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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lauren Aratani in New York

David Pecker says he bought McDougal story so it did not hurt Trump campaign

David Pecker Donald Trump Stormy Daniels Juan Merchan Michael Cohen American Media Karen McDougal Playboy the National Enquirer
Sketch of man wearing blue suit and red tie
David Pecker testifies in court in New York on Thursday. Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

The former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker told the court in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial on Thursday that he specifically bought a story from the Playboy model Karen McDougal to bury it so that it did not “embarrass or hurt the [Trump] campaign”.

Following his testimony earlier in the week, Pecker, the former chief executive of American Media Inc (AMI), which publishes the Enquirer, spent hours explaining how he used his position to help Trump kill McDougal’s story about a 10-month affair she says they had in 2006.

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