Ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testifies before grand jury in Trump ‘hush money’ case
The former publisher of the National Enquirer testified Monday before the grand jury that’s hearing evidence against ex-President Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels “hush money” probe, The Post has learned.
David Pecker made his second appearance before the panel after being one of the first witnesses to testify in January, a source familiar with the matter said.
Pecker, 71, was driven out of the garage under the office building where the grand jury has been meeting at 80 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.
He appeared to be slumped down in the rear of the silver SUV, which was driven by a man wearing a blue jacket with an insignia identifying him as an investigator in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Pecker’s exit, around 3:30 p.m., came about 90 minutes after the grand jury had been scheduled to reconvene to hear his testimony.
Pecker’s lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, who appeared to be seated next to him, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The grand jurors also left the building without voting and aren’t scheduled to return on Tuesday, meaning a potential indictment of Trump, 76, won’t be handed up before Wednesday, at the earliest, sources said.
Pecker was a key player in the $150,000 “catch-and-kill” payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, in which the Enquirer bought the publishing rights to her claim that she — like Daniels — had an affair with Trump before he became president.
The Enquirer never reported McDougal’s allegations but its parent company, American Media Inc., featured her in other publications.
Trump has denied having sex with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the payments to them.
In 2018, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to a slew of crimes that included making an excessive contribution to Trump’s campaign by paying $130,000 to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, shortly before the 2016 election.
After Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office revealed that it struck a non-prosecution agreement with AMI, which admitted it should have reported McDougal’s August 2016 payment to the Federal Election Commission.
As part of the deal, AMI agreed to “truthfully and completely disclose all information” sought by prosecutors, and also cooperate as directed with “any other law enforcement agency.”
Pecker, a longtime Trump pal, was the CEO of AMI at the time but he stepped down from that job in August 2020 as part of a debt-restructuring deal.
Pecker was recalled before the grand jury after sources last week told The Post that prosecutors wanted a witness to rebut lawyer and Trump ally Robert Costello, who testified last week on the ex-president’s behalf.
Following his testimony, Costello told reporters that Cohen — who Costello briefly advised after the FBI raided Cohen’s office and temporary home in February 2018 — masterminded the Daniels payment “on his own, that’s what he told us.”
Cohen, who was reimbursed in monthly payments from the Trump Organization, has said that Trump directed him to silence Daniels.
But in a February 2018 letter seized on by Trump and his supporters, Cohen’s lawyer told the FEC, “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly.”
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is reportedly seeking to charge Trump with falsifying business records by allegedly writing off the reimbursement payments to Cohen as “legal fees.”
That offense is a misdemeanor under state law, but Bragg wants to elevate the charge to a felony based on the novel theory that it was allegedly committed to conceal a violation of federal campaign finance rules.
