Pecker Testifies To Knowingly Breaking Campaign Laws

The Huffington Post reports:

Pecker reiterated that he never intended to publish Karen McDougal’s story, rather, he was motivated by a desire to prevent the story from getting out and influence the 2016 presidential election.

He also agreed with Steinglass that he had an obligation to comply with campaign finance laws, yet did not report the $150,000 to the FEC as he knew he should. (Pecker has an immunity deal with the government to avoid criminal charges regarding what could be considered an illegal campaign contribution in exchange for his cooperation.)

“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump, or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” he testified.

CNN reports:

Pecker is testifying more about why that AMI, the National Enquirer’s parents company, couldn’t pay $120,000 for Stormy Daniels’ story.

“I said, ‘I don’t want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star,'” Pecker says on the stand, adding that with Walmart as a main distributor of the magazine, it would be very bad for AMI.

Steinglass then asked Pecker to explain why he sent Daniels’ story to Michael Cohen. Pecker says the story could be “very damaging” and the thought it could come off the market. “If anyone was going to buy it, I thought Michael and Donald Trump should buy it,” Pecker says.

Pecker testified- McDougal hush-money payment was disguised as a contract for services to avoid violating campaign finance laws. The jury appeared captivated. Pecker had a hard time getting Trump to reimburse him, he was unwilling to buy a third story, Stormy Daniels’s story pic.twitter.com/Dl1RQ7U73D

— S00nerBe1 (@BeasleyDixi) April 25, 2024