Longtime Allies’ Testimony Unveils Intimate Bonds Amidst Legal Turmoil: Pecker’s Affection for Trump Endures

Former President of the US - Donald Trump | Credits: Getty Images
Former President of the US - Donald Trump | Credits: Getty Images

United States: It appears that David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher and key witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against the former president, who holds an immunity agreement with the prosecutors targeting Trump, is not among those adversaries.

“David’s been quite amiable,” remarked the former president on Thursday morning, just hours before Pecker returned to the witness stand for the third consecutive day, ready to divulge even more details of the clandestine agreements central to the case. “He’s a decent chap.”

Over the course of four days of testimony in Trump’s unprecedented criminal trial, Pecker delivered a damning narrative of the tabloid’s involvement in suppressing negative stories about Trump while amplifying, often untrue, negative press about his political rivals, according to The Hill.

His testimony, dubbed “breathtaking” by Trump, substantially reinforced the state’s overarching argument, alleging that Trump and his allies endeavored to sway the outcome of the 2016 election with Pecker’s assistance.

Despite his damaging revelations, Pecker expressed similar sentiments regarding Trump.

“Do you hold any resentment or animosity towards the defendant?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass inquired of the publisher as the final question of his direct examination.

“Quite the contrary,” Pecker responded. “I viewed Donald Trump as my mentor.”

A former official from the Trump White House suggested that the longstanding relationship between Trump and Pecker, cultivated since their days in New York circles, likely prevented any adversarial exchanges.

“They’ve known each other for decades,” the former White House official remarked. “And there’s no indication that David Pecker harbored any vendetta against Trump.”

Pecker wasn’t the sole longtime ally of Trump to evoke a positive response while on the stand in the presence of the former president.

On Friday afternoon, when his longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff took the stand, the former president was visibly pleased, even chuckling as Graff spoke warmly of her former employer, describing him as “fair and respectful.”

Trump’s association with Graff dates back decades, to her commencement at the Trump Organization in 1987. She remained in Trump’s inner circle during his 2016 campaign, facilitating hush money deals, and reportedly continued to serve as a liaison for Trump’s associates even after he assumed the presidency.

Pecker and Trump were introduced in the late 1980s at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, an encounter Pecker credited as the genesis of their “fruitful, mutually beneficial relationship.”

In the early days, Pecker proposed and later launched a magazine titled “Trump Style,” focusing on Trump’s opulent properties such as hotels and casinos. A decade later, with Pecker at the helm of the National Enquirer, Trump had become a “celebrity in his own right,” according to the publisher, as per The Hill.

Trump aided Pecker throughout his career, the publisher testified. For 17 years, he alerted Trump to potential negative publicity, beginning in the 1990s with an unfavorable story about Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples. Trump was affectionately labeled a “FOP” by Enquirer staffers – a “Friend of Pecker.”

In June 2015, after Trump announced his candidacy for president, he summoned Pecker and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to Trump Tower.

It was there, prosecutors allege, that the purported conspiracy to pave Trump’s path to the White House was conceived, with Trump querying Pecker about how his magazines could aid the campaign and Pecker pledging to be the campaign’s “eyes and ears.”

At Cohen’s request, and therefore at Trump’s, Pecker acknowledged he assisted in burying a doorman’s story about Trump allegedly fathering an illegitimate child, as well as silencing ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed a yearlong affair with Trump.

Despite the doorman’s story being debunked, Pecker admitted to purchasing it for USD 30,000, anticipating it would be “extremely detrimental” to Trump’s campaign if it surfaced. He paid USD 150,000 to McDougal and provided her with opportunities within his company in exchange for the rights to her story.

However, when it came to compensating Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her allegations of an affair with Trump, Pecker declined, at one point recalling he told Cohen: “I am not a bank.”

Cohen informed him at the time that “the boss” – Trump – “would be furious.”

“Did you suppress the stories to benefit a presidential candidate?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked pointedly on his redirect examination of Pecker, referring to Trump as the presidential candidate in question.

“Yes, I did,” Pecker affirmed, as per The Hill.

Former US President Donald Trump with David Pecker | Credits: CNN

Despite reaching an immunity deal with the Manhattan DA’s office in late 2019, shielding him from prosecution in Trump’s New York hush-money case, Pecker remains one of the few individuals Trump has refrained from criticizing.

Other individuals formerly aligned with Trump are also poised to testify, including former White House and campaign aides and Trump Organization employees. This roster includes Hope Hicks, his former confidant and spokeswoman, and Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former comptroller. Apart from Cohen, Trump has largely remained silent on other witnesses slated to testify.

Some of Trump’s loyalists, despite his numerous controversies, have encountered legal troubles of their own due to their association with the former president. This includes Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and Trump’s legal adviser, and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff.

Both Giuliani and Meadows are contending with two separate indictments related to the election, one in Georgia alongside Trump as a defendant and now one in Arizona, for their alleged efforts to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election in Trump’s favor. While Giuliani staunchly defends Trump, Meadows has largely receded from public view.

Pecker’s enduring bond with Trump stands in stark contrast to the fates of other former allies – none more evident than Cohen, who transitioned from one of Trump’s most devoted aides to his most vocal critic.

When the US attorney’s office began probing the alleged plot in 2018, Cohen’s office, Park Avenue hotel room, and home were raided. Federal agents seized millions of electronic files, including emails and bank records, along with eight boxes of documents.

Although Trump initially encouraged Cohen to “stay strong” and funded his legal representation, the former president began to distance himself as the investigation progressed. After ceasing payments for Cohen’s legal fees, Cohen reached a breaking point.

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations and other charges shortly thereafter, receiving a three-year prison sentence for his involvement in the scheme.

“Time and time again, I felt obligated to conceal his illicit activities,” Cohen reflected on Trump at his 2018 sentencing hearing.

Cohen and Trump have since become archenemies, exchanging verbal salvos whenever the opportunity arises.

Pecker admitted on Thursday that he and Trump had not communicated since early 2019, when the investigation into their alleged scheme intensified.

Nevertheless, Pecker’s fondness for Trump endures.

“Despite the lack of communication, I still regard him as a friend,” Pecker testified.