Trump hush money trial day 6 highlights: David Pecker testifies, judge hears gag order arguments

Asked to respond to Pecker’s testimony on the stories about him, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said: “Not interested in revisiting ancient history.”

A few pro-Trump protesters have gathered outside of the courthouse as Trump prepares to depart for the day.

The group is holding a "Trump 2024" banner, a handwritten poster that reads "Kangaroo Court" and another banner that reads "Make America Great Again" under Trump's name.

Trump complained again about his gag order, calling it "unconstitutional" as he left the courthouse for the day.

"I'm not allowed to defend myself and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. It's very, very unfair," Trump told reporters outside of the courtroom.

Trump went on to again call Merchan a "highly conflicted judge" who should recuse himself from the case.

The trial went into recess at 2 p.m. ET — an early wrap because of Passover.

They'll be back on Thursday.

Pecker said that Trump called him about McDougal and asked what the publishing executive thought. Pecker told Trump that McDougal had an offer from ABC’s "Dancing with the Stars."

Pecker suggested to Trump that he buy McDougal's story. Trump demurred and said: "Anytime you do something like this, it always comes out."

Pecker persisted. Trump said he wanted to talk to Cohen and that he would call back in a couple of days.

Pecker said at this point he went from talking to Cohen a couple times a week to speaking with him everyday, sometimes twice a day, when the story of McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump emerged.

Pecker recalled Cohen instructed him to not talk over a landline, but use the messaging app Signal instead because it’s encrypted and messages would be destroyed.

“I still to this day don’t know whether that’s true or not,” Pecker said.

The court is expected to recess early for the day, at 2 p.m. ET, because of Passover.

Pecker just started testifying about another central figure in this case: Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 — a claim the former president has denied.

Pecker is likely to provide details about how the National Enquirer paid to "catch and kill" McDougal's story about her sexual relationship with Trump to prevent his 2016 presidential campaign from getting bad press.

McDougal is expected to take the witness stand during this trial.

Pecker has now testified that he held off publishing the doorman's story until after the 2016 election because Cohen had asked him to.

Pecker went on to say that he had wanted to release Dino Sajudin from the exclusivity agreement, but Cohen had requested that he not do so until after the election, to ensure that the story didn't break on other outlets.

According to a December 9, 2016 email from then-AMI general counsel Cameron Stracher to Dino Sajudin, the Enquirer confirmed that doorman was released from the exclusivity agreement.

Pecker testified that the agreement was amended to pay Sajudin within five days — even though the publishing executive had concluded that his story about Trump's supposed illegitimate child was "1,000% untrue."

Pecker explained that he ponied up the cash to make sure that Sajudin didn't take his claims elsewhere and embarrass Trump's presidential campaign.

“I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment to the campaign and Mr. Trump," Pecker testified.

Pecker testified that he negotiated to pay $30,000 for a story sourced by Trump's doorman.

Pecker said that after he agreed to pay for the story, Cohen said "the boss," referring to Trump, was very pleased.

“I’ll pay for it," Pecker said during his testimony, recounting the exchange with Cohen. "This’ll be a very big story. I believe it’s important he should be removed from the market, so we’ll acquire the story."

Pecker said he spoke to Howard to verify whether the story about Trump having a child with the housekeeper in the penthouse was true, and he recalled saying that there should be a source agreement with Dino Sajuddin and that he should take a polygraph.

Steinglass abruptly cut Pecker off.

“What you’re about to say, don’t say that,” Steinglass told Pecker.

Trump's eyes were closed and he did not seem to have any visible reaction as Steinglass started asking Pecker about Dino Sajudin, a doorman at Trump Tower who purportedly tried to sell a story about Trump fathering an illegitimate child with a maid who worked at the New York City skyscraper.

"Dino was in the market selling a story that Donald Trump fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid in — at — at Trump Tower," Pecker said, explaining that he learned about Sojudin from former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard, who purportedly got a tip from one of his sources.

Trump is sitting alone at the defense table while his lawyers and the prosecutors have a meeting at the judge's bench.

The meeting was called after Trump lawyer Emil Bove raised an objection to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass' attempt to put some exhibits into evidence.

Steinglass is asking a series of questions to allow the admission of AMI business records, including texts and emails, into the trial's evidence that Pecker himself might not be on.

This is important because as the chairman and CEO during the time period in question, Pecker can authenticate these records and get them into evidence.

