Second day of David Pecker testimony wraps in Trump’s hush money trial

Trump stopped and spoke in the hallway outside the courtroom after proceedings adjourned for the day, complaining about the temperature of the room and the gag order placed on him.

“I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional,” Trump said of the gag order. “I don’t believe it’s — not to this extent — ever happened before. I’m not allowed to talk, but people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very unfair.”

The former president is only restricted from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family.

“They are keeping me in a courtroom — that’s freezing by the way — in a courtroom all day long while he’s out campaigning,” Trump added of President Biden, who is holding campaign events in Florida on Tuesday.

— Brett Samuels

Merchan adjourned proceedings for the day. Pecker’s testimony is expected to resume Thursday, since the trial does not take place on Wednesdays.

Trump left the courtroom with a scowl on his face but gave one reporter a tight-lipped smile on his way out the door.

— Ella Lee

Pecker testified that he had a conversation with Trump about ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story of an alleged affair with Trump.

The publisher said he suggested to Trump that the then-presidential candidate should purchase the story to keep it from being made public. Trump told him that “any time he’d do anything like this, it always gets out,” according to Pecker.

They tabled the matter, and Trump said Cohen would call after he thought about it, Pecker said.

— Ella Lee

Pecker detailed a conversation with Cohen where the publisher expressed a desire to release Dino Sajudin, the doorman, from their exclusivity deal immediately since it was “not true anyhow.”

But Trump’s then-fixer said no, and Pecker complied.

“He said, ‘When?’ I said, ‘Now,’” Pecker said. “He said, ‘No, release him after the election.’”

Sajudin was ultimately released from the exclusivity deal on Dec. 9, 2016, according to evidence shown by the state — after the election.

— Ella Lee

Even after determining doorman Dino Sajudin’s story was false, the Enquirer still chose to purchase rights to it to ensure other media outlets didn’t become privy to it, Pecker testified.

“So this was a way to lock it up?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.

“Yes,” Pecker replied, adding that even though the story was false, it would have been “very embarrassing to the campaign” if it got out.

— Ella Lee

Pecker testified he “immediately” called Cohen after a tipster informed the Enquirer that a Trump Tower doorman was claiming the former president fathered an illegitimate child with another building employee.

Cohen called the story false off the bat, Pecker said, but agreed to look into it. The Enquirer ultimately bought the story to have it “removed from market.”

It was the first story the paper had ever killed about Trump, Pecker said. He never spoke with Trump about the matter directly.

When Pecker agreed to buy the story, Cohen told him “the boss” — the title Cohen used for Trump — would be “very pleased.”

— Ella Lee

To prove that Trump is guilty of felony counts of falsifying business records, instead of misdemeanor counts, prosecutors must prove he intended to commit or conceal another crime.

The district attorney’s office said during a sidebar that the “primary” crime it is seeking to use to prove that is conspiracy to promote or prevent an election, Section 17-152 under New York law.

— Ella Lee

Defense attorneys are objecting to a line of questioning about ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

They claim the state is attempting to elicit hearsay statements from Bannon that are being offered as the truth, even though he has not been declared a “co-conspirator.”

The prosecutors say the questioning should be allowed because in order to find Trump guilty, they must prove he intended to commit or conceal another crime by falsifying business records.

The judge sent the jury and Pecker out of the courtroom to discuss with Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors.

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors with the district attorney’s office introduced as evidence a series of negative articles the National Enquirer published about Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign opponents.

One headline read “Donald Trump blasts Ted Cruz’s Dad for Photo with JFK Assassin.” Another was titled “’Family Man’ Marco Rubio’s Love Child Stunner.”

The ideas came from Cohen, Pecker said.

“After the Republican debates, and based on the success that some of the other candidates had, I would receive a call from Michael Cohen, and he would direct me and direct [the Enquirer’s then-editor-in-chief] Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go,” Pecker said.

— Ella Lee

Unprompted by prosecutors, Pecker said Cohen provided information that served as the foundation for negative stories about Trump’s opponents.

The ex-publisher testified Cohen would suggest running a negative story about one of Trump’s 2016 adversaries, such as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) or Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and then provide the unflattering information about them.

“That was the basis for our story,” Pecker said.

Both Cruz and Rubio ran against Trump during the 2016 Republican primary.

— Ella Lee

Pecker said that his deal with Trump and Cohen was not put into writing.

“It was just an agreement among friends,” Pecker said with a smile.

— Ella Lee

Trump appears fully engaged in Pecker’s testimony, leaning to the side to get a better view and maintaining his gaze on the witness stand.

— Ella Lee

Pecker said he attended a meeting at Trump Tower to discuss strategy for the former president’s campaign.

Trump and Cohen were there, in addition to then-Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks, who was “in and out” of the meeting.

At the meeting, Pecker testified that he told Trump he would be the campaign’s “eyes and ears,” in addition to running positive stories about Trump and negative ones about his opponents.

He called the agreement a “mutual benefit.”

“It would help the campaign; it’d also help me,” he said, referencing magazine sales.

— Ella Lee

Pecker testified that he received a personal invitation to Trump’s 2016 presidential bid announcement.

