

Expect live updates from the courtroom, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis. Learn how our reporting team has prepared for the trial, and the precautions we have taken to protect the safety and anonymity of the jurors.

How The Times Is Covering the Trump Hush-Money Trial

April 11, 2024

The publisher paid her $150,000 to keep quiet about her story of an affair with Mr. Trump. But Mr. Bove, seeking to suggest that the deal had been more than a mere cover for the payment, pointed out that Ms. McDougal had received other benefits from the publisher, including guest columns and magazine covers.

Mr. Bove concluded the cross-examination by asking Mr. Pecker what obligations he was under as part of his agreement to take the witness stand, suggesting to jurors that his testimony was the result of cooperation with prosecutors. The publisher bristled.

“To be truthful,” Mr. Pecker said of his primary obligation, adding, “I’ve been truthful to the best of my recollection.”

After cross-examination, Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, questioned Mr. Pecker further, asking him why the articles and cover stories had been specified in the $150,000 deal.

“It was included in the contract basically as a disguise,” Mr. Pecker said, adding that the actual purpose was so that Ms. McDougal’s story would not be published anywhere else.

Mr. Pecker did not run Ms. McDougal’s story of an affair with Mr. Trump. Nor did he publish a doorman’s story of a child born out of wedlock that his reporters determined was false. That was the scuttled story, Mr. Pecker said, for which Mr. Trump had thanked him.

Mr. Pecker said such a story would have helped The Enquirer sell 10 million copies, making it even bigger than the tabloid’s coverage of the death of Elvis Presley, which featured a picture of the singer’s body in his coffin.

In his testimony, Mr. Pecker offered a behind-the-headlines look at the tabloid’s sometimes seedy ways. They included offering protection from unflattering coverage to politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, the “Terminator” star who went on to be California’s governor, as well as using damaging information about celebrities to pressure them into interviews.

But on Friday, Mr. Steinglass sought to set Mr. Pecker’s actions on behalf of the former president as a thing apart, asking questions that demonstrated that the publisher’s suppression of negative stories had been unique with regard to Mr. Trump.

Despite the defense lawyers’ aggressive questioning, Mr. Pecker was even-keeled, a small, gray-haired man answering in a quiet monotone. During direct examination by prosecutors, he had calmly set the foundation of the prosecution’s case, painting a vivid, tawdry portrait of Mr. Trump as a presidential candidate desperately trying to quash rumors about his personal life, often through his fixer, Mr. Cohen.

Pecker described Mr. Trump as becoming “very angry” and “very aggravated” about simmering scandals, and deeply concerned about Ms. McDougal, going so far as to inquire about her at meetings at the White House and at Trump Tower, even after he was elected.

“How’s our girl?” Mr. Pecker recalled Mr. Trump asking.

Mr. Trump, 77, the first former U.S. president to face a criminal trial, has denied the sexual encounters with Ms. McDougal as well as those described by Ms. Daniels, who says she had a one-night stand with him in 2006.

A decade later, as the 2016 presidential race hurtled toward its conclusion, Ms. Daniels was paid $130,000 by Mr. Cohen to guarantee her silence and, prosecutors say, to help Mr. Trump win.

Mr. Cohen was later reimbursed by Mr. Trump, and efforts to disguise those payments are the basis for the counts of falsifying business records that the former president faces. Each count reflects a different false check, ledger and invoice that, according to prosecutors, Mr. Trump used to hide the reimbursement’s purpose.

Mr. Trump has cast the prosecution as a “witch hunt,” an argument he has amplified in statements to reporters in a hallway outside the courtroom of Justice Juan M. Merchan.

Fifteen of Mr. Trump’s comments — mostly posts on his Truth Social account and campaign websites — have been cited by prosecutors as violations of a gag order that Justice Merchan issued in March that prohibited the former president from attacking jurors, witnesses, court staff members and others.

Justice Merchan has already held one hearing to determine whether Mr. Trump should be held in contempt and fined; another is scheduled for next week. It is unclear whether the results of the first will emerge before the second is held.

The former president’s criminal trial has riveted the political world, with a crush of media attention and occasional courtroom contretemps.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee this year, faces three other indictments, including two federal cases concerning mishandled classified documents and efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He also faces a state prosecution in Georgia, involving election interference.

Attention on the criminal case in Manhattan will most likely intensify after arguments on Thursday at the Supreme Court over whether Mr. Trump should have some immunity from prosecution for acts taken while he was in office. That could delay the federal cases past Election Day.

Despite appearing in New York court most weekdays, Mr. Trump has tried to remain active as a campaigner, appearing at a construction site in Manhattan on Thursday, and arranging for rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan next Wednesday, an off day for the trial.

On Friday, Mr. Trump, who was married when Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal say they had sexual encounters with him, wished his wife Melania a happy birthday and said he planned to go to Florida to spend the evening with her.

“It would be nice to be with her,” he said, standing in the courthouse hallway. “But I’m in a courthouse. For a rigged trial.”

Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley

Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich

News and Analysis

· The criminal trial of Trump featured vivid testimony about a plot to protect his first presidential campaign and the beginnings of a tough cross-examination of the prosecution’s initial witness, David Pecker, former publisher of The National Enquirer. Here are the takeaways.

· Dozens of protesters calling for the justice system to punish Trump briefly blocked traffic on several streets near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where he is facing his first criminal trial.

· Prosecutors accused Trump of violating a gag order four additional times, saying that he continues to defy the judge’s directions not to attack witnesses, prosecutors and jurors in his hush-money trial.

More on Trump’s Legal Troubles

· Key Inquiries: Trump faces several investigations at both the state and the federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers.

· Case Tracker: Keep track of the developments in the criminal cases involving the former president.

· What if Trump Is Convicted?: Could he go to prison? And will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s presidential campaign? Here is what we know, and what we don’t know.

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM ROLLING STONE

'SHE OWES ME'

National Enquirer Boss Says Trump Knew Details of Stormy Daniels’ Payoff

At Trump’s hush money trial, David Pecker testified that Trump was deeply concerned negative stories about him would hurt his campaign

BY NIKKI MCCANN RAMIREZ, RYAN BORT

APRIL 25, 2024

Donald Trump was back in court on Thursday for the seventh day of his criminal hush money trial. The court heard a third day of testimony from David Pecker — the former National Enquirer boss who used the publication to buoy Trump ahead of the 2016 election. While Pecker’s testimony earlier this week contained plenty of damning evidence, the former tabloid boss dropped an under-oath bombshell when he recalled that Trump complained to him that Stormy Daniels had breached the hush-money deal she’d made with Trump fixer Michael Cohen after the porn star gave a televised interview about her alleged affair with the former president.

Pecker previously testified in detail about working with Trump and his former fixer, Michael Cohen, to suppress negative stories about the then-candidate that could impact his campaign, while also running bogus stories about Trump’s rivals.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump centers on allegations that the real estate mogul and his associates made hush money payments to women, including $130,000 to Daniels, in order to specifically aid his 2016 presidential election campaign. Key to the prosecution’s argument is painting a picture for the jury that Trump was not only aware of and involved in these payments — but that they were effectively unreported campaign contributions meant to service his political aspirations.

Pecker testified to Trump’s knowledge of the Daniels agreement on Thursday. “He said that we have an agreement with Stormy Daniels that she cannot mention my name or anything like this and that each time she breaches the agreement it is a $1 million penalty, and based on the interview with Anderson Cooper, she owes me $24 million dollars,” Pecker said, according to NBC News.

Months before Election Day in 2016, the Enquirer bought, and then killed, Playboy model Karen McDougal‘s story about her alleged affair with Trump. Pecker said on Thursday that Trump knew about the deal, which sent $150,000 to McDougal in exchange for her silence.

“Do you know whether anyone other than Michael Cohen had knowledge of this contract?” the prosecution asked Pecker. “Yes, I believe Donald Trump did,” he replied.

Pecker also testified that he asked Cohen who would reimburse him for the payment to McDougal, and Cohen told him “the boss will take care of it.”

The boss didn’t take care of it, though, and so when Cohen asked if the Enquirer would buy the rights to Stormy Daniels’ story of her alleged affair with Trump, he refused, according to prosecutors. Pecker said he refused to purchase the story because he didn’t “want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star.”

“I am not a bank,” he said he told Cohen, advising the lawyer to “buy this story and take it off the market, because if you don’t and it gets out, I think the boss is going to be very angry with you.”

This allegedly led Cohen to buy Daniels’ silence himself, and Trump later reimbursed his lawyer for “services rendered.” Prosecutors say this was a crime, as the payment amounts to an illegal campaign expenditure. “They agreed to cook the books,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said during opening arguments, calling the scheme “election fraud, pure and simple.”

Cooking the books wouldn’t have been out of character for Trump and Cohen, according to Pecker. He testified on Thursday that they did it after paying off McDougal, disguising it as a contract for services so they wouldn’t be nailed for violating campaign finance laws, according to the Times.

Before the campaign, Pecker, who had known Trump for decades, said the real estate mogul was often concerned about how negative stories would impact his wife and family. The publisher testified that after he announced his run for office, Trump’s concerns became “basically what the impact would be to the campaign and the election.”

He said that Trump blew up at him over the phone when news of his alleged affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal became public.

When the McDougal story — and the payment negotiated by AMI — became public just days before the 2016 election, Trump was incensed. Pecker stated that the former president had called him and was “very upset, saying how could this happen, I thought you had this under control, either you or one of your people have leaked the story.”

Trump hung up the call without a goodbye, he said.

On Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan also agreed to consider four more alleged violations by Trump of a gag order — which bars him from publicly commenting on jurors, witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and relatives of Bragg and the judge — in an upcoming decision on potential sanctions against the former president. With the four additional violations, Trump has been accused of breaking the gag order 15 times in the past two weeks.

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM REUTERS

AT TRUMP TRIAL, PECKER SAYS HE KILLED STORY OF AFFAIR EVEN THOUGH IT COST HIM

Pecker says he killed story to benefit Trump campaign

By Jack Queen, Jody Godoy and Andy Sullivan

April 26, 2024 8:20 PM EDTUpdated 17 hours ago

NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified on Friday at Donald Trump's criminal trial that he suppressed a story about an alleged affair to help Trump's 2016 presidential bid, even though it would have boosted sales of his tabloid.

Testifying for a third day, Pecker, 72, agreed with a prosecutor who asked whether it would have been "National Enquirer gold" to publish the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal's claim that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

But Pecker said he opted not to run the story after paying McDougal for it, because it would have hurt the Republican Trump's chances of winning the election over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"You killed the story because it helped the candidate, Donald Trump?" prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him.

Pecker said yes.

The exchange bolstered previous testimony in which Pecker said he worked with Trump's campaign to suppress allegations of adultery at a time when the then-presidential candidate was facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior.

Pecker was the first witness in the case, which accuses Trump, 77, of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Pecker testified his tabloid paid for the rights to two such stories he never published, a tabloid practice referred to as "catch and kill." Pecker also alerted Trump that Daniels was looking to sell her story of a sexual encounter with Trump.

The defense argues the hush money payment was made to spare Trump's family embarrassment, not to protect his presidential campaign. Trump, a businessman whose first public office was the White House, denies an encounter took place.

After Pecker's testimony, prosecutors called two more witnesses to boost their case.

Rhona Graff, who worked as Trump's business assistant from 1987 to 2021, testified she once saw Daniels at Trump Tower before he ran for president. She said she heard Trump say he was interested in casting her on "The Apprentice," the reality TV show he hosted.

She said the email addresses of Daniels and McDougal were stored in the computer systems of Trump's company.

Trump shook her hand when she left the witness stand.

Banker Gary Farro testified that Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, set up accounts with him shortly before the election for two shell companies, including one that was used to pay Daniels.

The trial was scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

'I KNOW WHAT I REMEMBER'

During cross-examination, Trump lawyer Emil Bove sought to undermine Pecker's credibility.

Bove asked Pecker whether he had inaccurately testified that Trump thanked him at the White House for handling the negative news stories. That conflicted with a report by FBI agents who previously interviewed Pecker, which said Trump had not expressed gratitude.

Pecker, 72, said the FBI report could be wrong.

"I know what I testified to, and I know what I remember," Pecker told the New York court's 12 jurors and six alternates.

Bove asked Pecker whether his statements aligned with facts contained in an agreement by the Enquirer's parent company to cooperate with legal authorities to avoid prosecution. Pecker denied any substantial mismatch.

