How I understand the National Enquirer involvement

[PJMcK]

Pecker had two angles to cover for Trump’s campaign. The first part was the “catch and kill” component to buy the exclusive rights to any salacious stories about Trump then bury them. This is the “hush money” part of the case and it’s of less importance than the election interference component.

Part two of Pecker’s involvement was more nefarious. Trump, through Michael Cohen, would plant false rumors at the Enquirer which would then be published. These would be falsities like “Hilary Clinton has brain cancer” and “Ted Cruz’s father participated in JFK’s assassination.” When these lies were printed, Trump would then comment on the stories as if he had just learned of them. His quotes, in turn, would be printed and broadcast by the MSM thereby injecting Trump’s lies into the so-called legitimate media giving the lies the patina of validity.

Pecker’s involvement was clearly only to help Trump’s campaign as he testified that none of the false stories helped the Enquirer’s sales; it was all political.

Trump has a history of planting stories in the press going back to the 1970s and ‘80’s. The gossip columnist, Cindy Adams (Page Six), has told tales of Trump calling her and trying to disguise his voice to tell her a Trump story. The arrangement with Pecker is right out of Trump’s playbook.

Pecker’s testimony is devastating for Trump’s defense because it clearly details the planning and execution of their conspiracy. The case isn’t about Stormy Daniels, it’s about the conspiracy to influence the election.

[intrepidity]

1. True, but

seems to me that the "catch and kill" stories, where the paper actually made *no* money, is important.

[gab13by13]

2. Exactly,

The Enquirer would have made a boatload of money had it run the stories instead of covering them up, which begs the question why?

The answer is bad for TSF.

[70sEraVet]

11. Not just 'no' money --

The 'catch and kill' COST money! In one case (Karen McDougall) a LOT of money!

[mitch96]

21. So Pecker paid McDougal not tRump?... I find it hard to connect the dots...nt

[PJMcK]

35. Trump was supposed to re-pay Pecker

As usual, Trump stiffed Pecker (!) which is why Pecker wouldn’t put up the money to pay Stormy Daniels. Since Trump had to pay it, Michael Cohen concocted the scheme to pay her with his own money and Alan Weisselberg booked the re-payments to Cohen as legal expenses.

I believe that Trump and Pecker’s friendship soured because Trump didn’t honor the deal. This may be part of the reason Pecker is willing to tell the whole truth. His non-prosecution deal is another.

[mitch96]

36. So how was this a campaign finance problem? That's what I don't understand completely. nt

[intrepidity]

37. Pecker provided, and Trump solicited, "in-kind" campaign contributions

Not only the money paid, but the value of the service provided were directly related to Trump's campaign health.

Had Trump paid for them from campaign money and declared it as such, this would not be the issue it is.

[70sEraVet]

40. The Enquirer paid McDougal -- Cohen paid Daniels.

Trump repaid Cohen (falsified business expenses). Apparently, Pecker was never repaid.

Pecker said the Enquirer paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 and 2007. He said he bought the story after Trump refused to do so himself.
"He said that anytime you do anything like this it always gets out,” Pecker said.
The Enquirer's parent company, American Media, said in 2018 it paid $150,000 for the story. Trump has denied having an affair with McDougal.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judge-consider-gag-order-violations-trump-hush-money-trial-2024-04-23/

I imagine Trump is having trouble keeping track of which frauds he has committed!!

[apnu]

3. I'm more interested in why Pecker is doing this today.

I think the answer is Trump stiffed Pecker. Trump is cheap and didn’t pay Pecker the $150K for the McDougal deal, violating the agreement they had. That’s why Cohen has to find $137K on his own to pay Clifford.

Trump, as usual, is the source of his own ruin.

[PatSeg]

18. He does tend to be consistent, doesn't he?

That is why it is so baffling that people, often smart people, fall for his BS.

I suppose that is one of the reasons that Donald has no real friends.

[CrispyQ]

26. That Cohen deal was a maze of deception.

How they made it look like income.

2017
January: Cohen seeks reimbursement from the Trump Organization for $180,035 — $130,000 for the payment to Daniels, plus a wiring fee and an extra $50,000. Trump Organization executives double the reimbursement to $360,000 and add another $60,000, for a total of $420,000 to be paid in monthly installments for 12 months.

Cohen sends invoices for $35,000 per month and receives $420,000 from the company over the course of the year.

Jan. 20: Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

A wiring fee.