The defense is objecting to Steinglass asking about Bannon's requests on hearsay grounds, arguing that they have had no notice that Bannon was considered a co-conspirator.

Steinglass’ response includes an important point: Bannon's requests to Pecker are relevant to the “primary” underlying crime that Trump was trying to commit or conceal under New York Election Law 17-152.

Bragg's office has not identified with any precision what the crime is that Trump allegedly intended to commit or conceal. Through this sidebar about an evidentiary objection, Steinglass has now admitted that New York Election Law 17-152, which prohibits conspiracies to promote the election of a specific candidate through unlawful means, is that “primary” predicate.

Pecker talked about his discussions with Steve Bannon, one of Trump's former campaign and White House strategists.

Pecker testified that Trump had told him that he and Bannon would “work very well together,” and Bannon then asked whether Pecker could send him other Enquirer issues for Bannon’s review.

It appears that Steinglass is trying to elicit evidence about requests Bannon made purportedly on behalf of the campaign. Emil Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, has objected, and they are now having a sidebar.

The prosecution agreed to stop asking Pecker about Bannon — but this seems to be a point that will continue to come up.

The jury is taking a short break.

Pecker has testified that the National Enquirer pushed negative articles about Trump's opponents in the 2016 GOP primary, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The publishing executive was just asked about an Enquirer article claiming that the Republican lawmaker's father, Rafael Cruz, associated with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Pecker claimed that former Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard and the magazine's research department had worked on the article. "We mashed the photos and the different picture with Lee Harvey Oswald ... we mashed the two together," Pecker testified. "That's how that story was prepared — created, I would say."

In the heat of the 2016 GOP primary, Trump pointed to that Enquirer article to support his conspiracy theory, saying that the tabloid's claim that it had photographic evidence of a link between the elder Cruz and Oswald was credible.

Pecker said Cohen would call him after the Republican presidential debates.

Based on the success that some of the other GOP candidates had, Cohen would direct him and Enquirer editor-in-chief Howard on which candidate to target next.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker what the ultimate objective was of the arrangement that involved him notifying Michael Cohen about negative stories about Trump and other women.

"What was the purpose of notifying Michael Cohen when you came upon stories like that?" Steinglass asked.

Pecker said of Cohen, "He would try to vet it himself, see if the story was true or not.”

Pecker testified that his arrangement with Trump and Cohen was not put into writing. It was essentially an agreement among friends.

However, Pecker quickly put a plan in motion. When he returned to his office, Pecker met with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard. Pecker described the Trump Tower meeting to Howard, outlining the arrangement and describing the agreement as "highly private and confidential."

This jury is getting a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of the country's most popular tabloids through the ultimate insider.

Pecker is being frank and not mincing words. His speech is halting at times and careful, but he doesn't sugarcoat the facts — at least as he understands them. Pecker is explaining why both he and Trump benefited from him running storylines against the Clintons in the Enquirer.

Pecker said stories on former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, were published in the Enquirer because Bill Clinton's involvement with women was another top-seller for the tabloid.

“It was of mutual benefit,” he said, to portray “Hillary Clinton as an enabler of Bill Clinton’s womanizing” and that he offered to keep doing that, which “pleased” Trump and Cohen.

Pecker is testifying about his August 2015 meeting with Trump and Cohen. When prosecutors asked Pecker how the subject of Trump accusers coming forward came up, the media businessman replied that it was common for women to call up magazines such as the National Enquirer to sell their stories, "or I might hear in the marketplace that those stories were circulated."

Trump was known as "the most eligible bachelor who dated the most beautiful women," Pecker said, appearing to ignore the fact that Trump had been married for many years at the time of the meeting.

Pecker is testifying about a August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower attended by Trump and Cohen — as well as Hope Hicks, who apparently came in and out of the room. Pecker said he received a phone call from Cohen explaining that "the boss wanted to see me."

"Most of the time when I got a call from Michael Cohen," Pecker said, "he wanted something."

Pecker said it was there that he agreed to help Trump.

"Thinking about it as I did previously, I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponents," Pecker testified.

Pecker said that he was at Trump’s presidential campaign launch in June 2015 and that he had received an invitation from Cohen to attend.

Prosecutors displayed a 2015 email from Cohen to Pecker.

Cohen wrote to invite Pecker to to Trump Tower. “As a friend, I would love if you could make it. Let me know so I can save you a seat next to me on the atrium floor. No one deserves to be there more than you.” 