Bove also sought to illustrate that Pecker's checkbook journalism was not confined to Trump.

Under questioning by Bove on Thursday, Pecker said the Enquirer paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain stories from women who came forward during Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 run for California governor to say they had affairs with him.

Pecker said the first time he gave Trump a heads up about a negative story was in 1998 in relation to Marla Maples, his wife at the time.

Prosecutors say Pecker's arrangement with Trump corrupted the 2016 election. He agreed to cooperate to avoid criminal charges.

Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges. The trial, which is expected to run through May, could be the only one of his four criminal prosecutions to be completed before his Nov. 5 electionrematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.

One of those cases, which charges Trump with trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, has been delayed for months by the U.S. Supreme Court, which signaled on Thursday that it might be open to giving him some immunity from criminal charges.

Justice Juan Merchan, who is hearing the New York hush money case, has yet to rule on a request by prosecutors to punish Trump for allegedly violating a gag order that bars him from publicly criticizing witnesses, some court officials and their relatives.

Merchan said he would hold a hearing next Thursday to examine what prosecutors say are further gag order violations. Trump could be fined $1,000 for each violation or jailed, though prosecutors say they are not seeking imprisonment at this point.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM THE HILL

WHY IS DAVID PECKER STILL IN TRUMP’S GOOD GRACES?

by: Ella Lee, Apr 27, 2024 / 12:00 PM EDT Updated: Apr 27, 2024 / 12:00 PM EDT

Donald Trump has many enemies – or so he says.  

But it seems that David Pecker, the ex-National Enquirer publisher and lead witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against the former president who has an immunity agreement with the very prosecutors targeting Trump, is not among them. 

“David’s been very nice,” the former president said Thursday morning, hours before the publisher would retake the witness stand for a third day, where he would reveal even more details of the backroom deals at the heart of the case. “He’s a nice guy.”  

Across four total days of testimony in Trump’s first-ever criminal trial, Pecker gave a damning account of the tabloid’s role in helping stifle negative stories about Trump and elevate bad press – often untrue – about his political opponents. 

His testimony – which Trump has called “breathtaking” – largely bolstered the state’s overarching theory of the case, that Trump and his allies attempted to influence the outcome of the 2016 election with Pecker’s help. 

Despite his damaging attestations, Pecker shared similar sentiments about Trump. 

“Do you have any bad feelings or ill will about the defendant?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked the publisher as the last question of his direct examination. 

“On the contrary,” Pecker said. “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor.” 

A former Trump White House official suggested that Trump and Pecker’s long-standing relationship, dating back to their time together in New York circles, has likely kept things from getting combative. 

“They’ve known each other for decades,” the ex-White House official said. “And it’s not like anyone thinks David Pecker came into this trial with any sort of vendetta against Trump.” 

Pecker was not the only longtime ally of Trump’s to elicit a positive reaction from the stand as the former president sat on the witness.

On Friday afternoon when his longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff began her testimony, the former president was smiling and chuckling at Graff as she spoke positively of her former boss, calling him “fair and respectful.”

Trump’s relationship with Graf also dated back decades, when she began working for the Trump Organization in 1987.

Graff was in Trump’s close orbit during his 2016 campaign when the hush money deals were arranged, and after he entered the White House, she still reportedly served as a go-between for Trump’s friends and associates.

Pecker and Trump were first introduced in the late 1980s at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which Pecker pinpointed as the start of their “great, mutually beneficial relationship.”  

Early on, Pecker pitched to the then-business mogul – and later launched – a magazine called “Trump Style,” which focused on Trump’s flashiest properties like hotels and casinos. A decade later, when Pecker had acquired the National Enquirer, Trump was a “celebrity in his own right,” the publisher said.  

Trump would introduce Pecker to other New York executives and tip him off about news from his show, “The Apprentice,” which Pecker’s magazine readers would “religiously” follow. 

“He helped me throughout my career,” Pecker testified.  

The publisher scratched Trump’s back, too. For 17 years he gave Trump a heads-up about potential negative publicity, beginning in the 1990s with an unflattering story about his second wife, Marla Maples. Trump was dubbed a “F.O.P.” by Enquirer staffers, according to the New York Times — a “Friend of Pecker.” 

Decades later, after Trump in June 2015 announced he would run for president, the then-candidate summoned Pecker and his fixer and personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to Trump Tower. 

It’s there that prosecutors say the alleged conspiracy to clear Trump’s path to the White House was hatched, after Trump asked Pecker what his magazines could do to “help the campaign” and the publisher promised to be the campaign’s “eyes and ears.” 

Pecker testified that, at the behest of Cohen, and therefore Trump, he helped kill a Trump Tower doorman’s story that Trump purportedly had an illegitimate child and helped silence ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed she had a yearlong affair with Trump.  

Despite the doorman’s story being proven untrue, Pecker said he bought it for $30,000 anyways, knowing it would be “very embarrassing” to Trump’s campaign if it got out. He paid $150,000 to McDougal – and provided her with opportunities within his company – for the rights to her story. 

But when it came to paying Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her allegations of an affair with Trump, Pecker refused, at one point recalling to the court he told Cohen: “I am not a bank.”

Cohen at the time told him “the boss” – Trump – “would be furious.” 

“Did you suppress the stories to help a presidential candidate?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked bluntly on his redirect examination of Pecker, the presidential candidate in question being Trump.  

“Yes I did,” Pecker replied.   

Pecker is on a very short list of people Trump has opted not to lash out at, despite reaching an immunity deal in late 2019 with the Manhattan DA’s office, protecting him from prosecution in Trump’s New York hush money case.

Other people once considered allies to Trump are also poised to take the stand, including former White House and campaign aides and Trump Organization employees. They include Hope Hicks, his one-time confidant and spokeswoman and Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former comptroller. Other than Cohen, Trump has mostly kept silent about other witnesses poised to testify.

Some loyalists to Trump despite his many controversies particularly since Jan. 6 have been swept up in their own legal troubles due to their work on behalf of the former commander-in-chief, the most notable being Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Trump legal adviser and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff.

Both Giuliani and Meadows are each fighting two separate election-related indictments, one in Georgia, alongside Trump as a defendant, and now one in Arizona, for their alleged efforts in trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election in Trump’s favor. Giuliani still fiercely defends Trump, but Meadows has almost entirely fallen out of the public eye.

Pecker’s apparent relationship with Trump stands in stark contrast to other onetime allies’ fates – perhaps none clearer than Cohen, who transformed from one of Trump’s most loyal aides to his most vocal detractor.

When the U.S. attorney’s office’s probe into the alleged plot picked up in 2018, Cohen’s office, Park Avenue hotel room and home were raided. Federal agents seized millions of electronic files, including emails and bank records, plus eight boxes of documents.

Though Trump initially told Cohen to “stay strong” and paid for his lawyer, the then-president began to distance himself from his onetime lawyer as the investigation continued. After Trump stopped paying for Cohen’s legal representation, he’d had enough. 

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations and other charges soon after and was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the deal. 

“Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds,” Cohen said of Trump at his 2018 sentencing hearing. 

Cohen and Trump have since become sworn enemies, taking verbal shots at the other whenever the opportunity arises. 

Pecker and Trump have not spoken since early 2019, when the investigation into their alleged scheme began to ramp up, he said Thursday.  

And yet, his fondness of Trump remains. 

“Even though we haven’t spoken, I still consider him a friend,” Pecker testified. 

Brett Samuels contributed.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM WIKI

BIOGRAPHY...

David Pecker
Born	David Jay Pecker September 24, 1951 (age 72) New York City, U.S.
Education	Pace University (BBA)
Title	Chairman, CEO, and President, AMI Paper Inc.^[1]^[2]
Spouse	Karen Balan (m. 1987)

David Jay Pecker^[3] (born September 24, 1951) is an American publishing executive and businessman, who was the CEO of American Media until August 2020. He was the publisher of Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy, Shape, and Star. He was also the publisher of National Enquirer, Sun, Weekly World News, and Globe.

In 2018, Pecker became embroiled in controversy regarding his involvement in a catch and kill operation to buy exclusive rights to stories that might embarrass his friend Donald Trump, to prevent the stories from becoming public during the latter's 2016 presidential campaign.

Early life

Pecker was born on September 24, 1951,^[4] in the Bronx, New York City.^[1][5][6] He is of Jewish descent.^[7] His father was a bricklayer who died in 1967 when Pecker was 16.^[8] To support his mother, he started bookkeeping for local businesses in New Rochelle, New York and in the Bronx.^[9] He graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1969 and enrolled at Westchester Community College. After transferring to Pace University, he graduated in 1973.^[10][1][11]

Career

After college, Pecker began his career as an accountant at Price Waterhouse^[9][3] and in 1979 joined the accounting department at CBS's magazine division, rising to vice president and comptroller.^{[citation needed]} Eight years later, CBS sold its magazine division in a leveraged buyout to its manager, Peter Diamandis; Pecker stayed on in his position. Diamandis later sold the magazines to Hachette Filipacchi Médias. After Diamandis's departure three years later, Pecker was appointed CEO at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.^[3] In 1999, Pecker left Hachette when he raised capital from Thomas H. Lee Partners and Evercore Partners to buy American Media, Inc. (AMI), publisher of the Star, the Globe, the National Enquirer, and the Weekly World News.^[3]

During his time as chairman and chief executive officer of AMI^[12] Pecker was publisher of the magazines Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy, Shape and Star, as well as the supermarket tabloids National Enquirer, Star, Sun, Weekly World News, Globe. Sun and Weekly World News have ceased publication. In 2019, Pecker announced that he had agreed to drop more of AMI's tabloids and sell the National Enquirer, Globe and National Examiner to Hudson News.^[13][14][15]

Pecker is on the board of directors of iPayment Holdings, Inc., Sunbeam Products, Inc. and Next Generation Network, Inc.^[1] In August 2018, after his interactions with President Donald Trump were heavily reported, Pecker resigned as a director of Postmedia Network Canada Corp., a Canadian media company, a position he had held since October 2016.^[16]

In 2016, Pecker revealed to the Toronto Star that American Media Inc. now relied on support from Chatham Asset Management and its owner Anthony Melchiorre due to financial troubles.^[17][18] By the time Pecker agreed to sell the National Enquirer on April 10, 2019, Chatham Asset Management owned 80 percent of American Media Inc's stock.^[18][19] Melchiorre, who expressed dismay towards the National Enquirer's scandals involving assistance to Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign and blackmail of Jeff Bezos,^[18][19] was also instrumental in forcing Pecker and American Media Inc. to sell the National Enquirer as well.^[18][19]

AMI removed Pecker as CEO in August 2020, keeping him on in the role of executive advisor. Simultaneously, the company was renamed a360Media in anticipation of a merger with another Chatham property, the logistics firm Accelerate 360.^[20]

Involvement with Donald Trump

Beginning in March 1998, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., of which Pecker was then CEO, began producing Trump Style, which was distributed to guests at Donald Trump's properties.^[21][22] Pecker has described himself as a close friend of Trump. Pecker supported Trump's initial run for president as part of the Reform Party in 2000.^[5]

In an August 2014 meeting at Trump Tower, Pecker offered to Trump that he would use the National Enquirer to catch and kill any allegations of sexual affairs against him.^[23] AMI would even personally facilitate payment to Karen McDougal.^[24]

Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen requested that Pecker's AMI buy the rights to Stormy Daniels's story, though Pecker refused to do so.^[25] However, it was later alleged that Pecker did in fact alert the Trump camp about Daniels going public with her sex affair allegation, which in turn would lead to a $130,000 hush money payoff.^[26]

By 2018, Pecker and AMI found themselves under investigation for using catch and kill payments, in which AMI purchased the exclusive rights to stories that might have been damaging to Trump's 2016 campaign for President and then refused to publish them. Such a tactic may have represented illegal and/or undeclared "in-kind" campaign donations under Federal Election Commission rules.^[5]

In March 2018, Karen McDougal filed a lawsuit against American Media in Los Angeles Superior Court, aiming to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement preventing her from speaking about an alleged affair with Trump. Pecker had directed AMI to purchase the exclusive rights to the story for $150,000 in 2016, allegedly to keep it from the public.^[27] In April 2018 the lawsuit was settled and McDougal was released from the agreement. AMI also agreed to feature her on the cover of another AMI magazine, Men's Journal, in September 2018.^[28][29]