The above is from this link, a timeline of what happened. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-indictment-investigation-timeline-manhattan-district-attorney/

[intrepidity]

38. He got immunity from prosecution.

I bet Donald promised to pay for his legal expenses, but knowing what a deadbeat Donald is, figured he'd be better off taking an immunity deal.

[MichMan]

4. Why isn't Pecker facing criminal charges ?

As a participant in the conspiracy.

[teach1st]

5. Immunity

According to Axios:

Pecker was granted immunity from prosecution by the DOJ in 2018 for providing information to federal prosecutors about the hush money payments. The media titan was among dozens investigated by the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 as part of a sweeping probe of Trump and his inner circle.

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/22/david-pecker-national-enquirer-trump-trial

[MichMan]

6. Does that also include the anti Hillary stories?

[intrepidity]

39. Yes; those were in-kind campaign contributions

Even though Pecker's paper also benefitted, probably partly because they were solicited by/for Donald via Cohen.

[thesquanderer]

19. I don't think anything he described doing is actually illegal.

That said, I would think that the people he printed false stories about could probably bring a civil suit for libel, unless it's beyond statute of limitations.

[speak easy]

25. Federal Election Law

Generally, FECA requires organizations making
independent expenditures that aggregate more than $250 in
a calendar year to disclose, on a quarterly basis, (1) whether
an independent expenditure supports or opposes a
candidate, (2) under penalty of perjury, certification as to
whether it was made independently of a campaign, and (3)
the identity of each person who contributed more than $200
to the organization “for the purpose of furthering an
independent expenditure.” In addition, up to 20 days before
an election, an organization must file a report each time it
spends at least $10,000 on independent expenditures
relating to that election, within 48 hours of incurring the
cost of the expenditure. Less than 20 days before an
election, an organization must file a report each time it
spends.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11398

AIM made no disclosures to the FEC.

[thesquanderer]

28. I see, "catch and kill" should have been reported as a campaign contribution.

I thought it would have been up to the campaign to report the contribution, rather than the entity making the contribution, but from that excerpt, it sounds like they're both supposed to report it (which makes sense, in the same way that you and your employer must both report your salary to the IRS... your employer on a W2/1099, and you on your tax return... and that way the IRS can confirm that it all matches up).

I suspect this would be something he got immunity from prosecution for, in exchange for testifying. Otherwise, he'd be able to plead the 5th on all of this, since admitting to it without such immunity would be self-incriminating. So I think it's safe to assume that anything he says that would be self-incriminating is something he has arranged immunity for.

[speak easy]

30. I also suspect that Trump stiffed him.

[thesquanderer]

31. Oh, yes, that's another variable.

If *Trump* paid for the catch-and-kill, then it was Trump who made the campaign contribution that should have been reported, not Pecker/Enquirer, and maybe then we're back to there not necessarily being anything illegal done by Pecker (in what's been reported so far). But if there is, or even anything that is a gray area, again, anything self-incriminating that he testifies to would presumably be something he has been granted immunity for, otherwise he'd be able to take the 5th.

I suppose even providing the "catch and kill service" (even if Trump paid the amount actually being paid to the person he was buying the story from) could be a campaign contribution of a sort, though I don't know how you'd assign a dollar value to that. It's probably not on the National Enquirer's rate card.

[speak easy]

33. N.Y. Elec. Law § 17-152

Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

But the falsication of financial records, makes it a felony. Under New York’s Penal Law.

[thesquanderer]

34. I've seen no indication of there being falsified financial records between Trump and Pecker...

...nor is that anything Trump is being charged with on this trial.

*Maybe* Pecker could be guilty of misdemeanors as you describe, in conspiring with Trump to do things to influence the election, though even then, it's not clear that anything the two of them conspired to do (i.e. catch-and-kill, or make up false stories) was unlawful. (Though Pecker presumably would have immunity for anything he testifies to anyway.)

[BoRaGard]

7. Republicans have declared Moral Bankruptcy

And they have flushed their so-called "conservativism" deeply down in the crapper.

[malaise]

8. Lock them all up

Rec

[orangecrush]

9. K&R

[no_hypocrisy]

10. Pecker would've made a lot of money

putting TSF on the cover of his trash tabloid versus “Hillary just has 6 months to live.”

[Baitball Blogger]

12. Again, another quality from Trump that I definitely see coming from local, predominately white communities.

Gossip, rumor, and public mocking in meetings. White conservative mob groups are worse than mean girls.

