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Trump trial live: Hush money was 'pure' election fraud, prosecution says - BBC News Trump trial live: Hush money was 'pure' election fraud, prosecution says - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Kayla Epstein
We're about to hear from the first witness of the trial, David Pecker. Reporting from court
He is the former CEO of American Media Inc, which published the National Enquirer tabloid in the period before the 2016 election. Justice Merchan interrupts Pecker's testimony to say it's time to "call it a day".
Prosecutors have claimed that, in August 2015, Pecker met with Trump and his then-personal fixer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in Manhattan to discuss using the tabloid to suppress negative stories that might damage Trump's presidential run. As a reminder, we're leaving early today because the Jewish holiday of Passover begins tonight, and a juror also has an emergency dental appointment.
The practice - known in media circles as "catch and kill" - involves buying the exclusive rights to stories but never publishing them. The judge tells the jury to put the case out of their mind and not discuss it with anyone.
One such instance of this campaign - porn star Stormy Daniels' claim that she had had a sexual encounter with Trump - is what now sits at the heart of this criminal case against the presumptive Republican nominee for 2024. David Pecker just left the witness stand. As he walks past the defendant's table, he seemed, from my vantage point a few rows back, to nod in Trump's direction with a slight smile as if saying hello to an old friend.
Pecker was previously subpoenaed in 2018 by federal investigators to provide testimony about Trump's knowledge of the hush money payments he made to Cohen, but it is unclear if he has been compelled to testify in this trial or is doing so voluntarily. He then exited via a side door.
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