In April 2018, FBI agents searched the office and residences of Michael Cohen, in part to search for evidence of Trump's involvement in the payment to McDougal.^[27] In July 2018, a tape became public which confirmed this payment; the tape was secretly recorded by Cohen during a conversation with then candidate Trump in 2016.^[30]

In late 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a doorman at Trump Tower, to obtain the rights to his story in which he alleged Trump had an affair in the 1980s that resulted in the birth of a child. Sajudin in April 2018 identified the woman as Trump's former housekeeper.^[31] AMI reporters were given the names of the woman and the alleged child, while Sajudin passed a lie detector test when testifying that he had heard the story from others. Shortly after the payment was made, Pecker ordered the reporters to drop the story.^[32] In April 2018, AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard denied the story was "spiked" in a catch and kill operation, insisting that AMI did not run the story because Sajudin's story lacked credibility.^[33] CNN obtained a copy of the contract between AMI and Sajudin in August 2018, after AMI had released Sajudin from the contract. CNN published excerpts of the contract, which instructed Sajudin to provide "information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child", but did not contain further specifics of Sajudin's story.^[34]

Federal investigators subpoenaed Pecker and AMI in April 2018, with Pecker providing prosecutors details about the hush payments Cohen had arranged.^[35] In August 2018, Pecker was also granted witness immunity in exchange for his testimony of Trump's knowledge of the payments.^[36]

On February 27, 2019, Cohen testified under oath to the House Oversight Committee that he and Pecker conspired to "catch-and-kill" stories which had the potential to damage Trump.^[37]

On April 22, 2024, Pecker was the first witness to testify in Trump's New York criminal trial after being subpoenaed by prosecution, with the case being centered around the Stormy Daniels allegations.^[38][39][40] Pecker testified that the National Enquirer engaged in a practice of "checkbook journalism" which involved paying sources for stories, and that he "gave a number to the editors that they could not spend more than $10,000" and he had final say over celebrity stories, though he did not discuss his relationship with Trump during his first day of testimony.^[38][40][39] However, he would acknowledge that he had a private email address set up for things he didn't want his assistant to see and also revealed some of the last four digits of the multiple phone numbers he had during the time period of the allegations from 2015 to about 2017.^[41][40] Prosecutors have accused Trump, Pecker and Michael Cohen of being the three most important figures in a scheme which involved covering up some affairs Trump had with women, though Pecker was not formally charged with any wrongdoing.^[39][40]

On his second day of testimony, Pecker would give more detail about his relationship with Trump, stating that Michael Cohen used to feed him negative stories about Trump's enemies.^[42] Pecker's staff would then "embellish" the stories and show drafts to Cohen to get his feedback before publishing them.^[42] Pecker would also detail how he offered to deploy the “catch and kill” scheme, stating that he offered in 2015 to suppress negative stories about Trump and also flag any efforts which were made by women attempting to sell stories about Trump as well.^[43] Pecker specifically named the first "catch-and-kill" scheme targeted Dino Sajudin, a former Trump Tower doorman who alleged Trump fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid at Trump Tower, and the name alleged maid.^[44] The National Enquirer would pay $30,000 for Sajudin's story, which was more than usual $10,000.^[44] The second "catch-and-kill" scheme involved Karen McDougal, with Pecker stating that he sent then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to California to interview McDougal after Howard got word of her allegation. Pecker noted how he, Howard, and Michael Cohen conspired to get McDougal's cooperation, with McDougal ultimately agreeing to accept a $150,000 payment to give her story to the National Enquirer.^[44]

On April 23, 2024, Pecker testified in court that he and others at the National Enquirer had created false stories about Trump's political challengers in order to further Trump's first Presidential campaign, including one about Texas Senator Ted Cruz's father supposedly having ties to John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.^[45]

On April 25, he testified that he had spoken to Trump directly in 2016 about paying $150,000 to Karen McDougal to shut down her story. He said that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen had asked Pecker to pay McDougal with the promise that Trump would reimburse him.^[46][47] Pecker sent an invoice from his shell company, Investor Advisory Services, to Cohen's shell company, Resolution Consultants. However, Trump never reimbursed American Media.^[48] Pecker also testified that he was aware at the time that it was illegal to coordinate with a political campaign to make this kind of payment to influence an election.^[49] As cover for the intention behind the payment, McDougal received a nondisclosure agreement about how she would write and model for Pecker’s magazines.^[50]

Accusations of extortion by Jeff Bezos and Ronan Farrow

In January 2019, Pecker's National Enquirer published what it called "sleazy text messages and gushing love notes" between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a sexual partner at the time, now his fiancée. Bezos began investigating how his personal communications reached the paper. The next month, Bezos accused the National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail by threatening to release Bezos's intimate pictures,^[51] criminal accusations Pecker denied through an attorney. Bezos wrote^[52] that AMI proposed in writing that Bezos state publicly that he and his security consultant "have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." In return, AMI would withhold publication of the pictures.^[53]

Both AMI and the Manhattan prosecutor launched reviews of the accusations.^[54] Any violation of law by AMI would constitute a breach of the immunity agreement the company reached with prosecutors in 2018 after the paper agreed to "catch and kill" a story on behalf of then-candidate Donald Trump.^[55] Ronan Farrow, a journalist, said he and another journalist received similar demands from AMI.^[56]

Personal life

In 1987, Pecker married Karen Balan.^[4]

In April 2024, Pecker acknowledged that checkbook journalism was a part of his editorial philosophy, and that he also believed that “The only thing that is important is the cover of a magazine.”^[38][40]

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM FORBES

WHO IS DAVID PECKER? EX-NATIONAL ENQUIRER PUBLISHER ADMITS ‘CATCH AND KILL’ SCHEME ON TRUMP’S BEHALF AT HUSH MONEY TRIAL

By Sara Dorn Apr 25, 2024,11:27am EDT Updated Apr 25, 2024, 02:20pm EDT

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified to jurors in Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial this week about how he worked with Trump and his associates to manipulate coverage on Trump’s behalf—admitting Thursday he stifled affair allegations against Trump as part of an informal agreement with his friend in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

KEY FACTS

Pecker served from 1999 to 2020 as CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., now A360 Media.

Pecker promised Trump after he launched his first presidential bid in 2015 he would act as a goalkeeper for potentially negative stories about him, publish others about Trump’s rivals, and ultimately orchestrate a series of “catch and kill” schemes to silence damning allegations against Trump, he admitted to jurors over three days of testimony.

Pecker was the first witness called to testify in the case Monday, when he explained to jurors that the tabloid routinely “used checkbook journalism, and we paid for stories,” the New York Times reported.

Continuing his testimony on Tuesday, Pecker detailed how he was in regular communication with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen about how to spin National Enquirer stories in Trump’s favor, detailing headline by headline to the jury how Cohen would make suggestions for coverage and the Enquirer would “embellish” the information, according to the New York Times.

Pecker said Thursday he alerted Cohen that adult film star Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her story of a 2006 one-night stand with Trump and that Cohen then negotiated the hush money payment to Daniels—the deal at the center of the case against Trump.

Pecker also admitted Thursday that AMI paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for rights to her story that she had an affair with Trump, with the intention of never publishing the story—what’s known as a “catch and kill” scheme—because it could “embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” the New York Times reported (Pecker said he expected Trump to reimburse the company for the payment, but he never did).

In a third deal, AMI paid a doorman at a building owned by the Trump Organization $30,000 in exchange for information about allegations Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock, claims the Enquirer ultimately deemed were untrue and never published, Pecker said Thursday, noting AMI was never reimbursed for this payment either.

Trump was not charged in connection with payments to McDougal and the doorman, but prosecutors are using them to bolster their claim that the $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels—money prosecutors say Trump’s company reimbursed him for under the guise of legal services—was actually an unreported (and illegal) campaign expense.More

SURPRISING FACT

Pecker also testified that Trump was directly involved in the payments to McDougal and Daniels, detailing multiple meetings and phone calls he had with the former president about the alleged cover-ups. During one meeting at Trump Tower, shortly after Trump was elected, Trump made a joke that Pecker “probably know more than anyone in this room’’ while introducing him to several newly appointed White House officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, Pecker testified. Pecker said Trump then thanked him for making the deals with McDougal and the doorman.

KEY BACKGROUND

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in April last year, marking the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former president. The trial officially began last Monday with jury selection. Bragg’s office alleged Trump and his real estate company reimbursed Cohen $420,000, accounting for fees, a bonus and taxes, and illegally recorded the payments as legal fees. Proving that the payments were inherently linked to Trump’s political aspirations is critical to prosecutors’ ability to charge Trump with felonies in the case, as the falsifying business records charges are typically misdemeanors. Prosecutors must prove that Trump committed the alleged misdemeanors in conjunction with another crime—in this case violating campaign finance laws since the payment to Daniels exceeded federal contribution limits. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to a series of charges, including campaign finance violations, for his role in the alleged payments to Daniels and McDougal and admitted that he made the payments at Trump’s direction and on his behalf. Trump has denied allegations of any affair and has pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, was brought on behalf of President Joe Biden to hurt his re-election chances.

TANGENT

Pecker’s relationship with Trump—who he referred to as “the boss” on the witness stand—dates back to the 1980s, when Pecker said the two met at Mar-A-Lago. Pecker worked with Trump in the 1990s to publish a “Trump Style” magazine available to guests and visitors of his various properties featuring lifestyle articles and content promoting Trump and his brand. Pecker also detailed to the jury how Trump would tip him off when a contestant on “The Apprentice” was set to be fired so the National Enquirer could be the first to break the news. Pecker was granted immunity after aiding federal prosecutors’ case against Cohen for his role in the alleged “catch and kill” schemes, and the Justice Department also entered a non-prosecution agreement with AMI in the case that required AMI to admit to making the payment to McDougal.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

If convicted, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the 34 felonies, though it’s unlikely he would receive a prison sentence since he’s never been convicted of a crime.

FURTHER READING

Trump’s Trial Will Include ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape—But Not Sexual Assault Allegations, Judge Rules (Forbes)

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM AXIOS

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT DAVID PECKER, THE FIRST WITNESS IN TRUMP'S TRIAL

By Sareen Habeshian, and Natalie Daher Updated Apr 26, 2024 -Politics & Policy

David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, was the first witness in former President Trump's criminal hush money trial, taking the stand multiple times this week.

Why it matters: The influential tabloid media figure is accused by prosecutors of conspiring to influence the 2016 presidential election.

• He told jurors this week how he would suppress stories critical of Trump — referred to as a "catch and kill" scheme — and encourage stories targeting his rivals during the 2016 election.

• Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump, served as CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., now A360 Media, from 1999 to 2020.

What Pecker's testimony revealed so far

By Thursday, Pecker told the jury he refused to pay for a story about an affair between Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels, AP reported.

• Already $180,000 in the hole, he said he told former Trump fixer Michael Cohen: "I didn't want to be involved in this."

He said he had already participated in two other catch-and-kill deals: $150,000 paid to Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet about an affair with Trump and another payout to a former Trump Tower doorman.

Pecker also testified that Trump hosted a "thank you" dinner for him in 2017 at the White House.

Involvement in Trump case

Prosecutors alleged in the indictment against the former president that Pecker met with Trump in 2015, agreed to help his campaign and publish negative stories about his competitors.

• Pecker allegedly helped orchestrate "catch and kill" deals in which he'd buy exclusive rights to negative stories about Trump and then prevent them from becoming public during the 2016 presidential campaign. This includes deals with two women who claimed to have past affairs with Trump.

• Pecker was granted immunity from prosecution by the DOJ in 2018 for providing information to federal prosecutors about the hush money payments.

• The media titan was among dozens investigated by the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 as part of a sweeping probe of Trump and his inner circle.

Witness testimony in hush money trial

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo, delivering opening statements for the prosecution's side Monday, argued that Pecker was acting as "eyes and ears" for the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.

• Colangelo used the phrase multiple times to describe how Pecker used his media empire, America Media, to help Trump's campaign.

• Pecker testified Tuesday that he was asked in 2015 how he and his magazines could help Trump. Ultimately, they reached a "mutually beneficial" arrangement that helped increase ad sales of the Enquirer.

• "I said I would run positive stories about Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponent," he said. "I said I would also be your eyes and ears because I know that the Trump Organization had a very small staff."

• Prosecutors say Pecker helped carry out a "catch and kill" scheme to bury bad news about Trump.

