Trump hush money trial highlights: David Pecker returns to testify about Playboy playmate payouts

In brief remarks to reporters, Trump called the testimony "amazing" and today's proceedings "breathtaking." He reiterated his belief that this trial should not continue.

Trump also condemned Biden's messaging on pro-Palestinian campus protests.

Toward the end of this remarks, the former president addressed today's Supreme Court arguments on presidential immunity, saying that he hopes it was made clear that the president "has to have immunity."

The trial has concluded for the day. The cross-examination of Pecker will resume tomorrow.

The jury has been sent home, allowing for the day to conclude with arguments over what is admissible by the defense on cross-examination.

Bove seems to be trying to give the impression that Pecker doesn't remember things well by bringing up the exact dates of certain events and interviews.

Bove, for example, said that Pecker had a meeting with prosecutors on Aug. 2, 2018, but Pecker said he doesn't remember the exact date.

Bove is highlighting imprecisions in Pecker's testimony regarding the timing of his August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower with Trump and his then-lawyer Cohen.

Pecker told the grand jury that the meeting took place the first week of August but has changed his testimony during this trial.

“What I recollect is that it was in the first half of August,” Pecker said.

When asked if it was "hard to remember exactly what happened almost 10 years ago" Pecker responded, “Yes.” 

Bove appears to be using a tactic to persuade the jury to distrust Pecker’s memory “because it was a long time ago.”

As Bove continues to cross-examine Pecker, he says that Cohen "wanted something for himself." Bove listed a number of things including "a paparazzi shoot for him and his daughter's rock climb."

"So you had an independent relationship with Michael Cohen?" Bove asked.

"Yes," Pecker answered.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove is now establishing that prosecutors refreshed David Pecker's recollection through a series of prep meetings, suggesting that they not only helped him understand what to expect at trial but also showed him documents to reconstruct his memory.

“You understood that you couldn’t say anything differently than what you said under oath previously?” Bove asked.

“What I said under oath was the truth,” Pecker said.

Under questioning from Bove, Pecker admitted that Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel wanted Pecker’s help suppressing a story about Rahm Emanuel  having an affair in 2009, and received that help. Rahm Emanuel was President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 before being elected Chicago’s mayor in 2011. He now serves as President Joe Biden's ambassador to Japan.

Pecker did it, Bove insinuated, because he was negotiating a deal with the private advisory firm Rahm Emanuel was working with.

Bove seems to want to showcase that Pecker had suppressed stories on behalf of two political candidates (Schwarzenegger and Emanuel) — and was not investigated by the FEC. 

However, it’s important to note that those two candidates, unlike Trump, were candidates for state or municipal offices; the FEC would not have had jurisdiction, and federal campaign finance laws would have been inapplicable.

During cross-examination, Bove asks Pecker about other stories he was involved in suppressing, including one about Tiger Woods and another about Mark Wahlberg.

"Mark Wahlberg, he had an argument with his wife and the story was going to come out," Pecker said, adding, "We acquired the rights, I advised Wahlberg’s team we would acquire the rights and not publish it."

Bove asked, "You also purchased story related to Tiger Woods? Photographs?" 

"It was a source agreement, so we did purchase it, yes," Pecker answered.

During an exchange with Trump lawyer Emil Bove detailing the media relationship between Trump and AMI, Pecker said that he hadn't heard of the phrase "catch and kill" before the Manhattan DA's investigation began.

Asked if the first time he heard it was from a prosecutor, Pecker said, "That's correct."

Trump defense attorney Emil Bove kicked off his cross-examination by pointing out that AMI routinely bought stories they didn’t publish.

“Under your watch, you only published about half the stories that you purchased, is that right,” Bove asked Pecker.

"That’s about right,” Pecker said. 

Bove then asked Pecker if there “were also instances where AMI purchased a story in order to use it as leverage against a celebrity,” to which Pecker replied, “That’s correct.”

Bove — seemingly attempting to point out that these practices were merely business as usual at AMI — also asked whether “there were also instances where AMI would purchase stories to get a celebrity to participate in an interview or use their likeness” and “to use against a celebrity and you were not going to use it.”

Pecker said “yes” to both.

“AMI has used hundreds of thousands of source agreements for these purposes, correct?" Bove asked.

“Yes," Pecker replied.

The prosecution has completed the questioning of Pecker. Cross-examination should come next.

Asked when he last saw or spoke to Trump, Pecker said January 2019.

Pecker said that Trump has not reached out to him directly, but has sent his regards along to Pecker through friends who visited Mar-a-Lago.

