After seven days of his criminal trial for falsifying business records, former President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend New York Supreme Court again on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET. This comes after the direct examination of David Pecker, who previously served as CEO of American Media and testified in detail about the “catch and kill” scheme involving Karen McDougal’s story alleging an affair with Trump during his presidential campaign. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office wrapped up their questioning on Thursday, revealing that Pecker coordinated with former attorney Michael Cohen to purchase exclusive rights to McDougal’s tale for $150,000 and prevent its publication. According to the testimony of Pecker, he believed this story would be incredibly embarrassing if it became public during Trump’s 2016 campaign due to its potential impact on his candidacy.
Pecker also shared that Cohen urged him to buy Stormy Daniels’ alleged affair with Trump but declined because he thought the former president should handle buying her story himself. In addition, Pecker testified about various interactions and conversations between him and Trump over time, including a White House meeting in July 2017 where the conversation turned toward Karen once more. Following his direct examination on Thursday, defense attorneys began cross-examining Pecker for approximately an hour before court adjourned for the day. During this period of questioning, it emerged that he had warned Trump about potential negative media since 1998 and acquired compromising materials related to Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in previous years as well. Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed reporting for this update. Live coverage will begin at the designated time on Friday morning.
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