Witness “burns” Trump: Magazine helped him in his election campaign, “burying” reports

The first witness in Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial, National Enquirer publisher David Packer, testified today that he made a “highly confidential” agreement with him to use his paper to help the tycoon campaign , in the 2016 presidential election.

Packer, 72, told the court that in a meeting in August 2015, he told Trump that the Enquirer would publish stories favorable to the billionaire Republican and “be on the lookout” for women who wanted to sell stories that might be against him .

“When someone is running for public office like this, it’s very common for these women to call magazines like the National Enquirer and try to sell their story,” she testified.

Peker told an editor to keep the deal secret. “I told him we were going to try to help the Trump campaign and to do that we wanted to keep it as low-key as possible,” he explained.

Prosecutors say Packer’s actions helped Trump deceive voters in the 2016 election after he buried reports of the presidential candidate’s alleged extramarital affairs at a time when he was already being accused of misconduct.

Prosecutors have charged Trump with falsifying business documents to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having an affair with Daniels in 2006. His lawyers insist he committed no crime and acted in this way to protect his name.

Payments to “bunny” to talk about her relationship with Trump

Peker said he has known Trump since the 1980s and once collaborated with him on a magazine called “Trump Style.” He said the National Enquirer consistently featured stories about Trump on its front pages, and a poll showed 80 percent of its readers would vote for him if he ran for president.

American Media, the company that owned the magazine, admitted in 2018 that it paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 to buy the story of her months-long affair with Trump in 2006-7. American Media, which it says acted this way with the knowledge of Trump’s campaign staff, never published the report.

Earlier, Judge Juan Mercan considered a request by prosecutors to fine Trump $10,000 for violating an order barring him from commenting on trial witnesses, court officials and their relatives. Merchan declined to rule on the request, but also rejected Trump’s lawyer Tony Blanch’s claim that his client was responding to “political attacks” he received and not intimidating witnesses.

“You presented nothing. I asked you eight or nine times, show me the post he was responding to. You failed to do it even once. I have to tell you that you are losing your credibility in court,” Mercan said, addressing the defense attorney.

After the proceedings concluded, Trump reiterated the claim that the “silence order” violated his constitutional right to free speech. “This is a mock trial and the judge should recuse himself,” he wrote on his platform, Truth Social.

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued that Trump violated the court order because he called Daniels and his former lawyer (and current prosecution witness) Michael Cohen “lehrites” in an April 10 post. He pointed out that there were other posts that led one juror to recuse herself, fearing her identity would be revealed.

“He knows he’s not allowed to do this, but he does it anyway. His disobedience is premeditated. It’s intentional,” Conroy emphasized. He explained that he is asking for Trump to be fined, not 30 days in jail, as state law dictates a judge can decide.

“The defendant seems to be going for it,” Conroy commented.