Pecker said he did not respond. He said he felt it would be inappropriate to speak to Trump given the investigation.

Pecker is now testifying that he signed a cooperation letter with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, something that was not previously known.

The agreement was signed on Oct. 25, 2019, well before Alvin Bragg was elected attorney general in 2021.

The agreement lists five subjects on which Pecker had agreed to speak and immunized Pecker and AMI from prosecution.

Pecker testified that he was informed that he could be prosecuted for lying about any of the information he provided. That is significant context, especially since the agreement is more than four years old.

Pecker also testified that he understood grand jury witnesses are automatically entitled to immunity about the subjects of their testimony, but that the cooperation agreement would entitle him to immunity in connection with pre-grand jury discussions.

Asked if he had any ill feelings or ill will toward Trump, Pecker said, "On the contrary … I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor, he helped me throughout my career."

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

Steinglass pulled out a nonprosecution agreement that AMI entered into with federal prosecutors after the media group admitted to a campaign finance violation.

"That evidence is to assist you, the jury, in assessing David Pecker’s credibility," Merchan tells the jury.

An nonprosecution agreement is often raised by the defense to try to discredit a witness, suggesting they're only saying what they're saying to stay out of jail. By bringing it up during direct examination, the prosecution is likely to trying to limit the impact that the defense could make.

Pecker said that when he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission, he called Michael Cohen and asked him what to do about it.

Pecker recalled Cohen saying, “'Jeff Sessions is the attorney general, and Donald Trump has him in his pocket.'" Pecker said he told Cohen he was worried.

Pecker is now being asked about a series of March 2018 exchanges with Trump and White House staffers during which Trump asked him to “extend” the hush agreement with McDougal.

Pecker described that Trump, on one phone call, “got very aggravated” that the original agreement with McDougal had been “amended to allow her to speak to the press.”

Pecker then got another call “right after” from Hope Hicks, a longtime Trump aide who worked in the White House and is expected to testify in this trial, and “on that call,” he explained, he said he “was going to extend Karen McDougal’s contract at least for six months.”

Pecker spoke about wanting McDougal to "stay within our family," in regards to the agreement around her story.

"What I was concerned about was compliance on the agreement," Pecker said, detailing a lunch meeting with McDougal. "I wanted her to stay within our family so she was comfortable that we were complying with certain promises to her in the agreement and she would not go out and speak to the press after the WSJ article."

"I wanted to see how comfortable she was," he added.

When Pecker visited the White House after Trump was sworn in, he said that Trump asked him to join him for a walk to the dining area.

Pecker said when they walked out, Trump asked him, "How is Karen doing?"

"I said she's quiet, everything's going good," Pecker recalled telling Trump.

Pecker said that in early 2017, he and his wife were invited by Trump to the White House — but that his wife didn’t want to go.

So, in her place, he brought Howard and Rodstein.

“I received a call from President Trump’s office, his assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, said the president is on the phone,” Pecker said of a January 2017 call. “Mr. Trump called and invited me and my wife.”

“I said that I would speak to my wife, and I’ll come right back to you,” he continued.

“My wife didn’t want to go to Washington," he added.

Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s legal adviser who was indicted by a state grand jury in Arizona yesterday, is in the courtroom.

Epshteyn was one of several Trump allies who were indicted for trying to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in Arizona.

The trial has resumed after the lunch break.

The Biden campaign blasted Trump today after he said on Monday that being in court was forcing him to stay off the campaign trail.

“We found out where Trump was. He was golfing. Not campaigning. Golfing," Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.  "But, when your entire campaign is about enacting revenge and retribution for yourself and doing nothing to make Americans’ lives better, it makes sense you wouldn’t feel the need to actually speak to voters.”

The statement from the Biden campaign came after CNN reported that on his day off from court yesterday, the former president golfed, rather than campaigned.

Meanwhile, in another case, an appeals judge ruled against Trump, refusing to grant him a new trial. This follows a ruling from a jury that is forcing Trump to pay author E. Jean Carroll over $80 million for defamation.

The court is take a break for lunch and will resume later in the afternoon.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker if Trump said anything to make him think that he was concerned about his family rather than the campaign.

"I think it was for the campaign," Pecker said.

He added that Trump's family never came up in the conversations in respect of the McDougal and Daniels stories or in the talks he had with Trump.

“I made the assumption the comment, the concern was the campaign," he said.

Pecker is now describing a pair of conversations he had with Cohen, during which Cohen says he wasn’t reimbursed for the Daniels payment, and with Trump, during which Trump claimed Cohen had been taken care of.

“Michael said to me that he wasn’t reimbursed for the monies that’s owed to him on, on the Stormy Daniels payment,” Pecker said of the December 2016 conversation with Cohen. “He hasn’t received his bonus, and he asked me if I would talk to the boss on his behalf to tell him everything that he did to try to help him get his bonus.” 

Pecker said that was the first time he’d heard that Cohen had paid Daniels “out of his own funds.”

At a private January 2017 meeting, Trump asked Pecker, “How’s our girl doing?” Pecker said he told Trump, “She’s writing her articles. She’s quiet. She’s fine.”

Trump replied, “I want to thank you for handling the McDougal situation and the doorman situation.”

Pecker testified, “I felt he was thanking me for buying them and not publishing them.” He added that Trump said “the stories would have been very embarrassing.”

David Pecker testified that he met with Cohen at Cohen’s office in Trump Tower in December 2016. Cohen was still pressing Pecker about the boxes of National Enquirer documents that Pecker had brought up from their offices in Florida.

Pecker told Cohen that an executive had gone through the boxes, but that all they contained regarding Trump were old articles and newspaper clippings, and “nothing they should be concerned about” but that he would not allow Cohen to go through them.

They argued, Pecker testified. Then, Pecker recalled, Cohen told Pecker that he was not reimbursed for the money owed to him on the Daniels payment and that he had not yet been remibursed.

Cohen asked Pecker to talk to Trump to remind Trump of how helpful Cohen had been with respect to the hush money payments so Trump would pay Cohen back.

Pecker admitted that AMI lied to The Wall Street Journal about paying McDougal for her life rights.

Asked why he authorized AMI to issue a false statement to the WSJ, Pecker says plainly: “I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted to protect Donald Trump.”

Pecker is now being asked about the Wall Street Journal's publication of its story about the Enquirer burying McDougal’s story.

Pecker said that he spoke to Trump the next day. First, “Cohen texted saying the Boss wants to speak to me; then, Trump called me.”

He said Trump called saying, “How did this happen? I thought this was under control. Either you or one of your people leaked this story!”

Pecker said that Cohen asked him to pay for Stormy Daniels' story and he told Cohen, "I am not purchasing this story. I am not going to be involved with a porn star.”

“And I am not, which I reiterated again, a bank, paying out a doorman, paying out Karen McDougal. We are not paying out any more monies," Pecker said. “He was upset, he said that the boss would be furious with me.”

“I am not doing it. Period," Pecker added.

Pecker then said that Howard came to his office at the end of October 2016 and there was an agreement between McDougal and Cohen for $120,000 and Cohen would wire the funds twice and Pecker said he never did.

Pecker said Howard was upset and said Cohen will make him look bad with his top sources. Pecker said he set up a signal call with Cohen, Howard and himself and he said Howard was very aggressive toward Cohen.

He added that Cohen said AMI should pay and Pecker said he didn't want to be involved.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is showing Pecker a series of texts between Pecker and Howard from October and November 2016, beginning with a text on Oct. 9, 2016, two days after the Access Hollywood tape was released and the day after Pecker was notified about Daniels’ story.

Howard told Pecker that although there had been “denials in the past” that “this story is true.” Howard offered to “lock it on publication now to shut down the media chatter and we can assess next steps.”

Pecker replied, “We can’t pay $120k.” 

Pecker clarified that he also told Howard by phone that they could not pay it because they had already paid $30,000 to a doorman and $150,000 to Karen McDougal and they would not be paying any more money; he also told Howard that he wanted “no affiliation at all” with a “porn star” because his largest distribution was Walmart.

Steinglass and Pecker are now discussing Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she slept with Trump in 2006.

“Do you know somebody named Stephanie Clifford?” asked Steinglass.

“Yes,” Pecker said.

“Did you know her by any other name?” Steinglass asked.

“Stormy Daniels,” replied Pecker.

Pecker explained that one of his publications, Radar Online, was a digital site, and “unbeknownst to me,” there had been a video of Trump “being a Playboy man.”

The original article was dated Oct. 27, 2008, and it included an audio clip of Trump talking to gossip reporter Chaunce Hayden. The article teased that it “provides a telling glimpse into just how exacting the real-estate blowhard’s standards are regarding women.”

Pecker recalled Cohen telling him that he should have it taken down because “Trump was very upset." Pecker said he checked in with Howard noting that the post predated AMI’s acquisition of Radar. He also said that he instructed Howard to take it down.

