Why Trump's "Hush Money" Trial Is Really An Election Interference Trial
Why Trump's "Hush Money" Trial Is Really An Election Interference Trial
National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker’s testimony helped the prosecution clearly demonstrate how he plotted with Trump and Cohen to interfere in the 2016 election.
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This week, opening statements and witness testimony began in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, which has been referred to as the New York “Hush Money” case. But this is far more than just a trial about a man trying to cover up his infidelity.
As opening arguments began, the prosecution’s attempt to present their case through an election interference lens immediately crystallized.
Former American Media Inc. (AMI) CEO and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker delivered damning testimony that corroborated the core allegations made in the opening statement of Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo.
“The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over again... It was election fraud, pure and simple,” Colangelo told the jury on Monday.
"At the end of the case, we are confident you will have no reasonable doubt that Donald Trump is guilty of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of a presidential election,” Colangelo proclaimed.
The core conspiracy the prosecution has outlined is a scheme in which Donald Trump, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, and David Pecker conspired to “catch and kill” negative stories about Trump, publish positive stories about Trump, and “embellish” negative stories about Trump’s opponents in an effort to boost his 2016 campaign.
The three “catch and kill” incidents at the heart of the case revolve around payments Trump, Cohen, and Pecker arranged in an effort to conceal damaging information from voters in 2016:
A $30k payment from AMI to a former Trump doorman who alleged Trump had a child out of wedlock.
A $150k payment from AMI to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to cover up her affair with Trump.
A $150k payment from Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up her affair with Trump - a payment Cohen later sought reimbursement for from the Trump Organization.
Then, after these payments were made, business records were allegedly falsified. “The defendant disguised his reimbursements to Michael Cohen through 11 falsified invoices, 12 falsified ledger entries, and 11 falsified checks,” Colangelo asserted.
The prosecution is claiming that Trump’s falsification of business records was an attempt to cover up his underlying crime, which they allege is a violation of New York Election Law 17-152, which prohibits “conspiracies to promote the election of a specific candidate through unlawful means.”
Concealing information from the public in an effort to impact the outcome of the election is inherently election interference by definition. But the legal matter, on the other hand, is up to the jury to decide. On Tuesday, the prosecution’s effort to increase the stakes of this conduct to a criminal conspiracy targeting the election was aided by Pecker’s bombshell testimony.
David Pecker’s testimony brought jurors into the rooms where it all happened. The trial isn’t being aired live, so we’ve been relying on live reporting from journalists in the courtroom. One thing was made clear during Pecker’s testimony: Trump’s intent to influence the outcome of the election.
Pecker detailed an August 2015 Trump Tower meeting with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, in which a mutually beneficial agreement was made: The National Enquirer would effectively become a propaganda arm of the Trump campaign, killing negative stories about Trump and pushing stories that help his campaign.
"At the meeting, Donald Trump and Michael [Cohen], they asked me, what can I do, and what my magazines could do, to help the campaign?" Pecker said.
Pecker then claimed he made a verbal agreement to help Trump’s campaign in this key quote:
"What I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents and I said that I would also … be eyes and ears. I said I would be your eyes and ears.”
Pecker detailed exactly how the operation ran. "Anything that I hear in the marketplace — if I hear anything negative about [Trump] or if I hear anything about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen as I did over the last several years," Pecker said. The apparent partnership dated back to the days of The Apprentice.
"And Michael Cohen — then he would be able to have them killed in another magazine or have them not be published, or somebody would have to purchase them," Pecker explained.
Pecker’s testimony detailed the extent to which Michael Cohen was involved. Not only would Pecker help find negative stories for Trump and Cohen to “catch and kill,” Pecker said that he would get explicit direction on which Trump opponents to target, and then Cohen would sign off on the final articles.
"Michael Cohen would call me and say, 'We would like you to run a negative article on a certain' — let’s say for argument sake — on Ted Cruz then he — Michael Cohen — would send me information about Ted Cruz or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio, and that was the basis of our story and then we would embellish it from there," Pecker said. The key word there is “embellish.” Pecker admitted to totally fabricating stories and lying on Trump’s behalf.
Pecker even admitted to making up a totally false story alleging a connection between Ted Cruz’s father and Lee Harvey Oswald, the killer of President John F. Kennedy. Trump pushed this story during the 2016 campaign.
Pecker claimed that Cohen had the ability to pre-screen the articles before they were published in the National Enquirer.
“When we were preparing an article, we’d communicate what we were doing at the direction of the article from Michael Cohen, and we would also send him the PDFs of the story before it was published,” Pecker testified.
Pecker also confirmed the prosecution’s details about the doorman and Karen McDougal’s payments, including a phone call Pecker had with Trump about McDougal’s story.
Pecker testified that the relationship wasn’t just a one-way street: "I think it was a mutual benefit. It would help his campaign, and it would also help me."
Michael Cohen, who has already admitted to all of this and is cooperating with prosecutors, will build on Pecker’s testimony when he takes the stand. Cohen also recorded a conversation he had with Trump about the McDougal payment, which provides hard evidence that Trump was directly aware of the arrangement.
David Pecker’s testimony provided key corroboration for the prosecution’s claims. It’s one thing to get these details from Michael Cohen, who the defense has spent a lot of time seeking to discredit. But it’s another thing entirely to hear this from David Pecker himself, under oath.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges across four indictments, including 2 cases related to his plot to overturn the 2020 election. It’s pretty clear Trump is willing to do anything and everything imaginable to gain and retain power.
Whether that means paying off people to conceal damaging information during a presidential campaign or launching a plot to overturn the 2020 election that culminates in a violent insurrection, Trump’s corrupt conduct has a through-line of power-hungry, depraved self-interest.
The way this New York trial is playing out so far bodes well for the Manhattan DA’s office. We’ll see if the jury is convinced, but it’s safe to say Pecker is helping the prosecution make a very compelling case.
