Stormy Weather TFG on Criminal Trial in NYC

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Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
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6h
The judge clarifies next week's schedule to the jury:
"Next Monday, we are not meeting at all."
"Tuesday, we will be working all day."

Ex-AMI chief David Packer is back on the stand, and his testimony continues.

Q: Are you personally family with Donald J. Trump?
A: Yes.
Q: How long have you known him?
Since the late-'80s, he replies.
(...)
Pecker says Trump congratulated him on the purchase of the National Enquirer.
"Congratulations, you bought a great magazine."
Testimony turns to The Apprentice.
Pecker says Trump was always "kind enough" to send information about the show and its ratings to him.
"It was a great, mutually beneficial relationship," Pecker reflects.
Pecker:
The audience of the National Enquirer and other celebrity magazines followed the show "religiously."
Mr. Trump was always "kind enough" to give him the information "first."
Pecker says he considered Trump a friend.
"I would call him Donald."
Asked how often he saw Trump, Pecker responds "maybe once a month, or once or twice a quarter," until 2015.
Then, once Trump announced his run for the presidency, Pecker says: "I saw Mr. Trump more frequently, maybe once a month."
Q: Did you ever communicate with Mr. Trump through his bodyguard?
A: Yes, I have.
The bodyguard's name was Keith Schiller, he says.
More on him here, @Just_Security
Q: Did you visit Mr. Trump at Trump Tower on multiple occasions?
A: Over the years?
Q: Over the years.
A: Yes.
Pecker says he'd describe Trump as "very knowledgeable," "detailed," and almost a "micro-manager."...

Pecker says his contact with Michael Cohen increased after Trump announced his candidacy.
They would communicate a "minimum of every week," and if there was an issue, it could be daily.
Testimony turns to Hope Hicks.
Hicks once worked for Ivanka Trump, Pecker notes.

Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass shows the witness an exhibit, privately at first.
Pecker inspects the exhibit on the screen through his glasses.
It's an email from Pecker to Cohen, dated June 2, 2015, he says.
Pecker:
"I walked into Trump Tower. Michael Cohen was waiting in the atrium."
He recalls Trump and Melania coming down the escalator before Trump announced his candidacy.

Pecker delivers blockbuster account of Trump Tower meeting with Trump and Cohen:
Trump “asked me what can I do and what my magazines can do to help the campaign."
Pecker said he could "publish positive stories about Trump" and "negative stories about his opponents."
(cont'd)
Pecker also says he told Trump:
"I would be your eyes and ears, because I knew that the Trump Organization has a very small staff." [...]
"Anything I hear negative about yourself, and anything negative that I hear about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen, and he would be able to have them killed" in another magazine.

Pecker mentioned the "women selling stories" line, unprompted.
ADA Steinglass pressed him on the line later.

Pecker explains that, at the time, Trump was known as "the most eligible bachelor."
(Note: Trump married his third wife Melania in 2005.)...

Trying to pierce Pecker's claim that the arrangement was mutually beneficial, ADA Steinglass notes that catch-and-kill of the alleged affairs didn't benefit AMI's magazines.
Q: The purpose of that component was to benefit the campaign?
Pecker agrees.
Pecker says the agreement was never formalized.
"It was just an agreement among friends," Pecker says.
He estimates that the meeting lasted between 20 and 25 minutes.

Pecker says he told the National Enquirer's then-editor-in-chief Dylan Howard that the arrangement was "Highly, highly confidential."

Pecker inspects another exhibit: Enquirer headlines praising Trump.
Pecker inspects another exhibit: Enquirer headlines trashing Trump's rivals.
"My conversations with Michael Cohen, and Michael Cohen would call me and say, 'We would like for you to write a negative article on [...] let's say, for the sake of argument, Ted Cruz..."
Pecker:
"... or Ben Carson, and we would embellish it from there."
He clarifies that, "we," here, is the National Enquirer.
Pecker elaborates on Cohen's instructions on whom "we would like" the Enquirer to write a negative story about:
"Since Michael Cohen wasn't part of the campaign, I though he was talking about himself and Mr. Trump."
Asked about his understanding of Cohen's relationship to the campaign, Pecker says: "He always told me that he was not part of the campaign."
Pecker, on the chain of command:
"I would only work with Michael, and so I don't know who else he spoke to."

Exhibit
The National Enquirer's headline attacking Trump's rival, then rising in the polls: "BUNGLING SURGEON BEN CARSON LEFT SPONGE IN PATIENT'S BRAIN."

Another Enquirer headline:
TED CRUZ SHAMED BY PORN STAR
Pecker says the Enquirer would send PDFs of the stories before they ran to Cohen, who would give comments on them before publication.

