EQUAL Donald TrumpThe hush-hush trial resumed Tuesday, with David Pecker arriving without the disbelieving smile he had when he first took the witness stand a day earlier.
ABOVE MondayThe 72-year-old accountant turned sleazy supermarket worker had seems happy appeared center stage, even if it was to testify against a man he once called a friend. He seems full of energy by the drama of a courtroom packed with reporters, uniformed court officials and Secret Service agents, and initially seemed completely at ease assuming the senior position of a pigeon summoned sentence.
But he must have been more nervous than he first appeared, because he suddenly burst into surprisingly loud laughter when he temporarily had trouble remembering his phone number and American Media, Inc.'s New York address. (AMI), where he went. was a CEO. AMI owns the National Enquirer.
He did not show any disappointment when the first day of the former US president's first criminal trial ended early because the jury had an emergency dental appointment. He resigned after just 30 minutes, before his testimony went beyond his basic biographical details. The worst thing he had to say about himself was that he had engaged in “checkbook journalism.”
When court resumed Tuesday, Pecker began giving — under oath — a full account of his life creating fake news stories while concealing the truth about Trump. Pecker looked tired and less than enamored with himself as he strode into the 15th-floor courtroom. He sat surrounded by dirty, gray walls in a room that looked as if it smelled musty even when you cannot detect it.
Asst. District Attorney Joshua Steinglass began by asking Pecker if he saw Donald Trump in the courtroom, to which Pecker said he did.
“Can you please show him?” Steinglass asked.
Pecker flashed a fleeting, uneasy smile of the previous day's smile as he pointed to a figure that most of humanity recognized instantly.
“I think he was sitting, wearing a dark blue suit,” Pecker said.
Trump responded with something between a nod and a smirk. His usual color had been turned pale orange by nine overhead lights, two of which partially obscured the words “In God We Trust” above the drab wooden panel behind the judge's bench. .
The former president's hood looks like it would appear in any sheltered location. Queens-raised Trump and Bronx-raised Pecker appear to use the same lacquer on their hair, which marks them both as natives of New York's outer boroughs rather than blue blood from Manhattan.
“How did you meet the defendant?” the prosecutor asked.
“I met him at Mar-a-Lago,” Pecker replied, his Bronx accent giving a hint of his upbringing.
The prosecutor led him from that first meeting to what Pecker described as “a wonderful, mutually beneficial relationship” in which they would promote each other's efforts, especially is Pecker's relation. national investigationr and Trump's star-making TV show, Probationerfollowed by Famous ApprenticeD. Pecker recalls that his best-selling issue was the one featuring the reality show mogul who decided the fate of his contestants, raising some and telling others famously, “you're fired!”
“Mr. Trump is supposed to be the Boss,” Pecker said.
The measure of how friendly the two men were was given when the prosecutor asked Pecker to address “Mr. Trump” privately.
“I'll call him Donald,” Pecker said.
David Pecker was questioned in the criminal trial of former US President Donald Trump on charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
As his testimony continued, Pecker looked at the jury more than most of the witnesses, who usually spoke to the prosecutor or judge. He can do so because it allows him to take his eyes off Trump.
Pecker recalls telling Trump about an internal AMI poll showing 80% National questioner Readers want Trump to run for president. Trump cited the above figure Today's program and suggested that he might be running.
A surreal distillation of reality TV celebrity about American political history plays out as the courtroom's four big screens and various small screens before the juries, the law The attorney and judge showed an email from Trump's fixer Michael Cohen invited Pecker to Trump Tower when Trump officially announced his candidacy for president.
“I was there when Mr. Trump and Melania walked down the stairs and onto the podium,” Pecker recalled of the famous escalator ride.
Pecker said he was invited back to Trump Tower that same year, in 2015.
“I got a call from Michael Cohen telling me the boss wanted to see me,” Mr. Pecker recalled.
What prosecutors call the “Trump Tower Conspiracy” began when Pecker met with Trump and Cohen. Hope Hicks, then Trump's publicist, was in and out of the meeting enough that she was expected to be called as a witness at trial.
According to Pecker's account, he agreed to be Trump's “eyes and ears” and inform Trump through Cohen if he heard of anyone trying to peddle negative stories, especially if they were women.
“During the presidential campaign, I was someone who thought a lot of women were going to come out and sell their story,” Pecker said.
Pecker testified that if he heard any stories that might mention Trump, he was to call Cohen. They would then engage in “catch and kill,” buying the story to prevent it from being published.
“The prosecution may have sought to leave the jury with something bitter.”
At the same time, Pecker pledged to spread negative stories against Trump's opponents to win the Republican nomination. The prosecution presented evidence of a number of damaging stories and headlines accompanying the word National Coroner appears on the court screen. The strangest one involves Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: “Donald Trump Criticizes Ted Cruz's Dad for Taking Photo with Assassin JFK.”
Another story that was especially startling amid the Trump trial involved hush money payments to an adult film actress: “Ted Cruz Shamed by Porn Star.”
At some point during the proceedings, attorneys for both sides stepped up to the bench to argue with Judge Juan Mercan. Trump will sit alone in front of a small screen as the courtroom's default video feed shows him looking at the screen, which shows him looking at the screen, etc., getting smaller and smaller than.
Despite the infinite image of Trump on screen, he looked especially alone when left to his own devices — because he didn't appear to have any. The former president seems to lack an inner life when he is not actively admired.
By the end of the day, he had what appeared to be a printout of the National questioner stories, as well as exhibits from a hearing earlier in the day to determine whether he had repeatedly violated the standing gag order. It looked like he was actually reading a book; something he allegedly failed to do with daily intelligence briefings during his presidency. Maybe if he wins re-election, those top secret reports should be written in tabloid style: “Putin ashamed of Ukraine!”
There will be no trial on Wednesday, so the prosecution may have sought to leave the jury with something bitter.
Pecker testified that in June 2016, he learned that former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal was trying to sell the story of a nearly year-long affair with Trump.
The story, as Pecker tells it, got to the point where Trump called him and said, “Don't buy any of the stories. Whenever you do something like this, it always comes out.”
Pecker said he told Trump to “get the story out there” and Trump responded: “Let me think about it.”
The rest will be told when Pecker returns to the stand on Thursday—and the sordid courtroom drama is so dull that it seems the perfect antidote to Trump's lifelong insistence that he just deserves the best.