Go deeper: Prosecutor in Trump hush money case zeroes in on "election fraud"

On The Listening Post this week: The National Enquirer was once Trump’s most strident cheerleader — now it’s his latest headache. Plus, Radio Dabanga: Is Darfur losing its media lifeline?

Catch & Kill: Could Trump’s media allies hasten his downfall?

The question in Washington these days is not just: Where is the Mueller investigation into US President Donald Trump going – but who is next? His lawyer, Michael Cohen and a business associate, Allen Weisselberg agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for immunity.

Now, Trump’s long-time friend, and a key media player David Pecker has done the same. Pecker is at the helm of American Media Inc which owns the tabloid ‘National Enquirer’ – part of the Trump story, mostly because of the stories it doesn’t publish, a practice known as “catch and kill”. If someone had a potentially damaging story about Donald Trump for sale – the Enquirer would buy it and bury it – so that bad news would never see the light of day.

Contributors:
John Nichols – writer, The Nation
Amanda Terkel – Washington Bureau Chief, HuffPost
Elizabeth Anker – associate professor of American Studies and Political Sciences, George Washington University
John Ziegler – radio host and columnist, Mediaite

ATTACHMENT EIGHT (A) – FROM INDEPENDENT UK

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER DRAGGED INTO TRUMP HUSH MONEY TRIAL AS TABLOID BOSS REVEALS PLAN TO BUY DAMAGING STORIES

David Pecker testified that The Terminator actor asked him not to publish negative stories about him while he was running for governor of California

By Alex Woodward and Kelly Rissman

The tabloid publisher behind a “catch and kill” scheme to bury compromising stories about Donald Trump testified in court that he previously had a similar arrangement with Hollywood actor turned ex-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

David Pecker, the former publisher of tabloid giant National Enquirer, is testifying for the third day of the former president’s historic criminal trial.

In his testimony, Mr Pecker has told the court about his alleged agreement with Mr Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen to “kill” stories about the then-presidential candidate’s alleged affairs in order to boost his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal both claimed to have had affairs with the Mr Trump, who allegedly used Mr Pecker to buy the rights to their stories only to ensure they’d never be published.

On Thursday, Mr Pecker explained why he was skeptical to buy up politically linked stories – and in doing so revealed a similar plan not to publish negative stories about Schwarzenegger.

The former tabloid boss set the scene back to 2002, when health and fitness publications run by bodybuilder-turned-publisher Joe Weider went up for sale.

With Mr Pecker’s American Media poised to take up those titles, Schwarzenegger asked Mr Pecker to name him an editor-at-large of the publications, according to Mr Pecker’s testimony.

Mr Pecker claimed that Schwarzenegger also wanted an “agreement” regarding the tabloids Globe and National Enquirer.

“I’ve had a number of litigation and lawsuits in both magazines because you always run negative stories about me,” Mr Pecker recalled Schwarzenegger saying.

“I plan on running for governor and I would like you to not publish any negative stories about me now and in the future, and I’ll continue being the editor of Muscle & Fitness and Flex and be a spokesperson.”

Mr Pecker said he agreed to the arrangement.

The Terminator actor announced his gubernatorial bid on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in August 2003.

Mr Pecker testified that “a number of women called up the National Enquirer” after that announcement, claiming they had stories to sell on “different relationships, or contacts, or sexual harassment that they felt that Arnold Schwarzenegger did”.

“The agreement I had with Arnold is I would call him and advise him of other stories that were out there and I would acquire them, buy them for a period of time,” the former publisher told the court.

After Schwarzenegger was elected governor, one of the women whose story had been acquired by American Media took her story to The Los Angeles Times.

“It was very embarrassing,” Mr Pecker testified. “Most of the press approached Arnold when he was governor. And his comment was: ‘Ask my friend David Pecker.’”

The ordeal “made me sensitive about buying any stories in the future. That’s how I became sensitive about this topic,” Mr Pecker told the court.

The allegations involving an agreement with Schwarzenegger predate the so-called “catch and kill” scheme central to the current criminal case against the former president.

Mr Trump is accused of orchestrating a plot to kill compromising stories of his alleged affairs with women. He then allegedly falsfied business records to cover up reimbursements to his then-attorney Cohen as “legal expenses”.

Manhattan prosecutors have charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the so-called hush money payments made to Ms Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.

Ms Daniels’ alleged affair with Mr Trump was in 2006, while Ms McDougal claimed to have had a 10-month affair with the former president starting in June 2006. Mr Trump married his now-wife Melania in 2005.

He has denied the affairs took place and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr Pecker testified on Tuesday that an agreement drawn up at Trump Tower in August 2015, shortly after Mr Trump launched his campaign, included his pledge to “run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump and publish negative stories about his opponents”.

“I would also be the eyes and ears.”

When it came to any tips about women selling stories about Mr Trump, Mr Pecker “would notify Michael Cohen, and he would be able to have them killed in the magazine, or not be published, or somebody would have to purchase them,” he added.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Schwarzenegger for comment.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT (B) – FROM THE NEW YORK POST

HOW DAVID PECKER STRONG-ARMED TIGER WOODS INTO APPEARING IN HIS MAGAZINE USING PICTURES OF ROMP WITH MISTRESS

By Steve Helling Published April 26, 2024 Updated April 26, 2024, 5:05 p.m. ET

Tiger Woods was caught in sex romp with mistress Mindy Lawton in his Escalade in 2007, years before his extramarital affairs became public.

However, a solution to stop this getting out came from the most unlikely of sources — National Enquirer honcho David Pecker.

On the stand at Donald Trump’s hush money trial Thursday, Pecker acknowledged for the first time buying up the photos and then burying them in return for Tiger’s cooperation.

During cross-examination by Trump’s lawyers, Pecker admitted purchasing pics of the golf icon meeting a woman — now known to be Lawton — in a church parking lot and using them as leverage to convince him to appear on the cover of Men’s Fitness, another title in the American Media Inc. publishing house where he was CEO.

The golf world was mystified by the resulting 12-page cover story in Men’s Fitness. Inside the edition Woods shared his exercise and dieting regimen — and talked in glowing terms about his relationship with then-wife Elin Nordegren.

Woods gave Men’s Fitness an extensive interview in 2007.

“It was a total shakedown,” a member of Woods’ inner circle told The Post. “He was totally blackmailed, but what could he do? He had to play ball. He didn’t have any other choice.”

At the time the photos were taken, Nordegren was in the final trimester of pregnancy with their daughter, Sam Alexis. Woods, then 32 years old, enjoyed a squeaky-clean public persona and feared that an extramarital affair could tarnish his public image — and destroy his marriage.

“Tiger would ordinarily have had nothing to do with Men’s Fitness,” says the insider. “He only spoke to a handful of trusted journalists. But the Enquirer had him over a barrel. He hated it, and I know it stressed him out, but he did what he had to do.”

Not everyone was happy about the deal. Neal Bulton, then the editor-in-chief of Men’s Fitness, quit when he learned about it.

“David Pecker knew about Tiger Woods’ infidelity a long time ago,” Boulton told The Post the following year. “He traded silence for a Men’s Fitness cover.”

“We were going to [do a quid pro quo with] America’s favorite sports star, just to get his name on the cover of a magazine,” Boulton continued. “That was too much for me. That’s when I high-tailed it out of there.”

At the time, Pecker denied the allegations.

“It is absolutely not true,” he told The Post in 2009. “[Boulton] is a disgruntled former employee.”

But Pecker’s sworn testimony in the Trump trial contradicted his previous denials. As the former President looked on, Pecker testified his “catch and kill” operations for A-listers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Wahlberg, and Woods.

Now 72, Pecker admitted AMI spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” buying up negative stories which it then never ran.

A rep for Woods did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Ultimately, the golfer’s reprieve was short-lived. Two years later, over Thanksgiving weekend 2009, The Enquirer ran a cover story about Woods.

The banner headline read “Tiger Woods Cheating Scandal” and the story breathlessly detailed Woods’ months-long affair with New York City nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel.

The issue ran photographs of Uchitel checking into the same hotel as Woods during the Australian Masters. She was quoted as telling a friend, “It’s Tiger Woods! I don’t care about his wife! We’re in love!”

The story triggered Woods’ stunning fall from grace — that very weekend Nordegren chased him out of their family home in Florida swinging one of his golf clubs and smashing up his car windows as he tried to flee.

Then the floodgates opened and dozens more women revealed their affairs with the golf great. He and Nordegren went through a very public divorce which reportedly cost him more than $100 million.

It’s not lost on the golfer that the National Enquirer ultimately led to his demise, despite his cooperation on the Men’s Health cover.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM the ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY DAVID BAUDER Updated 3:51 PM EDT, April 26, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — Catch and kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends helping friends.

Even by National Enquirer standards, testimony by its former publisher David Pecker at Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died.

“It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of the Enquirer from 2014 to 2017. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.”

On Thursday, Pecker was back on the witness stand to tell more about the arrangement he made to boost Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016, tear down his rivals and silence any revelations that may have damaged him.

THE ENQUIRER HELPED FUEL THE RISE OF TABLOID CULTURE

However its stories danced on the edge of credulity, the Enquirer was a cultural fixture, in large part because of genius marketing. As many Americans moved to the suburbs in the 1960s, the tabloid staked its place on racks at supermarket checkout lines, where people could see headlines about UFO abductions or medical miracles while waiting for their milk and bread to be bagged.

Celebrity news was a staple, and the Enquirer paid sources around Hollywood to learn what the stars’ publicists wouldn’t say. It may have been true. It may have had just a whiff of truth. It was rarely boring.

When the tabloid paid a mourner to secretly snap a picture of Elvis Presley in his coffin for its front cover, that week’s issue sold 6.9 million copies, according to the 2020 documentary, “Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer.”

For all the ridicule the tabloid received from “serious” journalists, Enquirer reporters hustled and broke some genuine news. A memorable picture of the married Sen. Gary Hart enjoying a tropical holiday alongside a woman he was involved with destroyed a presidential candidacy and brought politicians into the Enquirer’s celebrity world. The tab was considered for a Pulitzer Prize after revealing a sex scandal involving U.S. Sen. John Edwards in the early 2000s.

During his celebrity days in the 1990s, Trump was a fixture in its pages, and often a source for news. When Pecker bought the Enquirer in 1999, one of his first calls was from Trump, who said, “Congratulations — you bought a great magazine,” the former executive testified this week.

As the “Scandalous” documentary illustrates, some of Pecker’s unsavory practices predated his deal with Trump. The Enquirer paid for the story of Gigi Goyette, an actress who claimed she had an affair with Arnold Schwarzenegger, dangling the prospect of a potential book and movie. Then it kept silent as Schwarzenegger, who denied the affair, ran for California governor. The arrangement became known as “catch and kill.”

Pecker said that in a summer 2015 meeting with Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen, he outlined how he would help the presidential candidate, a deal that included notifying the campaign of women seeking to sell stories about relationships with Trump. Pecker later testified he balked at having the Enquirer pay a “catch and kill” fee for Stormy Daniels that was allegedly paid by Cohen.

“They weren’t put into writing,” Pecker testified about his promises to Trump. “It was just an agreement among friends.”

Throughout the campaign, National Enquirer headlines made no secret who the tabloid was backing: “Donald Trump: The Man Behind the Legend,” read one. “Donald Trump: Healthiest Individual Ever Elected,” was another.

The Trump-boosting covers baffled Steve Coz, a former top Enquirer editor, when he saw them at his neighborhood supermarket in Florida. “That is so foreign to anybody who worked at the National Enquirer,” Coz said in the documentary.

NOT THE TYPICAL JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES

Cartwright, lured to a job at the Enquirer by his friend, Dylan Howard, with a promise to break stories like the Edwards scandal, instead found that material about one of the most colorful, compromised politicians in recent history was off limits. Meanwhile, Bill and Hillary Clinton were frequent targets of unflattering stories; Pecker called that a double win, since it helped Trump and anti-Clinton stories were popular with Enquirer readers.

Even Cartwright said he was surprised to learn in Pecker’s testimony about the role Cohen played in helping to manufacture outlandishly false stories about Trump’s Republican primary rivals. Ben Carson was described as a “bungling surgeon and ”brain butcher.” Marco Rubio headlines referenced a “love child” and “cocaine connection.” Ted Cruz supposedly was having five secret affairs and his father was alleged to have a connection with JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

Cartwright remembers wondering with friends at the time about what was going on, only to be told that “you’re sounding like a conspiracy theorist.”