Asked if Cohen ever spoke about getting ideas about the articles from "the boss," Pecker demurs: "I don't recollect that."

More Enquirer headline exhibits slamming Cruz:
"TED CRUZ SEX SCANDAL — 5 SECRET MISTRESSES"
"DONALD TRUMP BLASTS TED CRUZ'S DAD FOR PHOTO WITH JFK ASSASSIN"
Pecker gives the backstory of these, from circa spring 2016.

Q: Did Steve Bannon ever pitch any articles to the National Enquirer?
Pecker said that Bannon proposed that a National Enquirer reporter should go on the Hannity show.
Defense: Objection.
Judge: Sustained. Stricken.

The prosecutor repeats the question to elicit a more responsive answer.
Another objection by the defense.
The parties discuss it at sidebar.
At the end of the sidebar, the judge announces that the court will take a short break, and jurors are briefly excused from the courtroom.

Pecker's questioning resumes.
Q: Are business emails relied upon in making business decisions?
A: Yes, they are.
The prosecutor asks a number of question laying for the foundation for introducing emails and text messages into evidence.
Bove objects to the admission of the exhibits on hearsay and other grounds.
After a sidebar, Justice Merchan overrules an objection from Trump's defense.

Questioning turns to Dino Sajudin, the doorman who peddled the false story that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock.

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Pecker:
"Dino was in the market selling the story that Donald Trump fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid" at Trump Tower.
Pecker said he ran the story by Michael Cohen, who replied the story was "Absolutely not true — but I'll check it out."
Pecker had been about to refer to the plan to polygraph Dino Sajudin, a topic that's inadmissible:
"Don't say that," Steinglass reminds him.
The prosecutor needs to cut him off again later on the same issue.

Pecker says he spoke about the payoff of Sajudin with Michael Cohen, who asked: "Who's going to pay for it?"
"I'll pay for it," Pecker recalls him saying.
"He said, 'The boss will be very pleased,'" a remark Pecker sees he understood to be "Donald Trump."
Pecker agrees that he never before paid money, let alone $30,000, to not publish a story.
"If the story came back true, I would publish the story shortly after it was verified," Pecker said.
Q: Before or after the election?
A: After the election.
The agreement with Sajudin is entered into evidence and displayed on screens inside the courtroom.
The contract called for Sajudin to receive the $30,000 within five days.
"We discovered that [the story was] absolutely, 1,000% untrue," Pecker says.
Q: So why are we paying $30,000 for an untrue story?
A: If it got out to another media outlet, it would be very embarrassing to the campaign.
Q: So it was a way to lock it up.
A: That is correct.
Asked about the clause indicating AMI's exclusivity period extended "in perpetuity," Pecker says: "That means that we own the story forever."
Q: Is [$30,000] a typical sum for a source?
A: No, it's not.
Pecker notes it's much larger, ranging from $250 to $5,000, or maybe up to $10,000 for a bigger celebrity.
Trump's defense objects to the next email flashed on the screens.
It's taken down, and the parties approach for a sidebar.
Justice Merchan rules that the exhibit can be displayed, "subject to the redaction we discussed" at sidebar.
It's an email from a reporter to an accounts payable employee.

The email:

"This serves as an invoice for immediate $30,000 [...] bank transfer payment from AMI to source Dino G. Sajudin regarding 'Trump' non-published story."

The email also refers to AMI's general counsel Cameron Stracher...

Once confident the story was false, Pecker wanted to release Sajudin from the NDA, and he says Michael Cohen couldn't understand why when he told him that.
Pecker says he told Cohen having Sajudin "locked in" was "only going to cause us more problems."
According to Pecker, Cohen asked, "When?"
"I said, 'I'd like to release [Sajudin] now,'" Pecker testifies.
Pecker says Cohen responded, "No," pushing AMI to release Sajudin "after the election."

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Questioning turns to Karen McDougal:

"I called Michael Cohen and I told Michael Cohen exactly what Dylan [Howard] told me about this Playboy model."
Cohen said that was not true, "absolutely" not true.
Pecker said, "Wait a minute," adding they should "vet this story out."
Pecker suggested that he told Cohen "this one is a little different," referring to McDougal's account.
Pecker says Cohen told him that they should not be discussing this over a landline, and they should pivot to Signal, the encrypted app with disappearing messages if activated.
He quips he still doesn't know whether it's true messages are "destroyed" after sending.
Pecker says that McDougal claimed to have had interest in the story from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" — and a Mexican group for $8 million.
The witness says he disbelieved it, but proposed Trump purchase the story anyway.
According to Pecker, Trump told him: “Anything that you ever do anything like this, it always gets out.”


