Trump trial: 1st week of testimony ends with testimony from Michael Cohen's former banker
Banker Gary Farro testified in Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Top headlines:
- Banker says he set up LLC, which Cohen used to pay Daniels
- 'Thank you for handling' McDougal, Pecker says Trump told him
- 'This story is true,' Pecker recounts being told of Stormy Daniels
- Pecker describes $150,000 negotiations for McDougal's story
- Secret Service has plans if Trump is confined for contempt: Sources
What to know about the hush money case
READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.
Pecker testifies that he strategized with Steve Bannon
Donald Trump introduced David Pecker to Steve Bannon to strategize future stories about Trump's opponents, the former National Enquirer publisher testified.
"[Trump] thought both of us could work very well together," Pecker said of Bannon, who would go on to become chief strategist in the Trump White House.
Pecker said Bannon liked some of the National Enquirer's past coverage and had ideas for the future.
"He liked them very much. He had some other ideas," Pecker said, mentioning a proposed plan to book one of Pecker's reporters on Sean Hannity's Fox News show to talk about the National Enquirer's reporting about Hillary Clinton.
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.
"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.
Pecker says he didn't catch-and-kill any Trump stories before 2016
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that he suspected that multiple women would come forward to shop stories about Trump during Trump's run for president.
"In a presidential campaign, I was the person that thought there would be a lot of women who came out to sell their stories because Mr. Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful woman," Pecker testified. "It is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try and sell their stories. I would hear it in the marketplace through other sources that stories were being marketed."
If those stories emerged, Pecker said he vowed that he would notify Michael Cohen, Trump's then-personal attorney, per their agreement.
According to Pecker, most elements of their agreement -- including running positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents -- were "mutually beneficial" to Trump and Pecker.
"Hillary running for president and Bill Clinton's womanizing was one of the biggest sales ... for the National Enquirer," Pecker said. " It was easy for me to say I was going to continue running those kinds of stories for the National Enquirer."
"It would help his campaign, but it would also help me," Pecker said.
"As I recollect, [Trump] was pleased. Michael Cohen was pleased [about] the way I was going to handle these issues," Pecker said.
Pecker said that prior to the 2016 election, his magazines never caught and killed any stories for Trump.
When pressed by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, Pecker acknowledged that the catch-and-kill element of the agreement -- buying negative information about Trump then killing the story -- was not beneficial for the National Enquirer.
"How was that going to boost sales of the National Enquirer?" Steinglass asked.
"No, that part didn't help," Pecker said.
Pecker says he was in regular contact with Cohen
Despite first meeting Michael Cohen by chance in 2000 at a bar mitzvah, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that Donald Trump first introduced him to Cohen as his personal lawyer in 2007.
Pecker said Trump asked him to begin coordinating with Cohen about any stories or rumors related to Trump or his family.
"All of the contacts that I had with Mr. Trump -- now my contact should go through Michael Cohen," Pecker said about Trump's directive after meeting Cohen.
Pecker and Cohen would touch base monthly over the following decade, but communications ramped up after Trump announced his candidacy for president in 2015, Pecker said.
"I would say a minimum of every week, and if there was an issue, it could be daily," Pecker said about his contact with Cohen during the campaign.
Trump arrives at courthouse
Former President Trump has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan.
He stepped out of his motorcade, waved, and walked into the side entrance.
A small group of supporters and protesters both cheered and booed his arrival.