Howard then wrote to Cohen and Pecker to assure Cohen that he “had deleted the story completely; it no longer exists.”

Steinglass has now begun questioning Pecker about the infamous “Access Hollywood" tape that was released in October 2016, just weeks before the election.

That tape — recorded in 2005 — featured Trump, off camera, bragging about crude and degrading behavior toward women.

“The gist was a conversation between Donald Trump and Billy Bush and the comments from Donald Trump was he can grab a woman by the genitals and other sexual comments he made,” Pecker said.

“It was very damaging and very embarrassing to the campaign,” Pecker added.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he has about two to three hours of direct questioning of Pecker left.

Steinglass, reading some of the texts between Howard and Howard’s unnamed relative, revealed that the former National Enquirer editor-in-chief seemed to have understood the criminal nature of the company’s payment scheme on Election Night 2016.

“He’s just been named President-elect,” Howard wrote.

“At least if he wins I will be pardoned for electoral fraud,” Howard wrote.

Steinglass read the texts because Merchan ruled that Pecker should not read them.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove said that the next disputed exhibit was a thread of texts that he said are personal communications on an AMI phone and aren't business records.

“It can’t possibly be in furtherance of the conspiracy between Mr. Howard and the relative," Bove said.

Judge Merchan said that the texts are between Dylan Howard, then the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, and another person. Asked if that person works at AMI, Steinglass said, “It’s a first-degree relative of Mr. Howard.”

The lawyers and judge are back in the courtroom and are discussing whether some documents should be admitted. They are business records from the National Enquirer.

Pecker is explaining that he went through great lengths to keep the rest of the AMI newsroom from learning about the payments regarding McDougal and Trump.

“I believed that that payment would raise a lot of questions and issues and be communicated to the rest of the editors, which is something I didn’t want to happen,” he said.

His revelation came following an exchange about the details of how payments were made or received at the company.

The court has taken a brief morning break.

Pecker said that Trump also wanted all of the content that the National Enquirer developed and retained on him, including old files.

Pecker said there was nothing in those boxes except for old files and magazine articles but he said Trump wanted those boxes and their content. Pecker said Michael Cohen called him constantly in September 2016 to review and send those boxes to his office.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked if Cohen said why Trump wanted the boxes and the rights to Karen McDougal's story.

Pecker said Cohen told him that if Pecker "got hit by a bus or the company was sold, he did not want someone else to potentially publish those stories.”

A key exchange just occurred, during which Pecker acknowledged that the purpose of buying McDougal’s story — with the intent of never printing it — was to make sure Trump remained unscathed by it through the 2016 election.

“Was your principal purpose to suppress her story so as not to influence the election?” Steinglass asked.

”Yes, it was,” Pecker replied.

“Were you aware that expenditures by corporations made for the purpose of influencing an election,” are unlawful? Steinglass asked.

“Yes,” Pecker replied.

Asked by Steinglass why AMI bought McDougal’s story, Pecker responded that, “We purchased the story so it wouldn’t be published by any other organization.”

“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” Pecker said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker if he had any intention of printing Karen McDougal's story about her affair with Trump.

Pecker said his company did not. Asked if his main purpose was to suppress her story so that it wouldn't influence the election, Pecker said, "Yes, it was."

Steinglass then asked if Pecker was aware that expenditures to influence the election made at Trump's request were unlawful.

The defense team objected and a bench meeting was called. The objection was overruled by Merchan.

Pecker is now about to testify to AMI’s own accounting of the McDougal contract. This matters for purposes of establishing the elements of New York Election Law 17-152, which the DA plans to show Trump intended to violate or whose violation Trump intended to conceal.

That law punishes a conspiracy to promote or prevent the election of a specific person “through unlawful means” and where the conspiracy is acted upon. Note that those unlawful means could be as simple as AMI’s own false business records.

Many of the jurors are following along with the testimony the way one would a tennis match

Going from Steinglass to Pecker and back, several of them shift to be able to view the various exhibits displayed on the monitors in front of them.

Pecker said he wanted to substantiate the $150,000 payment to McDougal and wanted to have the contract be a record that stipulated it was for the services she would perform.

He said that AMI had a basis for the $150,000 — all of the articles that she would run and photos for magazines and the posts that she would write — he said he was looking at the amount of money that he would pay other writers, freelancers and reporters and that would validate the $150,000.

Pecker testified that American Media Inc. consulted with an election lawyer before finalizing their Aug. 3, 2016, agreement with McDougal.