Pecker said that when Trump launched "The Apprentice" and then "Celebrity Apprentice," the interest in him among the National Enquirer's readership “skyrocketed.”

Pecker added that every time the Enquirer studied which cover subjects would sell best, Trump was the No. 1 celebrity and was viewed by the public as "the boss."

Pecker went on to say he had discussed with Trump a poll the Enquirer ran about his running for president, in which 80% of the magazine’s readership said they wanted him to run. Shortly after, Trump was interviewed on NBC's "TODAY" show and cited the Enquirer poll when asked about his aspiration to run for president.

Prosecutors appear to be using Pecker's testimony partly as a way to help familiarize jurors with other major figures in Trump's orbit, including his personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former aide Hope Hicks. Cohen and Hicks are both expected to testify during this trial.

After arguments over the gag order in which posts Trump made about Cohen were the subject of debate, Cohen blasted Trump in a statement to NBC News, noting the time he spent behind bars after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to a series of charges, which include his involvement in sending payments to silence Daniels and Karen McDougal after they claimed to have had affairs with Trump.

“After the Trump administration had me remanded to solitary confinement for a total of 51 days, I learned that I am much stronger than I ever imagined," he said. "Strong enough to ensure that truth will prevail over Donald and his acolytes’ incessant lying and denigration of me; in the court hallways or his UNtruth Social platform. Regardless. no one is above the law.”

Steinglass asked Pecker how he would describe Trump as a businessman and Pecker said that he was very detail oriented.

“I would describe Mr. Trump as very knowledgeable. I would describe him very detail oriented. I would describe him almost micromanaging," he said. “Looking at all the aspects of whatever the issue was.”

He added, “I thought that his approach to money, he was very cautious and very frugal.” 

The purpose of all of this background information the state is eliciting from Pecker is to show they weren’t passing acquaintances, they were in frequent communication and increasingly after Trump announced his candidacy in 2015.

That way, when he talks about the key meeting with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower (where prosecutors allege the "catch and kill" scheme was hatched), he has more credibility with the jury.

Pecker said that he considered Trump a friend up until 2017.

"I called him Donald," Pecker said, a fact the prosecution elicited to show the pair's proximity.

Pecker said that he and Trump spoke monthly or quarterly or, if something was about to be national news, more frequently. He added that they saw each other roughly once or twice a quarter. By 2015, when Trump announced he was running for president, Pecker saw him more frequently, approximately once a month.

Pecker said he has had a “great relationship” with Trump over the years and helped him launch a quarterly magazine called Trump Style, that Pecker managed.

He described meeting Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the late '80s through a client, Ronald Perelman, who introduced them to each other.

Asked by Joshua Steinglass whether his relationship with Trump changed after he acquired the National Enquirer, Pecker said that from 1989 to 1999 he was responsible for a French publishing company and had a lot of discussions with Trump regarding celebrities. He described Trump as being very helpful on the matter by introducing him to executives in New York and advising him about parties. He said that Trump called to congratulate him when he bought the Enquirer and that he knew a few of the editors there.

Pecker said that he would pay Trump for news and content from NBC's "The Apprentice" and said it was mutually beneficial.

The former National Enquirer publisher said it helped the magazine and he said that if there were a controversy on the show, he would get the information directly from Trump first. He said it benefited his magazine from 2004 to 2014.

In order to get to the stand, witnesses need to walk by the defense table — which means passing by Trump.

Court has resumed after a brief recess. Pecker will now take the stand.

Trump went after Merchan in a post on social media at 11 a.m. ET, following the contentious gag order hearing.

"Highly conflicted, to put it mildly, Judge Juan Merchan, has taken away my constitutional right to free speech," Trump wrote in an all-caps message on Truth Social. "Everybody is allowed to talk and lie about me, but I am not allowed to defend myself."

"This is a kangaroo court," the former president added, "and the judge should recuse himself."

Merchan has already denied a motion from the defense that he recuse himself from the trial.

Merchan said that he will "reserve a decision" on whether Trump violated his gag order through posting on social media.

It's noteworthy that Merchan has decided to reserve judgment on the issue. If there’s truly harm in allowing the former president to post about potential witnesses in the middle of the trial, then every day that this goes on unaddressed theoretically affects the proceedings. It's unclear when the judge will rule.

Merchan called for a short break at about 10:45 a.m. ET, with the court set to reconvene at 11 a.m. ET.

Merchan's apparent frustrations with Blanche just reached a boiling point.

