President Trump is charged with falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. Prosecutors say Trump classified the records as legal expenses rather than campaign expenses to keep voters from knowing about Daniels’ claims that she had a sexual tryst with Trump several years ago. are doing. President Trump denies the allegations and maintains his innocence.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo focused his opening statement on Monday on Mr. Pecker’s interactions with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Pecker, a longtime ally of President Trump, is said to have helped broker the payment to Mr. Daniels while serving as chief executive officer of tabloid publisher American Media at the time. This was part of a practice known as “catch-and-kill,” in which the National Enquirer sought to suppress negative articles about Trump in order to support his presidential bid.
Prosecutors say Mr. Pecker and the editor of the National Enquirer contacted then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen, another key witness in the case, just before the 2016 election and asked Mr. Daniels. reported that it was investigating an article alleging a secret meeting with Trump. Shortly after, Cohen contacted Daniels and offered him $130,000.
Jurors will hear evidence that Mr. Pecker, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump met at Trump Tower in the summer of 2015 and that Mr. Pecker agreed to “use his media empire to support the defendant’s campaign.” That’s planned, Colangelo said in court Monday.
Prosecutors said the three “entered into an agreement together at that meeting and conspired to influence the 2016 presidential election.” He said Pecker will serve as the “eyes and ears of the campaign,” attacking Trump’s political opponents and seeking positive coverage as the election progresses.
Colangelo said there were two other “catch-and-kill” stories involving Pecker and the National Enquirer.
One of them involved Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin, who reportedly tried to sell an article claiming Trump had a child out of wedlock.
Mr. Colangelo said Mr. Pecker paid Mr. Sajudin $30,000 for an article, but it was the first time Mr. Pecker had paid for an article without investigating it. The tabloid later determined this claim was untrue. Still, Cohen added a $1 million “nondisclosure agreement” to Pecker and required Sajudin to remain silent until after the 2016 election, prosecutors said.
American Media also previously bought the silence of Playboy model Karen McDougall, who claimed she had an affair with President Trump, in a 2018 agreement with federal prosecutors to “suppress” the allegations. , admitted to “preventing any influence on the election.” ”
Mr. Pecker left the publishing company in 2020.
In the defense’s opening statement, Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, said the payments to Daniels were outrageous and that Trump was “not aware of what Cohen might have done years after the fact.” He said there was no criminal liability.
“There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy,” Blanche said. “They put something sinister on this idea, as if it were a crime. You’ll see it’s not.”
Devlin Barrett, Shayna Jacobs and Tom Jackman contributed to this report.