Trial adjourns early today once again, in observance of the second night of the Passover holiday.

This allows any observant attorneys and jurors to attend seders, traditionally taking place on the first two nights.

After a brief exchange with Trump's attorney Emil Bove on a housekeeping matter, Justice Merchan adjourns proceedings entirely.

No ruling from the bench on the pending contempt matter.

Trump and his team file out of the courtroom.

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He's his own legal team.

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Fred Wellman
@FPWellman
This is clearly no longer a "hush money" case to cover up the sexual dalliance of a rich man. This is step by step an election interference conspiracy to influence the election. What will make you sick if some journalist will do it is tracing how these fake stories in the Enquirer made their way to mainstream press. They lapped this (expletive) up.

I don't think the prosecutors asked who was the source of some of these stories for no reason. That may be why some are saying TFG should start asking about a deal. Pecker's testimony was devastating.

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Tristan Snell
@TristanSnell
Hillary Clinton. Ben Carson. Ted Cruz.

All could have defamation claims against Trump and the Enquirer now

How? Weren’t the defamatory statements 7-9 yrs ago?

The “discovery rule” — a statute of limitations clock does not start until plaintiffs discovered their claims

Oops.

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Some legal speculation around holding TFG in criminal contempt.

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Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports

Pecker said that the tip about Karen McDougal came from her attorney Keith Davidson, whom he describes as "one of the major sources for [then-Enquirer editor in chief] Dylan Howard."

"So I thought that this story should be purchased."

Pecker says that Trump told him about McDougal:

"Karen is a nice girl. Is it true that a Mexican group is trying to buy the story for $8 million?"

Pecker says he didn't believe it.

But Pecker said the "nice girl" remark confirmed his suspicion that Trump knew her.

Pecker says Michael Cohen told him: "You should go ahead and buy this story."

"I am going to have Dylan Howard negotiate the terms," Pecker said he responded, before asking: "Who's going to pay for it?"

Cohen: "Don't worry. I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it."

Pecker describes receiving updates on the negotiations:

"Dylan Howard gave me the following terms: To purchase the lifetime rights for Karen McDougal would cost $150,000."

But McDougal also wanted to "restart her career."

Pecker:

McDougal also wanted to write for the celebrity magazines and appear on fitness titles.

She also wanted to launch a clothing line, a beauty product, and she wanted to be an anchor for the red carpet events.

But Pecker says, for him, the biggest concern was the money, and he raised the topic again to Cohen.

"He said, ‘You should pay.’"

"I said, 'Michael, why should I pay?'"

Pecker says he told Cohen he already paid for Sajudin.

Pecker says he told Cohen:

"Now, you’re asking me to pay $150K for the Karen story and all of these additional items that she wants to do."

Pecker says Cohen replied: “Don’t worry about it. I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it.”

Exhibit: Invoice for the McDougal payoff.

Dated Aug. 9, 2016, it lists AMI as the subsidiary and Keith M. Davison & Associates, PLC as the vendor of a $150,000 transfer.

Exhibit: The payment voucher for the $150,000.

It's dated Aug. 9, 2016—and sent to the firm of McDougal's lawyer Keith Davidson.

Asked if he ever had any intention to print Karen McDougal's story, Pecker responds: "No, we never did."

He agrees that he was aware that he had an obligation to comply with campaign-finance laws.

As the prosecutor pursues this line of questioning, the defense objects.

The parties approach the bench for a sidebar conference debating this legal issue, out of earshot from the jury.

Justice Merchan: "The objection is overruled."

Asked if he or AMI ever reported the McDougal payoff as a campaign contribution, Pecker says: "No, we did not."

"We purchased the story so that it wouldn't be published by any other organization.

Pecker:

"We didn't want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign."

Asked if he would have entered into the agreement had Michael Cohen not promised to reimburse him, Pecker responds: "No."

Pecker explains how Cohen's reassurances allayed his concerns about the arrangement, quoting him as saying:

"Why worry? I'm your friend. The Boss will take care of it."

Pecker said Cohen called him "constantly in the month of September" to send the files and boxes over to him.

"The Boss said that if I got hit by a bus, or if the company was sold, he didn't want someone else to potentially publish those stories."

David Pecker lays the foundation to enter an invoice into the record, in a series of questions and answers.

It is admitted into evidence.

t relates to Resolution Consultants LLC, a shell company created by Michael Cohen to reimburse AMI for Karen McDougal's story.

The description of services in the invoice refers to that as: "Agreed upon 'flat fee' for advisory services."

Next exhibit: The assignment agreement

AMI assigned the rights to McDougal's story to Resolution Consultants LLC on Sept. 30, 2016, for $125,000.

The agreement was signed, but it was not actually executed, Pecker says.