The stories were wild, nothing truthful about them. But thousands of voters saw them, and when the rumors hit the mainstream media, the opponents — particularly an angry Cruz — were forced to address them.

“This is the ground zero of fake news,” said Cartwright, now a correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter.

It has been years since an Enquirer story made an impact. In 2019, the tabloid published texts alleging an extramarital affair by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — also owner of The Washington Post, a thorn in then-President Trump’s side. But it backfired when Bezos publicly revealed that the Enquirer had threatened to publish damning photos if the Post didn’t halt an investigation into Pecker’s American Media Inc. Pecker lost his job as head of the Enquirer’s parent company in 2020, and it was eventually sold.

Celebrity news is widespread in the media today. TMZ has largely assumed the Enquirer’s mantle with aggressive celebrity coverage and a willingness to pay for it, with more journalistic rigor. Political talk is also easy to find on the web, and so is disinformation.

The Enquirer averaged 238,000 newsstand sales each week during the last six months of election year 2016, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. During the last six months of 2023, its sales averaged just under 56,500. It limps along: The lead story on its website Thursday was “The Untold Story: Marko Stout’s Journey From Obscurity to Art World Phenom.”

“It’s really a shadow of its former self,” Cartwright said. “David Pecker’s legacy will be that he totally destroyed that tabloid.”

___

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM AP NEWS

THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER WAS THE GO-TO AMERICAN TABLOID FOR MANY YEARS. DONALD TRUMP HELPED CHANGE THAT

Former President Donald Trump, left, watches as David Pecker answers questions on the witness stand, far right, from assistant district attorney Joshua Steingless, in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. Testimony by the former National Enquirer publisher at Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died. On Thursday, April 25, 2024 Pecker was back on the witness stand to tell more about the arrangement he made to boost Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016, tear down his rivals and silence any revelations that may have damaged him. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM NY POST

DAVID PECKER LEAVES HELM OF NATIONAL ENQUIRER OWNER AMERICAN MEDIA

By  Keith J. Kelly Published Aug. 21, 2020

David Pecker has pulled out of American Media for good.

The 68-year-old media tycoon — whose 20-year reign as the owner of the National Enquirer got mired in scandals over “catch and kill” tactics to bury damaging stories about President Trump — has stepped down as chief executive of the supermarket tabloid’s owner, the company said in a statement Friday.

Pecker is exiting as part of a deal to combine American Media — which also publishes celebrity-focused titles like Us Weekly and Star magazine — with a wholesale distribution company as part of a debt-restructuring deal arranged by Chathan Asset Management, a hedge fund that owns 80 percent of American Media.

The announcement about the restructuring was made by David Parry, the CEO of the wholesale distribution company now known as Accelerate 360 LLC. It was “effective immediately” according to the announcement that went out stunned staffers Friday afternoon.

A longtime friend of President Donald Trump, Pecker was involved in making hush money payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Donald Trump. He became entangled in a fresh controversy in February when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos claimed that Pecker and the National Enquirer were trying to blackmail him over his affair with Lauren Sanchez.

At the time, American Media had already cooperated with a federal investigation into the so-called “catch and kill” stories that it purchased but never published in order to silence accusers of Trump who said they had flings with him years before he decided to run for president. Trump has denied the affairs.

In exchange for turning rat, Pecker and former Enquirer editor Dylan Howard were granted immunity in the federal case in the US Southern District of New York. One of the terms of the deal was that the company stay out of legal trouble for the next three years.

The Bezos and Karen McDougal controversies were said to be a major reason that Chatham sought to sell the Enquirer. In early 2019, Pecker tried to broker a deal but it never happened.

Pecker has headed American Media since 1999 when he teamed up with Evercore to take the publisher of the National Enquirer and Star private. Over the years, Evercore, Thomas H. Lee, Avenue Capital, Angelo Gordon and Capital Research and Management all lost their equity.

The magazine wholesale company that is now the parent company was purchased from Canadian billionaire James Pattison in late 2018, when it was known as the News Group. More recently under Chatham, it was called American News Company.

Under the restructuring unveiled late Friday, the wholesale distributor is being renamed Accelerate 360. In addition to  magazines, it also distributes candy, gum, health bars mini-hand sanitizers and other items sold at the front of 55,000 retail outlets nationally.

The publishing side of the operation will be called A360Media and will continue to publish the Enquirer, Star, Life & Style, OK! and other titles but will now be headed by former group publisher Chris Scardino. Pecker will be a senior executive advisor, “effective immediately” according to an announcement late Friday.

Said one knowledgeable source, “It is a way to deleverage American Media” which is still believed to be carrying $400 million in debt even after selling off Mr. Olympia and Muscle & Fitness.

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM ABC

HIDDEN WORLD OF 'CATCH-AND-KILL' TABLOIDS SPOTLIGHTED IN TRUMP'S HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker offered fresh details in testimony.

ByMax Zahn April 26, 2024, 8:16 AM

Secret deals, six-figure payoffs, salacious stories -- the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker in Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has offered a rare window into the tabloid practice of checkbook journalism, where a publication pays its sources.

A scheme to “catch and kill” unflattering stories about Trump lies at the heart of the prosecutors’ case, alleging Pecker arranged to pay sources for the rights to such stories to suppress them.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of fraud tied to his alleged role in payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a “catch and kill” agreement. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. He has also denied having sex with Daniels.

Experts who spoke to ABC News described a narrow set of tabloid publications in the U.S. that offer direct payment for source cooperation, explaining why the practice is widely condemned but still continues.

Here’s what to know about checkbook journalism and the role it plays in the hush money trial:

How did the National Enquirer pay for stories and why does it relate to the case against Trump?

The hush money trial has unearthed fresh details about the checkbook journalism overseen by Pecker, who served as CEO of National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc. from 1999 to 2020.

Editors at the magazine could spend up to $10,000 to get ahold of a story, but any payment exceeding that amount required sign-off from Pecker, he testified.

Pecker said that he retained "the final say on the celebrity side of the magazines."

“We used checkbook journalism and we paid for stories,” Pecker added.

Pecker established a "secret arrangement" with Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen during a "20-25 minute meeting" at Trump Tower in August of 2015, Pecker testified.

Pecker testified that he suspected that multiple women would come forward to shop stories about Trump during Trump's run for president. If those stories emerged, Pecker said he would notify Cohen, per their agreement.

Cohen also agreed to provide opposition research to Pecker for negative stories on Trump’s opponents, Pecker said.

According to Pecker, most elements of their agreement -- including running positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents -- were "mutually beneficial" to Trump and Pecker.

"It would help his campaign, but it would also help me," Pecker said.

How commonplace is the practice of paying sources?

In his opening statement at Trump’s hush money trial, defense attorney Todd Blanche said the National Enquirer’s practice of paying sources was in keeping with standard journalistic practice.

In U.S. media, the practice of paying sources for stories is largely confined to tabloids like the National Enquirer, experts told ABC News, rejecting the notion that checkbook journalism is carried out across the industry.

“It’s definitely not within the bounds of journalistic practice,” Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, told ABC News.

The alleged “catch-and-kill” scheme is especially egregious, Kirtley added. “Journalists exist to report the news, not suppress it,” she said.

The approach of paying sources for news is widely condemned by media ethics organizations and major news outlets.

The Society of Professional Journalists, a nationwide organization representing journalists, condemned checkbook journalism in a statement on Tuesday in response to testimony in the hush money trial.

“It is clearly unethical,” SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins said in a statement.

Is it illegal to ‘catch and kill’ news stories?

While frowned upon by many in the field, checkbook journalism is perfectly legal -- and that includes the “catch-and-kill” scheme involved in this case, experts said.

Instead, Trump stands accused of falsifying business records as part of the arrangement to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payments to Daniels. According to prosecutors, Trump fraudulently recorded $130,000 in expenses as the cost of legal services for Cohen.

"This is the business capital of the world," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference announcing the charges last year. "The bedrock, in fact the basis, for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is true and accurate record keeping."

Prosecutors called up Pecker for testimony in part as a means of bolstering allegations that Trump played a role in the scheme involving the payments.

Checkbook journalism is protected by the First Amendment, John Watson, a professor of journalism at American University who focuses on ethics, told ABC News, noting that the press enjoys wide latitude around how and what to publish.

"The First Amendment protects any sort of expression, outside of obscenity," Watson said, while acknowledging other exemptions for false and defamatory speech.

The legality of checkbook journalism, however, makes up a separate consideration from the question of whether it's ethical, Chad Painter, a professor of media ethics at the University of Dayton, told ABC News.

"Ethics goes further than the law," Painter said. "There are things that are perfectly legal but we're still not going to do them -- in terms of media or us as people."

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM LE MONDE (FR)
Trump trial: David Pecker explains how his tabloid helped win the 2016 election

Fabricated scoops, concerted attacks on the billionaire's rivals... On Tuesday, the former publisher of the National Enquirer revealed the 'highly confidential' deal to help Trump win the White House.

By Piotr Smolar (Washington (United States) correspondent) Published on April 24, 2024, at 8:31 am (Paris), updated on April 24, 2024, at 12:48 pm

For a long time, David Pecker had a "great relationship" with Donald Trump. Here they were, on Tuesday, April 23, in Manhattan's Criminal Court. The trial offered a highly anticipated moment, with a bewildering dive into the world of tabloids, "checkbook journalism" that works on command and in defiance of the truth. The former CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), who was offered immunity in exchange for his cooperation, calmly detailed his ties of friendship and self-interest with the former president, culminating with his victorious campaign in 2015 and 2016.

Both New Yorkers, Pecker, originally from the Bronx, and Trump, born in Queens, had a lot in common: an outsider wanting to get revenge against traditional elites, high self-esteem, ambition, and a taste for influence. They spoke regularly on the phone in the 2010s. Sometimes, Pecker, then publisher of the powerful tabloid the National Enquirer, would visit the Trump Tower.

When the real estate developer decided to run in the Republican primaries in 2015, their communication intensified. After that, Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer and fixer, acted as an intermediary. Pecker said he met Cohen in the 2000s, at a bar mitzvah. On June 16, 2015, the day of the candidacy announcement at Trump Tower, Pecker was among the guests.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM FOX NEWS

David Pecker calmly links Trump, Michael Cohen to suppressing stories, pushing fake news

Pecker described paying $30,000 to a former Trump building doorman

By Howard Kurtz Published April 24, 2024 3:00am EDT

David Pecker, who ran the National Enquirer empire, confirmed under oath yesterday that he had used catch-and-kill payments to help Donald Trump’s campaign – and his text messages didn’t help the former president either.

In his second day of testimony, the former Trump pal calmly described forking over cash in two such instances: one for a story that turned out to be flatly untrue, and one to buy the silence of former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who alleges a 10-month affair that Trump denies.

Time ran out before they got to Stormy Daniels, whose account of a one-night sexual encounter with Trump – which he also denies – is at the heart of the case, at least if it can be tied to falsified business records.

Under questioning by Manhattan Assistant D.A. Josh Steinglass, Pecker said he even viewed it as his duty to the campaign to help keep damaging Trump stories out of other publications.

PROSECUTORS REVEAL 'ANOTHER CRIME' AT HEART OF FORMER PRESIDENT'S CHARGES

In his second day of testimony at the hush money trial, Pecker said former Trump fixer Michael Cohen invited him to the candidate’s June 2015 launch, part of an effort to show how close he was to Trump and his team. (My personal favorites: He pitched a magazine called Trump Style, and Trump would leak him the ratings for "The Apprentice," which the Enquirer would publish.)

In August 2015, in a meeting with Trump and Cohen, Pecker says he was asked: "What can I do, and what my magazines could do, to help the campaign."

His response: "I would run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump, and negative stories about his opponents." Cohen said he could have such stories killed even if they were slated to run in another publication, Pecker testified.

The positive stories were easy: "Donald Trump: Healthiest Individual Ever Elected!"

But Cohen would call, ask for a negative story on, say, Ted Cruz, send the information, "and we’d embellish it from there..."

Which led to "Ted Cruz Sex Scandal: 5 Secret Mistresses" – total fake news. (And who can forget the bogus Enquirer story purporting to tie Cruz’s dad to the JFK assassination?)

Or there would be a request for a hit piece on Ben Carson:

"Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s Brain."