That lawyer reviewed the contract, according to Pecker.

Pecker remembers they spent “small amounts of money” on procuring that advice.

The Schwarzenegger situation made Pecker want to ensure that the McDougal situation could not be characterized as a campaign contribution.

This is the first we’ve heard that any participant in the alleged conspiracy was concerned about campaign finance law violations.

Asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass if he had concerns about the legality of paying to kill a story tied to a political candidate, David Pecker said he did because of a situation with Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2002 to 2003.

Pecker said he acquired stories for him when he was running for governor of California. Pecker said that Schwarzenegger told him he had a number of litigations from the magazines Life and Fitness over negative stories about him.

“I plan on running for governor and I would like for you not to publish any negative stories on me," Schwarzenegger said, according to Pecker. “Now or in the future.”

Responding to questions from Steinglass about the ins and outs of the payments, Pecker expressed that he was concerned at one point that he would be reimbursed for the $150,000 payment.

Pecker explained that the parties had reached an agreement for Howard to buy the lifetime rights from McDougal for $150,000 — but that the payment and reimbursement of that sum became an issue at one point.

“Michael was very agitated, ‘Why is this taking so long, why haven’t you reached an agreement?’” Pecker recalled. “He said, ‘Who is going to pay?' and he said, ‘You should pay,’ and I said, ‘Why should I pay? I just paid $30,000 for the doorman story and this is $150,000.'”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker how he felt about Michael Cohen saying that Trump would reimburse him for buying Karen McDougal's story.

Pecker said that he knew over the years that Cohen couldn't disburse funds from the Trump Corp.

Pecker is now describing a June 2016 phone call with Trump during which the two discussed whether Pecker should buy McDougal’s story about her affair with Trump.

“I said I absolutely don’t believe there’s a Mexican group out there for eight million dollars," Pecker testified he told Trump.

“He said, ‘What do you think I should do,' and I said he should buy the story and take it off the market,” Pecker said. 

“When Donald Trump said that she was a 'nice girl,' I believed that he knew who she was, I believed the story was true,” Pecker added.

David Pecker said that according to Dylan Howard, the now former editor of the National Enquirer, that the television network ABC was interested in buying the rights to Karen McDougal's story that she had an affair with Trump.

He added that a Mexican group offered to buy it for $1 million.

“The ABC offer was interesting because they were offering apparently Karen a slot on Dancing with the Stars, but I knew from my experience that ABC doesn’t buy stories. So I didn’t think they would pay the cash for the story," Pecker said.

Pecker said that according to Howard, McDougal didn't want the story to be published.

“She said she didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky," Pecker said.

Prosecutor Joshusa Steinglass picked up his questioning of Pecker where they left off: On the topic of Dylan Howard — the former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer — having interviewed Karen McDougal.

“He repeated that she was a Playboy model who claimed to have a year-long sexual relationship with Donald Trump and was 47 years old,” Pecker said.

“He said that she was a 12 out of 10,” Pecker added, referring to Howard’s description of McDougal.

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy just brought up four instances from the last three days in which Trump allegedly violated the judge's gag order.

He said that he has another order to show cause to hold Trump in contempt of court for disobeying the order. Conroy referred to Trump's remarks outside the courtroom over the last few days as examples.

Pecker is back on the stand and has begun testifying.

This morning Trump met with construction workers in Midtown Manhattan. He directed one of his responses at David Pecker — who is taking the stand again today. And now, those remarks are being discussed in court.

The statement could not only be seen as a violation of the gag order but also as potential witness tampering, in that Trump flatly said he had a message for Pecker: “Be nice.”

Speaking to cameras outside the courtroom, Trump went on a wide-ranging rant about the economy, his campaign, the presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court and pro-Palestinian rallies on college campuses.

"We’re going to be doing a rally at Madison Square Garden, I believe, honoring the police," he said. "We’ll be doing a lot of large rallies."

He also blasted the pro-Palestinian protests happening on college campuses, saying that it's a "disgrace" and "all over the world, people are laughing at us."

Trump said that while there's disorder at those universities, "this court is locked down like a buttoned-up vest."

The Supreme Court immunity case won’t change the existence or scope of the Manhattan DA’s ongoing trial.

Trump already tried to litigate his presidential immunity defense to the Manhattan DA’s charges when he attempted to move this case to federal court last year. But that defense, ruled Judge Alvin Hellerstein, was not plausible.

Trump also waived the argument by not raising it in his motions to dismiss in the New York case.

