A veteran US tabloid publisher testified on Tuesday that a secret plan to suppress stories about former President Donald Trump was an “agreement between friends”.
David Pecker, an ally of Mr Trump and former publisher of the National Enquirer, recalled how he promised the then-candidate that he would help suppress harmful stories and even arranged to purchase the silence of a doorman.
Mr Trump is on trial on 34 charges of criminally falsifying business records to cover up a £104,000 payment to buy the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with Mr Trump 10 years earlier.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Pecker’s actions helped Mr Trump to deceive voters in the 2016 election by suppressing stories of alleged extramarital affairs at a time when he already faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts.
Prosecutors questioned Mr Pecker for three hours on Monday.
During his testimony, he described how he became friends with Mr Trump in the late 1980s and how the pair had a mutually “beneficial” relationship.
Mr Pecker said he volunteered to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents.
He told jurors how he told Trump: "I will be your eyes and ears."
Mr Pecker also said he would advise the former President about killing certain articles, adding: “This could be a very big story, so I believe that it should be removed from the market.”
Matthew Colangelo, for the prosecution, told jurors on Monday: “This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election — to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior, using doctored corporate records and bank forms to conceal those payments along the way.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple.”
A defence lawyer for Mr Trump countered by claiming the case was baseless.
“President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan district attorney’s office should never have brought this case,” attorney Todd Blanche said.