TRUMP SLAMS 'UNCONSTITUTIONAL' GAG ORDER AS TRIAL WRAPS FOR DAY: 'ALL BIDEN'

One factor that could play out in Trump’s favor – or with a lone juror holdout – is that both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were negotiating to sell their stories in the final stretch of the campaign, when the candidate would be at his most vulnerable.

Pecker described paying $30,000 to a former Trump building doorman for his story about the candidate having fathered an out-of-wedlock baby. But an Enquirer found the story to be utterly untrue. Interestingly, had it been substantiated, Pecker said he would have run it – after the election.

With McDougal, who was supposedly negotiating with ABC, Pecker had Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard investigate and he found her account credible. Cohen constantly called for updates, and Trump was concerned enough to call Pecker himself. Pecker said they should buy and suppress her story.

Trump was opposed, saying when you do that, it always comes out and you look even worse.

But Pecker insisted. So the Enquirer arranged a $150,000 payment that was for McDougal to write a fitness column for another magazine in parent company America Media’s stable–and stay quiet about Trump, he testified.

Now none of this has to do with the heart of the legal case, which is about falsifying business records to hide the reimbursements to Cohen. But that is pretty boring stuff.

What prosecutors were trying to do is tell a story, with Pecker–who is testifying under a previous grant of immunity–more believable than the disbarred, later jailed Cohen, whose credibility will come under fierce attack.

Next up, Pecker will tell the Stormy Daniels story tomorrow, with no trial proceedings today.  And, presumably, eventually get to his falling out with Trump.

Earlier, Judge Juan Marchan heard from both sides on whether Trump had violated his gag order by attacking other witnesses–namely Cohen and Stormy–and wound up excoriating the former president’s lawyer.

Prosecutors said Trump had violated the gag order 10 times, and proposed a fine of a thousand bucks per incident. So the entire argument was about $10,000 – which even in his cash-strapped state, is a rounding error for Trump.

The former president’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, said there was "absolutely no willful violation of a gag order" and that his client was allowed to respond to attacks by Cohen and Daniels.

Blanche had a weak hand to play, and Merchan kept pressing him for specific comments by Cohen and Daniels.  

The judge grew exasperated, raising his voice at one point: "I keep asking you over and over to give me an answer and I’m not getting an answer."

It was "silly," Merchan said, to assume the gag order was somehow waived because Trump had been attacked.

Finally, the judge scolded Blanche: "You’re losing all credibility with the court. You’ve presented nothing."

Judge Merchan didn’t make a decision yesterday, but it’s crystal clear what he intends to do.

Howard Kurtz is the host of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.

And…

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM THE EXPLAINER

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM FOURTH DAY OF TESTIMONY IN TRUMP’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Former National Enquirer publisher faces more grilling from Trump defence team as first full week of testimony wraps up.

Published On 26 Apr 2024

The fourth day of testimony in former United States President Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial has concluded, with former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker facing several hours of cross-examination by Trump’s legal team.

Pecker answered more questions on Friday about what he has testified was a “catch-and-kill” scheme to suppress damaging information about Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential elections.

The former president has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents in connection to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate, is accused of mislabelling reimbursements made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair. Trump has denied that affair took place.

But prosecutors have said the ex-president’s alleged misdeeds were part of a larger criminal scheme to influence the 2016 vote, which Trump won over Hillary Clinton.

Friday’s hearing began with Trump lawyer Emil Bove continuing to cross-examine Pecker, one of the prosecution’s star witnesses. Two other witnesses also took the stand.

Here are six takeaways from the day in court.

Pecker grilled on editorial process, 2015 meeting

Bove, Trump’s lawyer, on Friday asked the former National Enquirer publisher about a 2015 meeting, which he had previously testified about.

Pecker had earlier said there was a discussion in that meeting about running articles about Bill and Hillary Clinton and Trump’s opponents in the Republican presidential primary.

Pecker said the moves were good for the tabloid’s business. He added that the Enquirer ran negative stories about the Clintons before it began coordinating with the Trump campaign because those stories performed well.

Bove also sought to show that much of the Enquirer’s negative coverage of Trump’s political opponents – which prosecutors had suggested was evidence of them being in cahoots – merely summarised news stories by other outlets.

Pecker said recycling information from other outlets was cost-efficient and made business sense.

Later, Bove also said the National Enquirer’s parent company – not Trump or Cohen, his then-lawyer – paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 in 2015 for the rights to an unsubstantiated claim that Trump had fathered a child with an employee.

Pecker testified earlier that the Enquirer thought the tale would make for a huge tabloid story if it were accurate, but eventually concluded the story was “1,000% untrue” and never ran it. Trump and the woman involved both have denied the allegations.

Bove asked whether he would run the story if it were true. Pecker replied: “Yes.”

Term ‘catch-and-kill’ not used in 2015 meeting

Pecker also previously testified that he hatched a plan with Trump and Cohen in August 2015 for the National Enquirer to help Trump’s presidential campaign.

But, under questioning by Trump’s lawyer on Friday, Pecker acknowledged there was no mention at that meeting of the term “catch-and-kill”, which describes the practice of tabloids purchasing the rights to story so they never see the light of day.

Nor was there discussion at the meeting of any “financial dimension”, such as the National Enquirer paying people on Trump’s behalf for the rights to their stories, Pecker said.

Karen McDougal deal

The defence’s questioning then turned to a deal between the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Bove sought to get at what both McDougal’s and the Enquirer’s objectives really were in making a $150,000 agreement in 2016.

The deal gave American Media – where Pecker was CEO from 1999 to 2020 – exclusive rights to McDougal’s account of any relationship with “any then-married man”, a clause Pecker has testified was specifically about Trump. She claims they had an affair in 2006 and 2007; Trump denies it.

The contract also called for McDougal to pose for magazine covers and to produce, with a ghostwriter’s help, columns and other content on fitness and aging for various American Media titles.

Earlier this week, Pecker testified that the provision for content was essentially for a pact that was really about keeping McDougal’s story from becoming public and potentially influencing Trump’s chances at the presidency.

But on Friday, the ex-publisher said that McDougal was looking to restart her career and that American Media had pitched itself in a video conference as a venue able to help her. The company indeed ended up running more than 65 stories in her name, he said.

When American Media signed its agreement with her, “You believed it had a legitimate business purpose, correct?”, Bove asked Pecker.

“I did,” the former publisher said.

Longtime Trump aide testifies about Daniels, McDougal contacts

Rhona Graff, who started working for Trump in 1987 and left the Trump Organization in April 2021, was the next witness to testify after Pecker. She has been described as Trump’s gatekeeper and right hand.

Graff testified on Friday that she once saw Daniels at Trump Tower before he ran for president. She said she heard Trump say he was interested in casting her on The Apprentice, the reality TV show he hosted.

Graff also said contact information for Daniels and McDougal was maintained in the Trump Organization’s Outlook computer system.

“I never had the same day twice. It was a very stimulating, exciting, fascinating place to be,” she said of her 34 years working for the Trump Organization. Graff also described Trump as a “fair” and “respectful” boss.

Trial hears from third witness

Gary Farro, who works at Flagstar Bank as a private client adviser and was previously at First Republic Bank, which was used by Cohen, was the trial’s third witness.

Farro testified on Friday that Cohen had several personal accounts at First Republic when Farro took over the client relationship in 2015. He also detailed the banking arrangement he had with Cohen, according to US media reports of his testimony.

“I was told that I was selected because of my knowledge and because of my ability to handle individuals that may be a little challenging,” Farro said.

“Frankly, I didn’t find him that difficult,” he added.

Gag order hearing next week

Meanwhile, Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the New York case, said he plans to hold a hearing next Thursday on accusations that Trump has violated a gag order in the case.

Prosecutors have requested that Trump be punished for allegedly violating the order, which bars the ex-president from publicly criticising witnesses, some court officials and their relatives.

Trump could be fined $1,000 for each violation or jailed, though prosecutors say they are not seeking imprisonment at this point.

The trial will resume on Tuesday of next week.01:23

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM SLATE

PROSECUTORS HAVE FINALLY HOMED IN ON THEIR STRATEGY.

BY JEREMY STAHL APRIL 25, 2024 5:40 AM

Way back in April 2023, when a grand jury in Manhattan filed the first criminal indictment of a U.S. president in the country’s history, the 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents charged against Donald J. Trump landed with a thud. The grand jury deliberations had been essentially kept secret, so there were all sorts of elaborate theories about the case that District Attorney Alvin Bragg might be building. Would Trump be charged with financial crimes for his alleged misdealings with large banks? Or maybe tax crimes? Or perhaps something even more exotic that the public didn’t know about yet?

Nope. Instead, Bragg charged Trump with filing false business documents in relation to the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme that had already been exposed and combed over from seemingly every possible angle a full five years prior. Trump complained that this anti-Trump Democratic prosecutor was reviving a “zombie case” in order to “get” him. And a perhaps bored press corps was clearly somewhat let down, too. We already knew about this particular drama!

To make matters worse, legal analysts noted that Bragg refused to offer in his indictment or in his press conference a single detail about what crime Trump had allegedly committed alongside the false documents charge that might elevate the misdemeanor charge to a felony. Speculation that Bragg didn’t have the goods grew.

Now, those charges are the first ones to make it to trial. Trump has been in court since last Monday. And Bragg’s prosecutorial team has finally started laying out how they are going to sell this complex case to jurors: not by pitching it as a specifically illegal paperwork misfiling, but by boiling it down to a criminal “conspiracy” to illegally manipulate voters and win the 2016 election.

The word “conspiracy” was not a prominent feature of Bragg’s pretrial legal filings. But it came up again and again in the first two days of presentation to the jury this week. The idea of a “conspiracy” was so central to the prosecution’s case—and maybe so ominous-sounding—that Trump’s defense team even tried to get prosecutors to stop using the word.

It’s understandable why they’d do that. Taking part in a “criminal conspiracy” sounds a lot worse than allegedly violating Byzantine campaign finance laws that nobody really understands and that might not normally even be enforced properly anyhow.

That alleged conspiracy goes something like this: Trump, in concert with, among others, Michael Cohen and David Pecker, who is the former CEO of American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s parent company, formed a scheme to cover up potentially damaging stories for Trump as he campaigned for the Republican nomination and the general election. The resulting scheme served as an illegal in-kind donation to his campaign that was never reported. As part of the alleged conspiracy, Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels to not tell her story about an alleged affair with Trump, at Trump’s behest and to benefit the campaign. Trump filed false documents when he reimbursed Cohen. Cohen has even already served a prison sentence after admitting to this as a campaign finance violation! In other words, this isn’t unimportant or overzealous—it’s already criminal.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo’s opening arguments focused heavily on an August 2015 meeting among Trump, Cohen, and Pecker, who has also been the prosecution’s first witness against Trump. During this, the word “conspiracy” came up more than a few times. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” Colangelo argued. “Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again.” Colangelo said “conspiracy” more than a dozen times during that opening argument. Colangelo described that August 2015 Trump Tower meeting among Trump, Cohen, and Pecker as the lynchpin of the scheme. “Those three men formed a conspiracy at that meeting to influence the presidential election by concealing negative information about Mr. Trump in order to help him get elected,” Colangelo said.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s opening argument took direct aim at this fresh labeling of Trump’s alleged crimes. “You will hear and see that there are 34 counts in this indictment. ‘Conspiracy’ is not one of them,” Blanche argued, pointing back to the wording in that initial, vanilla indictment. “President Trump is not charged with any ‘conspiracy.’ ”

The problem for Trump’s legal team is that it may not matter what Trump was initially charged with, because a business records felony requires proof of another crime—and in this case, that crime seems like it’s going to be an alleged conspiracy to violate election law. (Though, this seeming vagueness could very well be a problem for prosecutors and a boon to Trump on appeal, too.)

At one point in the testimony on Tuesday, the prosecution tried to add that 2016 Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon also may have conspired with Pecker. Defense attorney Emil Bove objected, and complained to the judge that the “whole line of questioning” about co-conspirators should be inadmissible because conspiracy was never charged, meaning the defense was resultingly not given fair notice about who might be considered a co-conspirator.

But prosecutor Joshua Steinglass stepped in to argue that “there is conspiracy language” in one of the election statutes charged, which makes his team’s use of the word fair game. Justice Merchan agreed. The problem for the defense is that “conspiracy” sure sounds worse than friends working together to “influence” an election.

