Plan to boost Trump was hatched in 2015, Pecker says
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker's "secret arrangement" with Donald Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen was hatched during a "20-25 minute meeting" at Trump Tower in August of 2015, Pecker testified.
Under the arrangement, the National Enquirer would become a trumpet for Trump's presidential ambition and a megaphone for Michael Cohen's opposition research on Trump's opponents, he said.
"He would send me information about Ted Cruz or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio, and that was the basis for our story, and we would embellish," Pecker testified.
He said that he kept the arrangement from all but his top people.
![](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/3e3fcae9-0e1b-495f-a27b-522b166860e1/trump18-rt-ml-240423.jpg_1713887519224_hpMain.jpg)
"I told them we were going to try and help the campaign, and to do that we would keep it as quiet as possible," Pecker recalled telling his East and West Coast bureau chiefs.
Prosecutors showed the jury a collection of Enquirer headlines that lauded Trump and disparaged his opponents.
"Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient's Brain," one article said. "Donald Trump blasts Ted Cruz's Dad for Photo with JFK Assassin," said another, recounting classic fare from the 2016 campaign.
"After the Republican debates and based on the success that some of the other candidates had, I would receive a call from Michael Cohen and he would direct me and direct Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go," Pecker said, referring to the National Enquirer's chief content officer.