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Former National Enquirer<\/em> publisher David Pecker<\/strong><\/a> testified Tuesday in the hush money trial<\/a> of Donald Trump,<\/strong> and unfortunately for the ketchup bottles<\/a> at Mar-a-Lago,* it did not appear to go well for the ex-president.<\/p>\n Pecker told<\/a> the jury that in August 2015, \u201cI received a call from Michael Cohen<\/strong> telling me that the boss wanted to see me.\u201d The boss, of course, referred to Trump, whom Pecker said he subsequently sat down with at Trump Tower, along with Cohen. There, Pecker said, Cohen and Trump asked him what he could do to \u201chelp the campaign,\u201d a claim that seemingly bolsters the prosecution\u2019s argument that the hush money payments at the heart of the trial, which Pecker helped arranged, were made to help Trump get elected. According to Pecker, following the 2015 meeting, he worked closely with Cohen, who fed him information that was beneficial to Trump\u2019s campaign. For instance, Pecker testified that following the GOP debates, Cohen would ring him up and request negative coverage of whichever of Trump\u2019s competitors had given the best performance. The Enquirer,<\/em> per Pecker, would then \u201cembellish\u201d the stories, meaning, per the ex-publisher, that it would run fake news to benefit Trump. Some of the headlines attacking Trump\u2019s rivals for the GOP nomination included<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cMichael Cohen would call me and say, uh, we would like for you to run a negative article on a certain, let\u2019s say it\u2019s on Ted Cruz,<\/strong>\u201d Pecker told<\/a> the jury on Tuesday. Cohen, Pecker explained, would send over \u201cinformation about Ted Cruz\u2026that was the basis of our story, and then we would embellish it from there.\u201d While Cohen always made sure to insist he wasn\u2019t working for the Trump campaign, Pecker said he assumed the then attorney was discussing the matters with Trump.<\/p>\n Of course, more crucial than the negative stories ran about Trump\u2019s rivals were the negative ones about Trump that, thanks to the Enquirer,<\/em> never saw the light of day. Per The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n Pecker told jurors Tuesday that he offered in 2015 to intercept negative stories about his longtime friend Donald Trump and to flag any efforts by women who would try to profit by selling stories about the then-presidential candidate…The witness testified late Tuesday morning that it was common for women to try to sell stories about political candidates, so he offered to intercept them for Trump and his campaign, sometimes paying to \u201ckill\u201d the stories.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women,\u201d Pecker said. In his experience, he said, \u201cwhen someone is running for public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer<\/em> to try to sell these stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Pecker said he offered to be \u201cthe eyes and ears\u201d of the Trump campaign, explaining that Trump\u2019s company had a small staff and that his efforts to support Trump were mutually beneficial because they helped his magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n
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