That’s exactly how it played out during Pecker’s testimony. Much of the introductory testimony felt boring or repetitive—prosecutors needed to lay the groundwork for why Pecker’s testimony matters. But then prosecutors presented a series of opening exhibits demonstrating some of the fruits of the “conspiracy,” including National Enquirer headlines praising Donald Trump and trashing Trump’s primary opponents. Pecker confirmed in his testimony that he ran these headlines by Cohen for input, and that Cohen even directly fed him other headlines. Those headlines? They’re somewhat startling and frankly mostly about sexual indiscretions: “Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s Brain”; “ ‘Kinky Sex’ Actress: Ted Cruz Shamed By Porn Star”; “Ted Cruz Sex Scandal—5 Secret Mistresses”; “Donald Trump Blasts Ted Cruz’s Dad for Photo With JFK Assassin”; “ ‘Family Man’ Marco Rubio’s Love Child Stunner!” Pecker also testified this was all done in coordination with Cohen—and by extension Trump—in order to boost the campaign.

“After the Republican debate and based on the success that some of the other candidates had, I would receive a call from Michael Cohen and he would direct me and direct [National Enquirer editor-in-chief] Dylan Howard on which candidate and which direction we should go,” Pecker testified.

“We would add content based on the some of the information that Michael Cohen had,” Pecker continued. “Michael Cohen would call me, and say he said, ‘We would like for you to run negative articles on a certain candidate,’ let’s say it’s on Ted Cruz, then he would send me information about Ted Cruz, or about Ben Carson, or about Marco Rubio, and that was the basis of our story and then we would embellish from there.”

that he also did this with a doorman peddling a false story about an “illegitimate child” Trump had with a Trump Tower “maid,” because the Trump campaign didn’t want the story out even if it was untrue. He’s expected to testify that he also did this catch-and-kill scheme with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who has alleged that she had a yearlong affair with the former president, and that he was asked to do it with Stormy Daniels as well.

We haven’t heard how Trump’s legal team intends to counter Pecker’s testimony on cross-examination, but that should be coming on Thursday or Friday. The defense will most likely try to portray Pecker as a sleazebag who betrayed his friend—a “rat” in Trump parlance—to save his own skin. Also, expect the defense to portray the unusual cooperation deal that Trump had with Pecker as typical of journalist–source relationships, which often involve reporters trying to curry favor with the people they cover in exchange for information.

This was not a normal journalist–source relationship. Those tend not to involve the exchange of large sums of money! And even though at one point Pecker seemed to suggest that the relationship was “mutually beneficial” because it boosted newsstand sales, and was therefore aboveboard, that isn’t going to be a golden ticket out either because Pecker could not explain how killing juicy negative stories about Trump could possibly boost his newsstand sales.

Pecker’s testimony continues on Thursday and Friday.

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES

National Enquirer exec told Trump’s lawyer to buy Stormy Daniels story

By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times - Friday, April 26, 2024

NEW YORK — Former tabloid executive David Pecker testified he wanted nothing to do with porn star Stormy Daniels’ tale of a sexual encounter with Donald Trump when the real estate mogul was running for president in 2016.

But Mr. Pecker, who ran the National Enquirer, said Friday that he made sure to tell Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, about the story so he could buy it on his own.

“I don’t want to be involved with it, my suggestion to you is, you should buy the story,” Mr. Pecker testified in Mr. Trump’s hush-money trial. 

“If you don’t, it’s going to be sold to another media outlet,” Mr. Pecker remembered saying.

Mr. Pecker had received a tip about the story, in which Ms. Daniels claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006. Mr. Trump denies it occurred.

Mr. Pecker, though, was fed up after shelling out $30,000 to a doorman and $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal to get other stories related to Mr. Trump. That’s why he told Mr. Cohen to handle the Daniels story on behalf of Mr. Trump.

“You were still going to tell Michael Cohen about it so the campaign could quash it,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Mr. Pecker said that was correct.

Prosecutors say Mr. Trump made a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels through Mr. Cohen and criminally concealed it with a series of checks and business entries that misled banks and triggered election and tax offenses.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and says the case is designed to thwart his presidential campaign. 

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

TRUMP ATTORNEY UNCOVERS INCONSISTENCY IN PECKER’S ‘CATCH-AND-KILL’ TESTIMONY

By Ashley Oliver April 26, 2024 1:57 pm

Pecker, the former CEO of tabloid publisher American Media, Inc., faced questions from Trump attorney Emil Bove about Pecker’s contradictory recollections of whether Trump personally thanked him for suppressing a story in 2016 ahead of the presidential election, according to reports from the courtroom.

Bove asked Pecker about an interview he gave to the FBI in 2018 during which Pecker discussed a process known as “catch-and-kill,” which involved buying rights to stories about high-profile people and then never publishing them.

During a meeting between Pecker and Trump on Jan. 6, 2017, “Trump did not express any gratitude to Pecker and AMI” for killing a story about Trump, according to the FBI’s notes from the following year, Bove observed.

The defense attorney then pointed out how Pecker testified from the witness stand one day earlier with an entirely different account. Pecker had said Thursday that Trump did in fact thank him at the meeting because AMI-owned National Enquirer reached a $30,000 deal with a doorman during Trump’s presidential run that prevented the doorman from going public with an unproven allegation that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, charged Trump with concealing payments made to two women in 2016 to silence them after they wanted to come forward about alleged affairs they had with Trump, and prosecutors have sought to prove Trump’s motivation was to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Trump thanking Pecker right after he won the election would bolster prosecutors’ argument that the election drove Trump to participate in Pecker’s catch-and-kill schemes.

However, Bove emphasized during his cross-examination of Pecker how his accounts of the meeting with Trump in 2017 appeared to change.

“I know what I testified to yesterday, and I know what I remember,” Pecker said as Bove became louder and noted that lying under oath is a crime.

“Are you suggesting the FBI made a mistake here?” Bove asked.

Pecker doubled down on his testimony from the prior day.

“I know what the truth is. I can’t state why this is written this way. I know what was said to me,” he said.

Pecker, the first witness in Trump’s trial, appeared on the stand Friday for a fourth consecutive day as he testified about how he helped Trump in 2016 by publishing positive stories about him while also negotiating two agreements with sources, the doorman and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, on Trump’s behalf to quash their negative stories.

Trump’s attorneys have highlighted how Pecker also helped suppress stories about other high-profile politicians, such as former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

They have also noted how politicians meeting with media organizations is normal and how nondisclosure agreements, such as those that Pecker reached with sources, are legal.

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM the WASHINGTON POST

TRUMP’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL DONE FOR THE WEEK AFTER THIRD WITNESS TESTIFIES

Updated April 26, 2024 at 5:06 p.m. EDT Published April 26, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK — The second week of Donald Trump’s hush money trial concluded Friday afternoon. Before the proceedings wrapped for the day, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker finished his testimony. He was followed by witnesses Rhona Graff, a longtime Trump assistant, and a banker who dealt with Michael Cohen.

The trial is set to resume Tuesday morning.  

Here's what to know

Prosecutors have kept their witness list private even from the defense team, to prevent Trump from encouraging attacks on the witnesses.

The trial is not being televised. The Washington Post has reporters in the courtroom and media overflow room who are posting live updates.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to his reimbursement of longtime lawyer Michael Cohen for a hush money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged that she had a sexual encounter with Trump years before he sought the presidency.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

4:34 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Judge Juan Merchan has sent the jury home for the weekend; the trial will resume Tuesday.

Donald Trump has left the courtroom.

4:32 p.m. EDT

Michael Cohen hastily switched bank account plans in 2016

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Banker Gary Farro has been testifying about frantic efforts by Michael Cohen to open new business accounts at First Republic Bank, when after starting the process of opening one, he changed course and decided he wanted to start another.

“Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me he gave a sense of urgency,” Farro testified.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

4:27 p.m. EDT

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

But Cohen never funded that Resolution Consultants new account, Farro said. Instead, 10 days later, Cohen created another account for another new entity called Essential Consultants LLC.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

4:24 p.m. EDT

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Gary Farro is now showing emails and documents from October 2016 in which Michael Cohen both incorporated a new entity called Resolution Consultants LLC and opened a new bank account at First Republic Bank. Prosecutors say Cohen did this to hide the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:58 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Witness Gary Farro previously worked at First Republic Bank, where he dealt with Michael Cohen directly. He’s testifying to introduce some of the financial records related to Cohen’s account.

TRUMP NEW YORK HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Live updates continue below

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April 26, 2024

Trump focused on campaign, not family, in ‘catch and kills,’ witness says

April 25, 2024

The jurors in Trump’s New York hush money trial

April 19, 2024

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:44 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

The new witness is Gary Farro, who works at Flagstar Private Bank.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:34 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Donald Trump is back from the break.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:30 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Rhona Graff’s testimony is done, and the trial is on a break. As Graff left, Donald Trump stood up to try to shake her hand and said something to her that was inaudible. It looked like she did not stretch her hand out to shake his.

3:25 p.m. EDT

Defense suggests Trump was considering Stormy Daniels for ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ show

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Former Trump assistant Rhona Graff was asked on direct examination if she ever saw Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower. Graff said yes.

Now Trump lawyer Susan Necheles is raising the idea with Graff that Trump was constantly looking for new contestants, such as Daniels, for his “Celebrity Apprentice” show.

“I vaguely recall him saying she may be an interesting contestant for the show,” Graff said.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:18 p.m. EDT

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

Donald Trump appeared to be listening intently to the testimony of his longtime assistant Rhona Graff. He leaned his head toward the witness stand, and he cracked a smile a couple times when Graff spoke highly of her time working with him.

3:17 p.m. EDT

Who is Rhona Graff, the government’s second witness?

By Perry Stein

Reporter covering the Justice Department.

Donald Trump’s former executive assistant, Rhona Graff, took the stand in the Manhattan criminal case on Friday afternoon.

Graff, the state’s second witness, worked for the former president for 34 years, leaving in April 2021. She started as an executive assistant at the Trump Organization, eventually rising to senior vice president.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:16 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Rhona Graff described Donald Trump as a respectful boss who valued her work.

On late nights that Graff was working, she said, Trump would sometimes “peak his head in and say ‘Now go home to your family.’” Graff said that she often would not follow that instruction if it came while she was in the middle of work.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:10 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Direct examination by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is done. Several scheduling and contact records were admitted. Now, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles is doing cross-examination. Trump assistant Rhona Graff is saying that there was never a dull moment working for Trump. “There was never a boring day,” she said.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:07 p.m. EDT

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

The prosecution displayed the Trump Organization’s contact card in Outlook for Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump’s alleged mistress, during testimony from Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime executive assistant at his business. Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, was listed simply as “Stormy,” along with her mobile number.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

3:04 p.m. EDT

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

The prosecutors are now showing an entry in the Trump appointment calendar for a “TelePrompTer Practice Session” on Jan. 16, 2017, and again on Jan. 17, 2017, to show he was at Trump Tower on those days.

2:57 p.m. EDT

Defense again seeks to make its points about Cohen, McDougal

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Defense attorney Emil Bove got the last questions in for former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, and sought to revive its arguments that Michael Cohen didn’t work for the Donald Trump campaign and that Karen McDougal was paid for legitimate services rendered.

“Michael Cohen told you he was President Trump’s personal attorney?” Bove asked. “Yes,” Pecker said. “And private attorneys can hold fundraisers without being part of the campaign?” Yes, Pecker replied.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:56 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Rhona Graff said she maintained Donald Trump’s contact list and that there were entries in those records for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two alleged mistresses who are connected to the prosecution’s case. Graff is here to certify those records, and the jury is about to see them.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:49 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Donald Trump’s longtime assistant Rhona Graff told the jury she worked for Trump for 34 years, until April 2021. She said she started as an executive assistant at the Trump Organization and eventually became a senior vice president. In those roles, Graff would have had access to internal documents and a complete understanding of how things were run at the company.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:44 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

David Pecker is finished with his testimony. Prosecutors are calling Rhona Graff, who is Donald Trump’s longtime assistant, to the witness stand.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:42 p.m. EDT

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Justice Merchan is allowing the defense to do re-cross-examination of this witness, and presumably all witnesses. Many judges do not allow the defense a “second bite at the apple,” but this apparently will be the practice for this trial.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:35 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass sat down, and Trump lawyer Emil Bove just started up again.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

2:16 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Donald Trump is back in the courtroom. And David Pecker is back on the witness stand.

1:34 p.m. EDT

Here’s how some other countries have prosecuted their ex-leaders

A half-century after President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, Donald Trump is poised to become the first former U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges.