Today’s argument has big repercussions for Trump’s other criminal cases, especially those about his alleged election interference in 2020. But in terms of the Manhattan case, which is fundamentally about interference in the 2016 election, it won’t move the needle.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the trial has resumed.

The first criminal trial of a former president resumes Thursday with a key witness against Donald Trump expected to describe details of the hush money agreement that was struck on his behalf with porn star Stormy Daniels.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, is expected to outline his role in Daniels’ agreement, as well as another hush money deal involving Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claims she had a monthslong affair with Trump. McDougal alleges the affair began in 2006, the year Daniels alleges she had a sexual encounter with him. Trump has denied both women’s claims.

Pecker is expected to delve into the tawdry allegations in a New York City courtroom at the same time some of Trump’s attorneys will be at the Supreme Court in Washington arguing the federal election interference case against him should be dismissed because his actions were protected by presidential immunity.

Former President Donald Trump has been called a lot of names in the first six days of his New York hush-money trial.

“We will call him ‘President Trump’ out of respect for the office that he held from 2017 to 2021,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the jury during his opening statement Monday. “And as everybody knows, it’s the office he’s running for right now. He’s the Republican nominee.”

Longtime tabloid publisher David Pecker, who testified that he conspired with Trump in 2015 and 2016 to “catch and kill” stories that could harm Trump’s election effort, told the court that when they spoke, “I would call him Donald.”

Judge Juan Merchan greeted the former president Tuesday with a standard address for a defendant: “Good morning, Mr. Trump.” That’s also been the form favored by prosecutors.

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution, said yesterday that he would stop posting about Trump until after he testifies in the trial.

"Despite not being the gagged defendant, out of respect for Judge Merchan and the prosecutors, I will cease posting anything about Donald on my X (formerly Twitter) account or on the Mea Culpa Podcast until after my trial testimony," Cohen said in a post to X. "See you all in a month (or more)."

Cohen has been a staunch critic of Trump after departing the former president's team.

The former president has departed Trump Tower and is headed to the courthouse.

While court was out of session yesterday, officials in Arizona and Michigan revealed key details in their probes of the so-called fake elector scheme tied to the 2020 election.

A grand jury in Arizona indicted "fake electors," including numerous current and former local politicians, who backed Trump in 2020, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced.

Notably, Trump was listed in the indictment as an "unindicted coconspirator."

In Michigan, a state investigator testified that Trump, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and his former attorney Rudy Giuliani were also uncharged co-conspirators in the Michigan "fake electors" scheme.

Arizona and Michigan were among the seven states where people signed paperwork falsely claiming that Trump won the 2020 election.

Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments Tuesday on whether Trump willfully violated the gag order on the case.

The district attorney's office detailed potential punishments it's seeking if the judge rules that the order was violated. Prosecutors asked Merchan to impose fines on Trump for at least 10 alleged violations and warn that any future violations could risk jail time.

Trump's attorneys argued that the former president has not run afoul of the judge's order.

A ruling is expected soon.

Trump met with construction workers outside of the JP Morgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan at around 6 a.m., just hours before today's court proceedings are scheduled to start.

Amid shaking hands with his supporters, Trump took some questions from reporters. He talked about construction workers, his polling so far in the presidential race, the Supreme Court's consideration Thursday of his assertion of presidential immunity in the special counsel's election interference case and the gag order in the hush money trial.

Trump described David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer who is testifying in the hush money trial, as a "nice guy." He did not answer when asked the last time they talked.

David Pecker, the longtime publisher of the National Enquirer, sat for hours on the witness stand at Donald Trump’s criminal trial as the prosecution scrolled through pages of tabloid headlines. Pecker testified there was a “secret agreement among friends” for him to help get Trump elected, including paying people off. NBC’s Laura Jarrett reports for TODAY.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is expected to return to the stand and discuss his role in adult film star Stormy Daniels' hush money agreement.

Pecker was the first witness called by prosecutors. On Tuesday, he talked about efforts to quash negative stories about the former president and manufacture negative stories about Trump's opponents during the 2016 campaign.

It's also possible that Judge Juan Merchan rules on whether Trump has violated a gag order in the case.

During Tuesday's court proceedings — court was not in session yesterday —former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker took the stand. He revealed that the Enquirer falsified stories about Trump's opponents during the 2016 campaign.

Prosecutors said Trump's "primary" crime was violation of a law that prohibits conspiracies to illegally promote a candidate's election.

Also on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments over whether Trump willfully violated a gag order. The judge has not yet ruled on the issue.