"Mr. Blanche, you’re losing all credibility with this court,” Merchan said. The judge's remark came after Blanche argued that Trump is trying hard to comply with the gag order.

Merchan continued to ask Blanche if it’s the former president's position that by reposting, he did not believe he violated the gag order.

“I’d like to hear that," the judge said, implying that he might want Trump to confirm under oath that this is his position.

Blanche and Merchan are engaged in a back-and-forth about whether a repost by Trump constitutes an endorsement.

Blanche argued that Trump’s reposting of an article on his Truth Social platform does not qualify as an endorsement.

Merchan pressed Blanche to show him what case law he has to support that.

Blanche replied, “I don’t have case law ... but it’s just common sense, your honor.”

Blanche is starting to struggle in his defense as the court moves on to Trump's social media posts about Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who oversaw the Manhattan District Attorney Office’s investigation into Trump, and Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who has testified against him.

Blanche says this is not an attack on Cohen; it is an attack on the system or, more specifically, on the DA’s office for not prosecuting Cohen for lying on the stand while Allen Weisselberg was prosecuted for perjury and is in jail.

Merchan again presses, “What statement is this responding to?” Blanche says he is not responding to a statement so much as he is complaining about two systems of justice in this courtroom. Merchan sounds incredulous: “He’s saying there are two systems of justice in this courtroom?” Blanche sounds sheepish, “Yes, your honor.”

Merchan is getting frustrated with Blanche.

“I am asking a question!” Merchan said to the Trump lawyer. “I keep asking you over and over to give me an example, and I’m not getting an answer.”

Merchan said it is now 10:30 a.m. and the jury is going to be here and said he doesn't want to keep them waiting.

Blanche is arguing that there was "absolutely no willful violation of the gag order" in the former president's activity on social media.

In his remarks to the judge, Blanche appears to be making the case that Trump's posts on Truth Social should be distinguished from the content he reposts from others on the platform, including witnesses who are not subject to the gag order.

Conroy described and read from Trump's Truth Social post from last Wednesday, which Conroy called "very troubling."

Conroy described how Trump quoted Fox News host Jesse Watters claiming that there were undercover liberal activists lying to the judge to get onto the jury. Watters, however, didn't actually mention the jury in his comments on air; Conroy said Trump added that himself.

Conroy rejected the Trump team's argument that the former president's posts on social media were attempts to defend himself as a presidential candidate, not a criminal defendant.

"Throwing 'MAGA' into a post doesn't make it political," Conroy said. "If anything, it makes it more ominous."

Conroy then pushed back against the Trump team's argument that the defendant's "reposts" on social media did not violate a gag order. The prosecutor insisted that contention "flies in the face of common sense."

"We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty," Conroy said, but the "defendant seems to be angling for that."

It’s worth noting that Merchan’s order outlining what the former president can and cannot say doesn’t prohibit him from talking about any witness at any time for anything. It’s more narrow than that and the judge has already picked up on the scope this morning. The order says he’s prohibited from talking about witnesses to the extent it concerns their “potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”

Merchan expanded a partial gag order this month after Trump waged online attacks against his daughter, who has worked at a progressive digital marketing agency that has collaborated with many Democratic candidates. Bragg has argued that Trump was in contempt of court for violating the gag order. Prosecutors say Trump has continued to violate it, including as recently as yesterday when he again called Cohen a liar in remarks at the courthouse.

Police officers just arrested a man outside the overflow room, according to a pool report from the hallway. He had been escorted out of the room right as the court went into session.

The man appeared to be arguing with police about where he was sitting and whether he could get into the courtroom.

The officers asked the man to leave. But he refused and was detained.

As Trump settles in for another day of his trial, there do not appear to be any of his family members present in court.

Merchan said the purpose of the gag order hearing is to "find out whether the defendant Mr. Trump should be held in contempt for one or all of these violations.”

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said he's going to present documents and social media posts from Trump that show that he violated the judge's gag order.

“Each of them violates the court’s April 1 order. That is a lawful order of this court," he said.

Shortly before he headed into the courtroom, Trump condemned the ongoing pro-Palestinian campus protests across the country.

Trump acknowledged the “interesting” protests happening outside the court during his hush money trial, saying that protesters “want to protest peacefully” and that there’s “more police presence here than anyone’s ever seen for blocks.”

Trump then took aim at what he described as “very radical people wanting to rip the colleges down."

Two Upper West Side teens joined the crowd inside the courthouse this morning, planning to spend their day off from school by watching Trump's trial.