Pecker says that he had a conversation with counsel, and decided that he did not want to follow through with the agreement—and told Cohen that.

"I'm not going forward. It's a bad idea, and I want you to rip up the agreement," Pecker told Cohen, according to his testimony.

Pecker says of Cohen's reaction:

"He was very very angry, very upset, screaming at me basically." [...]

"Cohen said, 'The Boss is going to be very angry at you.'"

But Pecker said he stuck to his guns: "I said I'm not going forward. The deal is off."

(Morning Recess)

Before the jury comes in, the judge excludes blockbuster text messages following evidentiary arguments.

Prosecutors say Dylan Howard texted a relative: "At least if he wins I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud."

But that raised Confrontation Clause issues, the judge finds.

Prosecutors also said they wanted texts messages in of Dylan Howard quoted saying:

"Trump victory imminent."

"He’s just been named president-elect. Oh dear."

All excluded by the judge.

After the judge declines for now to let the messages in, David Pecker takes the stand again.

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"All rise."

The jury enters and takes their seats.

Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass resumes his direct examination.

Questioning turns to AMI releasing Dino Sajudin from his non-disclosure agreement.

Asked if he remembers the "Access Hollywood" tape coming out, Pecker says:

"I do. It was very embarrassing, very damaging for the campaign."

Email exhibit:

After the "Access Hollywood" tape, Pecker said he spoke with Cohen and learned about the campaign's concerns about an old Radar Online article titled "Donald Trump, Playboy Man."

Radar is an AMI property.

In an email, the publication's then-chief content officer Dylan Howard wrote of that article: "I've deleted the story completely. It doesn't exist."

Questioning turns to Stormy Daniels.

Pecker said he thought the arrangement with a "porn star" would be damaging to the AMI brand, and he said that he told Dylan Howard of the proposed hush-money payment:

"I am not a bank, and we are not paying out any more disbursements of monies."

Pecker says Michael Cohen was "upset" about AMI demurring from paying off Stormy Daniels:

"He said that The Boss would be furious," Pecker says, adding that Cohen urged him to go forward in buying Daniels' story.

Pecker said he emphasized he would not, "Period."

Pecker says he told Cohen:

"I am not paying for this story. I didn't want to be involved with this from the beginning."

But Pecker says he advised Cohen to purchase the story because "if it gets out, I believe The Boss is going to be very angry with you."

Questioning turns to the
@WSJ
scoop on Karen McDougal:

"National Enquirer Shielded Donald Trump from Playboy Model’s Affair Allegation," which came out before the election.

Pecker said it sparked a tense phone call with Trump on Nov. 5, 2016, three days before election day

The call ended "very abruptly," Pecker says.

Pecker, later in his testimony:

"I wanted to protect AMI. I wanted to protect myself, and I also wanted to protect Donald Trump."

After the WSJ article, Pecker says AMI amended the hush-money agreement because Karen McDougal was getting "bombarded" with press inquiries.

She wanted to speak without penalty.

Cohen said "it was a very bad idea" and "The Boss would be very angry."

Cohen recommended that Pecker not release McDougal.

Q: Did you take that advice?
A: No, I did not.

"Q: Why did you want to allow Ms. McDougal to speak to the press at this point?

A: I thought that the Wall Street Journal article already set the stage and the tone of what this story is, and I wanted to keep some sense of control around this story."

Pecker says he also wanted a PR rep for McDougal who reported to AMI.

Next exhibit:

The amended agreement between AMI and McDougal, signed by her on Nov. 29, 2016, and by a company representative on Dec. 7, 2016.

Pecker describes Michael Cohen complaining about not being reimbursed yet:

"Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels out of his own funds, which was the first time I heard of that. I wasn't involved in the transaction."

Pecker describes a conversation in Trump's office:

"I said Michael Cohen is very concerned about his bonus for this year, and I wanted you to do that he's very loyal."

He said Cohen was working very hard.

"I believe that he would throw himself in front of a bus for you."

Pecker said that Trump responded that Cohen had multiple apartments in his buildings and valuable taxi medallions.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it," Trump added, according to Pecker.

(Note: Those medallions would later figure in Cohen's prosecution.)

Pecker says Trump told him: "I wanted to thank you for taking care of the McDougal situation," then said something similar about him "taking care of the doorman situation."

Asked by the prosecutor whether Trump's concern about the stories getting out was primarily about his family or the campaign, Pecker responds:

"I thought it was for the campaign."

Q: After Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency, did he ever express concern for how [...] Melania Trump would think of his affairs?

A: No.

Q: You said he invited you to the inauguration?
A: Yes.

Q: Did you go?
A: No.

Lunch recess.