[underpants]

13. Free (to Trump) billboard

I know most people don’t take the National Enquirer seriously but they do sell but most importantly everyone saw them. If you waited in line at a grocery store (pre delivery and massive self checkouts) you saw what was on the cover of magazines and these tabloids. I knew these would hurt and often turned them around.

The National Enquirer was at one point printed, boxed, and shipped somewhere on the south side of Richmond. I understood that they were printed face down. Anyone ANYONE caught turning one over to take a peak was instantly fired.

[LeftinOH]

14. The Enquirer is displayed at supermarket checkout lanes everywhere; even if

you don't buy one, the headlines are right there -just like little billboards- sensationalist taglines in giant print. During the 2016 campaign season the Enquirer headlines heavily promoted TSF's "successes" while simultaneously highlighting "corruption" on the part of the Clintons and Obamas. There may not have been much content within the magazines, but it was the only the headlines that really matter during the few minutes waiting in the checkout lane.

I took pictures of Enquirer headlines during grocery trips during that time because they were so ridiculously partisan.. can't seem to find them now, though.

[Tommy Carcetti]

24. It's the low tech version of what the Russians were doing on social media

Just flooding the market with bullshit so that it had enough subliminal effect on passive voters to be effective.

[Joinfortmill]

15. Yup. This should cook him. It'll be up to the jury.

[70sEraVet]

16. Can Pecker be sued by the political targets of his fake stories?

His testimony meant that those stories were attacks that were coordinated with their political rival to damage them politically.

[3Hotdogs]

17. I remember in the 90's was a guy, John Baron.

Baron would tell about all the positive stuff that Trump did to improve the city and the country.

— Turns out, the country Trump was helping was Russia.

[erronis]

20. He Who Smelt It, Dealt It -- Digby

https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/24/he-who-smelt-it-dealt-it/

Projection. Long has the left used that term to describe conservative accusations against the left. When Republicans allege the left commits some infraction against, what — Decency? Patriotism? Rule of law? Election integrity? — then likely they themselves are secretly or more subtly doing the same.

Inoculation is the underlying purpose. Loudly and often accuse your opponent of misbehavior in which you engage so that if ever caught in the act you can both-sides the affair. “Well, they do it too.”

Fake news is another Donald Trump effort at inverting reality. Trump, authoritarian-in-training, has long attempted bending reality to his will. His inauguration crowd was not more bigly than Barack Obama’s? Photographs prove it? Fake news! His team would present “alternative facts” they knew were untrue but were the Trump-approved version of history. Period!

Now on trial on criminal charges in Manhattan, Trump has summoned the MAGA cult, as he did on Jan. 6, 2021, to come by the thousands to protest unfairness like you’ve never seen. Only a handful of pro-Trump protesters answered the call on Monday.

[mitch96]

22. I still have a problem wrapping my head around how what Pecker did with McDougall was legal

ie Buy the story and then not print it.
But when Cohen did it for tRump(via the Nat Inq) it was a illegal campaign finance scheme.. Cohen gave the money to Stormy Daniels attorney to pay her. How is that illegal? tRump paid back Cohen for the deed but did it by cooking the books. That I see as illegal.
How is this an illegal campaign finance crime?
?What am I missing here?
m

[former9thward]

23. He is not charged with "conspiracy to influence the election".

Which is not illegal anyway.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. David Pecker confesses on the stand to conspiring with Trump against Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.

Link to tweet

[CrispyQ]

29. This needs to be it's own thread!!!

Seeing them all together like this is staggering.

[Jarqui]

32. I know a bunch of MAGA are crazy but

his testimony has to give some of these people pause.

Trump complained repeatedly about fake news ... and here he is at the hub of it - creating it against his political foes and preventing people from finding out the real news about him.
How is that not real "election interference" that he insincerely complained bringing this case was?

I said some time ago that when America heard the facts and saw the evidence surrounding these cases (I've been through all the dockets), they would react like the Grand Juries of Americans did. Even Trump knows that and it is why he's fought so hard to delay them.

Trump can't brush this off as a little accounting error for a lot of people. MAGA will lap it up.
They're not done with Pecker. They have a lot more witnesses and evidence to come.
For the next 8 weeks, this case is going to grind on Trump and lower his election chances.

Hopefully, they'll get another case in before the election.
They're all very strong cases.