After trial proceedings earlier this week in which David Pecker — connected with the tabloid the National Enquirer — was questioned by New York City prosecutors amid their case against Donald Trump, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann called the trial’s latest turns “devastating” for Trump.
He stands accused of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 elections and broader, overall ambitions of impacting the 2016 presidential election in a manner favorable to the Trump campaign. Pecker and the Enquirer were evidently involved in the alleged scheming to impact the race, working with the Trump team on a stream of stories that were of a very specific tone: damaging to the eventual president’s political opponents and favorable for Donald. Trump’s opponents that year included a raft of Republican presidential primary contenders.
“What David Pecker said was truly shocking, and the only reason that I think we’re maybe a little bit inured to what he had to say is because of Fox News and Dominion. You step back, what he said was that a media outlet — even if it’s considered maybe a down-market media outlet, was in cahoots with one political candidate. That is what happens in Russia. That is not what is supposed to happen here,” Weissmann warned on the air. Using Trump’s own language against him, Weissmann characterized the situation as the development of a “fake news” scheme favorable to Trump.
“I thought it was pretty devastating as a way to start the case,” Weissmann summarized. Pecker was prosecutors’ inaugural witness on the stand.
Other expected witnesses include Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, the latter of whom — an ex-Trump “fixer” — allegedly collaborated with Pecker. Cohen, meanwhile, provided the hush money, which targeted a story of Daniels having an alleged affair with the eventual president. The judge ruled in Daniels’ favor Tuesday, striking down an attempt by the Trump defense team to subpoena a wide range of materials from her.