Owen Berenbom and Hope Harrington, childhood friends who are both 14 years old, are seated alongside reporters in the second to last row of overflow seating.

Owen said he met up with Hope outside her home at 7:20 a.m. before taking the subway downtown to Canal Street.

Merchan and the lawyers are having a bench conference, a discussion outside the hearing of the jury.

Trump is in his seat. At one point, the former president's eyes were shut and he moved his head slightly from side to side.

He is the lone person at the defense table.

More than a year after securing an indictment, New York prosecutors for the first time yesterday laid out their case against Trump in a courtroom, weaving a story they say will prove that the former president, along with his “fixer” and a tabloid publisher, conspired to cover up hush money payments.

“This case is about a criminal conspiracy. Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” said Matthew Colangelo, a lawyer with Bragg’s office. “Then he covered up that criminal scheme by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again.” 

The prosecution detailed allegations of a sensational tabloid scheme to “catch and kill” stories that could prove damaging to Trump, a plan, the DA’s office said, that was elicited with Trump’s blessing and that he was directly implicated in.

“You’ll hear defendant’s own voice on a tape,” Colangelo said.

Here’s what else you missed on the fifth day of the trial.

Ben Shapiro, a 13-year-old New Yorker who has the day off from school because of Passover, decided to spend the day in court watching the trial.

Ben was first in line and said he was surprised by how few New Yorkers had shown up: “There are only 12 people in the entire city?” he said.

A classmate’s dad — a judge at the court — told him to get here before 7 a.m. He said he woke his mom up shortly after 5 a.m. to take the subway to Centre Street. The waiting paid off — Ben got a seat in the courtroom.

It took some light pressure to convince his parents, he said. “At first, they were like, ‘No, you’re not. That’s crazy.’ But then they were like, ‘OK,’” and agreed to come with him.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, said in an appearance on Fox News’ "Hannity" last night that the hush money trial is comparable to “some of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s.”

Gingrich echoed Trump’s claims that Merchan is a “totally corrupt judge” and that Bragg is a “totally corrupt district attorney,” saying that he’s worried they are going to try to put the former president behind bars.

“I think this is so horrendous, that there has to be some way to reach out to the Supreme Court — this is literally like some of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s. The New York system is now so deeply corrupted and it’s so bitterly, deeply anti-Trump,” he said.

Gingrich also repeated Trump’s attacks on Merchan’s daughter, who has worked at a progressive digital marketing agency that has worked with many Democratic candidates, which had prompted the judge to expand a partial gag order.

The former president has left Trump Tower and is headed to the courthouse, where the judge will start the day with a hearing on whether Trump has violated his gag order with comments on social media attacking likely witnesses.

Prosecutors in the hush money trial of Trump focused on the intent of his alleged crimes in their opening statements, while the defense targeted the credibility of those expected to testify.

No one will ever accuse Trump of being woke. But over a few hours yesterday, he transformed from an uninterested observer at his own hush money trial — eyes shut at times — to a highly attentive defendant in chief.

Maybe it was the chance to stare the full jury in the eyes, which he did when the jurors sat in their box — against the wall to his right — and when they entered and exited the courtroom. Perhaps it was onetime ally and alleged co-conspirator David Pecker testifying against him from a dozen or so feet away. Or it could just have been that all the talk was finally about him — after jury selection and arguments over legal points last week.

Sitting in a wood-paneled courtroom in Manhattan seemingly designed to induce sleep — like a 1950s junior high school or any branch office of a state’s department of motor vehicles — Trump leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes at the start of the fifth day of his trial. But after Merchan dispensed with rote procedural matters, including a long set of instructions for jurors, Trump began to focus more intently on the other key players in the room.

Read the full story here

Trump’s social media posts about likely witnesses will be the first order of business today when court is back in session for the historic criminal trial of a former president.

The day is scheduled to begin with a hearing about whether Trump should be held in contempt over a series of posts on Truth Social that prosecutors argue violated a gag order Merchan issued this month prohibiting him from publicly attacking witnesses and jurors. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is also likely to cite comments Trump made to reporters yesterday, when he repeatedly called Michael Cohen, an expected key witness, a liar.

The DA’s office is seeking the maximum $1,000 fine for each of the 10 posts it says violated the order, along with an order that Trump remove the posts from his social media platform. It also wants Merchan to warn Trump that any future violations risk not just additional fines, but also as long as 30 days in jail.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche contends his client hasn’t violated the April 1 order.

Read the full story here