Other nations, including France, Brazil, South Korea and Israel, have already crossed this line, prosecuting former presidents or prime minsters for numerous alleged crimes, among them embezzlement, corruption, election interference and bribery.

1:16 p.m. EDT

A N.Y. court tossed Harvey Weinstein’s conviction. What does it mean for Trump’s case?

National reporter covering law enforcement and criminal justice

A New York appeals court’s stunning decision Thursday to overturn a 2020 rape conviction of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein landed during the second week of Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial — and will undoubtedly be closely examined by the judge overseeing the Trump trial, according to legal experts.

Read more here about what experts say the Weinstein ruling may — or may not — mean for the Trump trial.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

1:04 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

They are now going on lunch break. Things will resume at 2:15 p.m.

12:50 p.m. EDT

Prosecutors remind jury of Pecker’s written admissions about quashing McDougal’s story

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

On cross-examination, the lawyer for Donald Trump suggested to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker that its 2016 contract with former Playboy model Karen McDougal had legitimate business purposes. Pecker agreed with defense attorney Emil Bove that 65 stories appeared in a fitness magazine with McDougal’s byline and that the magazine’s promotion of her “would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

12:43 p.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Throughout the morning, jurors looked to be paying attention and taking notes, but some of them were glancing around the room and seemed a little bored.

12:35 p.m. EDT

Pecker says he agrees that Michael Cohen was ‘prone to exaggeration’

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

Defense lawyer Emil Bove briefly took a shot at the credibility of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and a key witness for the prosecution, during cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

Bove brought up a letter from the Federal Election Commission that Pecker’s company received in 2018 about its hush money payment to a Playboy model. Pecker said he spoke with Cohen about the matter.

12:29 p.m. EDT

David Pecker shook down celebrities but is barely rattled on cross-examination

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Emil Bove had a chance to press former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker Friday about his decades of blackmailing celebrities, but instead tried to establish minor inconsistencies in his testimony.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

12:29 p.m. EDT

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

The defense has concluded its cross-examination of David Pecker, and the prosecution is now up for redirect examination.

12:11 p.m. EDT

Defense explores whether Pecker cooperated with feds to enable sale of Enquirer

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

While federal investigators were exploring the National Enquirer’s relationship with Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, David Pecker, the Enquirer’s publisher, was trying to sell the publication and two others owned by American Media Inc.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

12:08 p.m. EDT

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, seems genuinely confused as defense lawyer Emil Bove presses him about the details of his company’s non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors. Bove is having Pecker read lines from the document in attempts to point out apparent contradictions in Pecker’s testimony. Pecker is taking long pauses and asking him to repeat certain questions.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

11:37 a.m. EDT

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

The jury and judge are back in the courtroom after midmorning break, David Pecker is on the stand and his cross-examination is now resuming.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

11:17 a.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Midmorning break has started. Defense attorney Emil Bove said the rest of his cross-examination of David Pecker will take less than an hour.

11:15 a.m. EDT

Trump defense shows McDougal story came out before election

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

As the defense tries to chip away at the prosecution’s case that Donald Trump was manipulating the National Enquirer before the 2016 election, defense attorney Emil Bove posted a bombshell article from the Wall Street Journal revealing that former Playboy model Karen McDougal had made claims of an affair with Trump, and that the Enquirer had purchased and killed the story.

“These details were made public prior to the election?” Bove asked former Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

11:06 a.m. EDT

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

Donald Trump is slightly more animated than usual this morning. He’s been a bit more talkative with his defense team, occasionally leaning over to whisper to them and fiddling with the papers on the desk in front of him. During some testimony about a meeting at the White House, he briefly folded his arms and pursed his lips.

11:03 a.m. EDT

Pecker says $150,000 deal with Karen McDougal had legitimate business purpose

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker appeared to contradict himself Friday about a hush money deal he made with a former Playboy model to keep her quiet about an affair with Donald Trump.

10:53 a.m. EDT

Pecker says he believed doorman’s false story of illegitimate child may have been true

By Derek Hawkins

Reporter covering national news

A onetime doorman at Trump Tower tried to sell a false story to the National Enquirer in 2015 about Donald Trump having a child out of wedlock. (Biz Herman/For The Washington Post)

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that he believed as late as December 2015 that a former Trump Tower doorman’s story about Donald Trump having a child out of wedlock may have been true, and that he would have published it if it was.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

10:30 a.m. EDT

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

In his fourth day on the witness stand — and second being cross-examined — David Pecker is occasionally taking long pauses before answering questions, which he did not do on previous days.

10:10 a.m. EDT

Pecker says negative stories on Trump’s foes started before 2015 meeting

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Prosecutors earlier this week focused on a meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015 in which then-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker met with Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen. In the meeting, Pecker testified, he agreed to publish glowing stories about Trump and negative articles about political rivals such as Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

10:00 a.m. EDT

The financial fraud charges at the heart of Trump’s New York trial

By David Nakamura

Reporter covering the Justice Department and civil rights.

A key element of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York is whether prosecutors can successfully tie the specific counts against him — that he doctored financial records of his companies — to a more lurid election-related conspiracy for which he is not facing charges.

The trial now underway centers on 34 counts against Trump of falsifying business records in the first degree, a felony that could result in his serving time at New York’s jail complex on Rikers Island or in state prison.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

9:44 a.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Witness David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, is back on the stand now and testimony is starting, after Justice Juan Merchan gave the jury an instruction about evidence.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

9:33 a.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Justice Juan Merchan just rescheduled next week’s hearing on Donald Trump’s potential gag order violations. It will now be Thursday morning, not Wednesday afternoon.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

9:31 a.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Justice Juan Merchan is now on the bench. Trial is starting.

REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

9:29 a.m. EDT

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Donald Trump is now in the courtroom. Proceedings should start any minute.

-REPORTING FROM THE NEW YORK COURTHOUSE

9:19 a.m. EDT

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

The prosecution team has entered the courtroom as proceedings are set to begin Friday, but Donald Trump isn’t here yet.

9:17 a.m. EDT

Trump discussed Playboy model with tabloid exec in White House visit

By Shayna Jacobs

Courts, law enforcement and criminal justice

Donald Trump invited former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to the White House in July 2017 to thank him for his help suppressing a pair of salacious stories that had come across his desk — in a process known as “catch and kill” — during crucial stages of Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to Pecker.

8:59 a.m. EDT

Enquirer boss didn’t want to offend Walmart with Stormy Daniels story

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Although the National Enquirer and its publisher, David Pecker, had paid for and then quashed two negative stories about Donald Trump before the 2016 election, when the Stormy Daniels allegations arose, Pecker wanted nothing to do with the story.

8:42 a.m. EDT

Supreme Court justices must now decide how to proceed with Trump’s D.C. trial

By Ann Marimow

Demonstrators protest outside the Supreme Court on Thursday as justices hear the case regarding whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for actions he took while in office. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)

Donald Trump said he wanted to pause his criminal trial in New York on Thursday so he could head south to Washington and sit in as the U.S. Supreme Court debated his claim to be immune from prosecution for attempting to block the results of the 2020 election.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said no.

So Trump — who had opted not to attend a Supreme Court argument earlier this term that was also relevant to his D.C. case — stayed in Manhattan.

8:30 a.m. EDT

Trump’s defense lawyer trying to challenge David Pecker’s memory

By Derek Hawkins

Former president Donald Trump's lawyer Emil Bove cross-examines David Pecker on Thursday in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)

Defense lawyer Emil Bove leaned on a classic defense tactic as he began his cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker on Thursday: challenging the witness’s memory.

Pecker has been giving consistent answers about his business and his decades-long relationship with Donald Trump in three days of rigorous questioning by the prosecution.

8:28 a.m. EDT

David Pecker still counts Trump as a friend

By Tom Jackman

Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally

Through three days of testimony, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has maintained a fairly bright demeanor on the witness stand, and smiled at Donald Trump when passing him in the courtroom, even though he’s been dealing with federal and state investigations of his role in the Trump business records case since 2018. At the end of his direct examination, he revealed why: He still considers Donald Trump a friend.

8:27 a.m. EDT

Thursday was all about Donald Trump, in D.C. and New York

Chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress

Former president Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he greets construction workers and union members at the construction site for the new JPMorgan Chase headquarters in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

From the lofty chambers of the Supreme Court to the gutters of tabloid journalism, Thursday was, once again, a day all about Donald Trump. He was largely invisible, as he was sequestered in a courtroom in Manhattan. Nonetheless, he was ubiquitous. It is who he is.

ATTACHMENT (A) FROM LAST WEEK’S LESSON AND ABOVE...

NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY INDUCTS SOUNDS OF ABBA, BLONDIE, THE CARS, THE CHICKS, JUAN GABRIEL, GREEN DAY, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. AND LILY TOMLIN

Recordings from Gene Autry, Jefferson Airplane, Perry Como, Kronos Quartet, Johnny Mathis, Bobby McFerrin, Patti Page, Also Among 25 Selected for Preservation

ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” Blondie’s era-defining “Parallel Lines,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s landmark “Ready to Die,” Green Day’s “Dookie,” The Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces” and Lily Tomlin’s comedy have been selected as some of the defining sounds of history and culture that will join the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.

The 2024 class of inductees also includes Gene Autry’s “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” The Cars’ debut album, Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star” / “Magic Moments,” Juan Gabriel’s heartbreaking “Amor Eterno,” Héctor Lavoe’s salsa hit “El Cantante,” Kronos Quartet’s “Pieces of Africa,” Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are,” Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz,” and Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

“The Library of Congress is proud to preserve the sounds of American history and our diverse culture through the National Recording Registry,” Hayden said. “We have selected audio treasures worthy of preservation with our partners this year, including a wide range of music from the past 100 years, as well as comedy. We were thrilled to receive a record number of public nominations, and we welcome the public’s input on what we should preserve next.”

The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 650, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.

The latest selections named to the registry span from 1919 to 1998. They range from the recordings of the all-Black 369th U.S. Infantry Band led by James Reese Europe after World War I, to defining sounds of jazz and bluegrass, and iconic recordings from pop, dance, country, rock, rap, Latin and classical music.

“For the past 21 years the National Recording Preservation Board has provided musical expertise, historical perspective and deep knowledge of recorded sound to assist the Librarian in choosing landmark recordings to be inducted into the Library’s National Recording Registry,” said Robbin Ahrold, chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. “The board again this year is pleased to join the Librarian in highlighting influential works in our diverse sound heritage, as well as helping to spread the word on the National Recording Registry through their own social media and streaming media campaigns.”

Listen to many of the recordings on your favorite streaming service. The Digital Media Association, a member of the National Recording Preservation Board, compiled a list of some streaming services with National Recording Registry playlists, available here: https://dima.org/national-recording-registry-class-of-2024/.

NPR’s “1A” will feature selections in the series, “The Sounds of America,” about this year’s National Recording Registry, including interviews with Hayden and several featured artists in the weeks ahead. Follow the conversation about the registry on Instagram, Threads and X/Twitter @librarycongress and #NatRecRegistry.

Recordings Selected for the 2024 National Recording Registry (in chronological order)

“Clarinet Marmalade” – Lt. James Reese Europe’s 369th U.S. Infantry Band (1919)

“Kauhavan Polkka” – Viola Turpeinen and John Rosendahl (1928)

Wisconsin Folksong Collection (1937-1946)

“Rose Room” – Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian (1939)

“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – Gene Autry (1949)

“Tennessee Waltz” – Patti Page (1950)

“Rocket ‘88’” – Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951)

“Catch a Falling Star” / ”Magic Moments” – Perry Como (1957)

“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis (1957)

“The Sidewinder” – Lee Morgan (1964)

“Surrealistic Pillow” – Jefferson Airplane (1967)

“Ain’t No Sunshine” – Bill Withers (1971)

“This is a Recording” – Lily Tomlin (1971)

“J.D. Crowe & the New South” – J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)

“Arrival” – ABBA (1976)

“El Cantante” – Héctor Lavoe (1978)

“The Cars” – The Cars (1978)

“Parallel Lines” – Blondie (1978)

“La-Di-Da-Di” – Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (MC Ricky D) (1985)

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – Bobby McFerrin (1988)

“Amor Eterno” – Juan Gabriel (1990)

“Pieces of Africa” – Kronos Quartet (1992)

“Dookie” – Green Day (1994)

“Ready to Die” – The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)

“Wide Open Spaces” – The Chicks (1998)