“As a friend, I would love if you could make it,” Cohen wrote in an email to Pecker, presented as evidence. “Let me know so I can save you a seat next to me on the atrium floor … No one deserves to be there more than you …”

The announcement was made in June 2015, when Trump famously rode down an escalator in Trump Tower to launch his first presidential bid.

— Ella Lee

Before Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid, Pecker said he spoke with Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer, once a month or twice a quarter.

But after he made his candidacy official, that communication increased to where Pecker and Cohen spoke “at minimum every week.”

“And if there was an issue, it could be daily,” Pecker said.

— Ella Lee

David Pecker testified that as a businessman Trump was “very knowledgeable,” “very detail-oriented” and a “micromanager,” as his relationship with the former president comes under a microscope.

“I saw he looked at all of the aspects of whatever the issue was,” Pecker said.

Pecker is on the stand for a second day after testifying briefly before court adjourned Monday. He is being asked various details about his relationship with Trump, including how often they met and spoke.

Pecker is one of several central witnesses due to his involvement in entering an agreement with Trump to “catch-and-kill” negative stories about the then-2016 presidential candidate.

Pecker allegedly agreed to look for negative stories about Trump and alert Cohen before they were published. That agreement is what sparked the hush money deals at the center of the case.

— Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld

After a break following the nearly hour-and-a-half hearing over whether several of Trump’s posts constituted a gag order violation, Merchan has retaken his seat at his bench.

Ex-American Media CEO David Pecker came in shortly after to resume his testimony, and the jury trailed in thereafter.

— Ella Lee

Trump is back at his seat in the courtroom, thumbing through documents.

He elbowed attorney Todd Blanche to talk, and the pair are now discussing something in whispers.

— Ella Lee

The gag hearing is over, and the court is on a 15-minute break.

Just before the hearing ended, Merchan said he’ll reserve a decision on the alleged gag order violations, and the court will reconvene at 11 a.m. EDT.

David Pecker, the ex-CEO of American Media Inc., is expected to retake the stand until the court breaks this afternoon early for Passover.

— Zach Schonfeld

Todd Blanche claimed Trump is “being very careful” to not violate his gag order, drawing criticism from the judge.

“This gag order — we are trying to comply with it,” Blanche said. “There is no doubt … President Trump is being very careful to not violate the order.”

“Mr. Blanche, you’re losing all credibility,” the judge responded.

“You’re losing all credibility with the court. Is there any other argument you want to make?”

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso following court proceedings Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

The two men will meet at Trump Tower, the latest instance of Trump meeting with foreign leaders in the lead up to the 2024 election.

Trump last week hosted Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower.

— Brett Samuels

Trump attorney Todd Blanche has now begun his argument, insisting that Trump does know the terms of his gag order but that there is “absolutely no willful violation” in any of of the 10 posts.

“There is no dispute that President Trump is facing a barrage of political attacks from all sides, including from the two witnesses referenced in the early posts,” Blanche said, referring to Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutor Chris Conroy is attacking some of Trump’s expected defenses, including that he was merely reposting other people.

“Some of his most dangerous statements … are what he wants to carve out of the order by calling them reposts,” Conroy said.

He also rejected the notion that Trump’s posts taking aim at witnesses and prospective jurors should be excepted from the order because they were political.

“Throwing MAGA into a post doesn’t make it political,” Conroy said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutor Chris Conroy cast Trump’s post suggesting “liberal activists” were trying to get on his jury as “very troubling,” rejecting arguments that the former president didn’t violate his gag order because his post was quoting a Fox News host.

“What happened here is precisely what this order was designed to prevent, and this defendant doesn’t care,” Conroy said.

Read more about that post here.

— Zach Schonfeld

As Chris Conroy was walking the judge through the various posts and brought up those taking aim at Michael Cohen, Trump snickered alongside his attorney, Emil Bove.

— Zach Schonfeld

With the gag order hearing underway, prosecutor Chris Conroy urged the judge to hold Trump in contempt for all 10 posts in question, portraying them as an intentional strategy to attack witnesses publicly. Conroy called it a “very real threat” to the trial.

“I think that’s all part of the plan for this trial,” Conroy said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump addressed cameras outside the courtroom before entering, using his remarks to attack President Biden and lament the pro-Palestinian protests taking place on college campuses around the country.

“What’s going on at the college level and the colleges — Columbia, NYU and others — is a disgrace,” Trump said, blaming Biden for the demonstrations.

“He’s got the wrong tone. He’s got the wrong words. He doesn’t know who he’s backing. And it’s a mess,” Trump added.

— Brett Samuels

The judge is back at the bench after a brief sidebar with Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors with the DA’s office outside the courtroom.

— Ella Lee

Trump is seated alone in the well of the courtroom, sparing one woman from his team at the opposite end of the table, after his lawyers joined the judge outside the courtroom to discuss an unknown matter.

The former president, sitting silently, appears to be watching the crowd behind him through a monitor to the left of the judge’s bench. He was offered a water bottle but declined.

Trump waived his presence at sidebars last week, leaving him to sit by himself as his counsel and the DA’s office converse with the judge.

— Ella Lee

Judge Juan Merchan took the bench minutes after Trump arrived in the courtroom.

“Good morning, Mr. Trump,” Merchan said, before asking the former president’s lawyers and prosecutors to leave the courtroom to discuss an unknown matter.

— Ella Lee