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Items tagged with: AMI
#Pecker testified that as part of the #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #AMI paid #KarenMcDougal $150k for her story, w/no intention of ever publishing it.
Pecker expected repayment from #Trump. He asked #MichaelCohen who would handle it, & Cohen responded, “The boss will take care of it.”
Because Pecker had such a hard time getting Trump to pay, he was unwilling to buy the 3rd story: #StormyDaniels’s.
“I am not a bank,” Pecker recalled saying.
#Pecker said on Tues he had agreed to be the “eyes & ears” of the #TrumpCampaign & used #AMI to deal w/threats to #Trump’s reputation.
After the #AccessHollywood tape came out in Oct 2016, where Trump’s boasts about groping women, one of Pecker’s editors scrubbed an AMI publication’s website of a 2008 article describing Trump as a “playboy man.”
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker's last few minutes of testimony were key. He said that his company had disguised the #HushMoney payment to #KarenMcDougal as a deal for services she would perform for #AMI.
This is important for the prosecution's case:
They have to show that the #conspiracy that they accuse #Trump of participating in to win the 2016 election was conducted through "unlawful means." Pecker just indicated that it was.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
The deal went above & beyond for #KarenMcDougal & included the hiring of ghostwriters to pen her stories.
#Pecker says that the contract was intended to stipulate that McDougal would perform "services" for #AMI, that there was a basis for the $150k she was receiving.
Pecker is asked if The #NationalEnquirer had any intention to publish McDougal's story. Pecker is blunt: "No, we did not."
This is pure #CatchAndKill.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker is openly admitting to his involvement in the #CatchAndKill scheme & is doing so quite candidly.
Pecker is now detailing the agreement #AMI, #Nationa Enquirer's parent company, struck w/ #KarenMcDougal. The contract guaranteed she would be put on 2 magazine covers & that the company would have the right to publish fitness columns by her. It's worth noting how bizarre this set-up was. It wasn't just buying her story — it was also giving her work w/AMI.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial