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Key Witness Testimony BACKFIRES on Alvin Bragg’s Case Against Trump

It’s Day 2 of the NY criminal trial against President Trump.

And, already, things aren’t looking good for the prosecution.

Alvin Bragg’s first witness was called to the stand to give his testimony today.

David Pecker (ex-CEO of the National Enquirer tabloid’s parent company American Media Inc.) was asked to provide details on the “catch and kill” practice used keep unfavorable stories about Trump from getting out.

The strategy involves purchasing the rights to a story, then never publishing it, thus keeping the negative press a secret from the public.

Per US News:

Former CEO of American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, returned to the witness stand on Tuesday in the trial of former President Donald Trump, who stands accused of falsifying business documents to cover up allegations of extramarital affairs that threatened his 2016 White House campaign.

David Pecker’s testimony told the story of how a Trump-friendly tabloid evolved into a political weapon by “catching and killing” stories that could damage the former president’s image and planting false stories about his political opponents – all at the request of and with the help of Trump’s innermost circle.

The prosecution expected Pecker to confirm their allegation that President Trump asked him to “catch and kill” stories he believed would harm him during his 2016 campaign for presidency.

However, Pecker did no such thing.

Instead, he totally unraveled the narrative by revealing that it was actually Trump’s disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen — not Trump himself — who was concerned about the potential impact of negative stories on Trump’s campaign.

CBS News reports:

Pecker said that in 2015, he received a call from Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal attorney, telling him that “the boss wanted to see me.”

At a meeting in August 2015 with Trump, Cohen and Hope Hicks, Pecker said he told them he would publish positive stories about Trump, as well as negative stories about his opponents for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

“I said, ‘I would be your eyes and ears,'” Pecker told the court. “And then I said that anything that I hear in the marketplace, if I hear anything negative about yourself or if I hear anything about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen.”

Pecker said he thought “a lot of women would come out to try to sell their stories because Mr. Trump was well-known as the most eligible bachelor, and dated the most beautiful women.” He said the arrangement was “a mutual benefit — it would help his campaign, it would also help me.”

Asked how Trump reacted, Pecker said, “As I recollect, he was pleased. Michael Cohen was pleased.” He said nothing was put into writing, describing it as “an agreement among friends.”

After the meeting, which lasted 20 or 25 minutes, Pecker said he told his editors to be on the lookout for stories about Trump: “I want you to vet the stories, I want you to bring them to me, and then we’ll have to speak to Michael Cohen.” He said he told Dylan Howard, the editor in chief of the Enquirer, that they were “going to try to help the campaign, and to do that, we are going to keep this as quiet as possible.”

Pecker also testified that he was interested in working with Cohen because it was a “mutually beneficial” business relationship that boosted tabloid sales.

US News pointed out:

Pecker testified that “writing positive stories about Mr. Trump and covering the election, and writing negative stories about his opponents” was a mutually beneficial business strategy as its resulted in increased tabloid newsstand sales while also benefiting Trump’s campaign.

This surprising turn of events during Pecker’s testimony was noticed by members of the media and political commentators.

A political analyst from Travis Media Group posted this on X:

Editor-in-Chief of the National Pulse, Raheem Kassam, then replied to the post:

Not a good day for Alvin Bragg and Joe Biden, at all!


 

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