Trump’s attorneys attack witness’ credibility
NEW YORK — Donald Trump's defense team on Friday attacked the credibility of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Returning to the witness stand for a fourth day, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker was grilled about his memory and past statements as the defense tried to poke holes in potentially crucial testimony for prosecutors in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
Pecker's testimony has provided jurors with a stunning inside look at the supermarket tabloid's “catch-and-kill” practice of purchasing the rights to stories so they never see the light of day. It's a critical building block for prosecutors' theory that Trump sought to illegally influence the 2016 race by suppressing negative stories about his personal life.
Under cross-examination, Trump's lawyers appeared to be laying the groundwork to make the argument that any dealings Trump had with Pecker were intended to protect Trump, his reputation and his family — not his campaign.
The defense also sought to show that Trump's arrangement with the tabloid was not unique to him and that the National Enquirer was publishing negative stories about Trump's 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, long before an August 2015 meeting that is central to the case.
During that meeting, Pecker said he told Trump and then Trump attorney Michael Cohen that he would be the “eyes and ears” of the campaign and would notify Cohen if he heard negative stories about Trump so they could be killed.
Under questioning by Trump lawyer Emil Bove, Pecker acknowledged that there was no mention at that meeting of the term “catch-and-kill.” 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.
Prosecutors clawed back at the defense's contention that Trump's arrangement with the National Enquirer wasn't unusual. Under questioning from a prosecutor, Pecker acknowledged that he had not previously sought out stories and worked the company's sources on behalf of a presidential candidate or allowed political fixers close access to internal decisionmaking.
“It's the only one,” Pecker said. The second witness called to the stand was Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime executive assistant. Graff, who started working for Trump in 1987 and left the Trump Organization in April 2021, has been described as his gatekeeper and right hand.
Graff testified that the Trump Organization's Outlook computer system included contact information for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who were paid to prevent them from coming forward with claims of sexual encounters with Trump. Trump says the claims were lies.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments meant to stifle negative stories from surfacing in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Trump denies any wrongdoing. Before entering court Friday, he told reporters that he believes Thursday's proceedings went “very well” for the defense, adding that “the case should be over.”