Donald Trump came face-to-face with former ally David Pecker at his Manhattan hush money trial Monday, but the former president notably didn’t make eye contact as Pecker took the witness stand.
Pecker — the former National Enquirer publisher — was the first person to testify against Trump, 77, as the historic trial kicked off Monday morning, marking the first time a US president has ever faced a criminal case.
Pecker, 72 — wearing a dark gray suit, yellow tie and his distinctive slicked back silver hair and mustache — didn’t meet Trump’s gaze on his way to and from the stand.
He also avoided press cameras by coming through the side door of the courtroom typically used by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The former commander-in-chief appeared to be actively listening during the start of Pecker’s testimony—— including chatting and passing notes to his lawyer.
Pecker’s brief stint on the stand Monday lasted for roughly 20 minutes, as court was let out early so a juror could attend an emergency dental appointment and to give people sufficient time to prepare for the Jewish holiday of passover — which starts Monday evening.
On Pecker’s way out of the courtroom, he gave a slight nod in the direction of the defense table, though it wasn’t clear who he was acknowledging.
He’s due back in court Tuesday morning to continue testifying.
It is not immediately clear what the current status of Trump and Pecker’s relationship is, and if they are still pals. Pecker acknowledged Monday he had been subpoenaed to appear at the trial.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told jurors during opening statements Monday morning how they claim Pecker helped Trump cook up three so-called “catch-and-kill schemes” — buying exclusive rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them — to help Trump hide damaging information in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
Pecker hsn’t yet been asked about allegedly huddling with Trump and his ex-lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in 2015, when the prosecution claims they came up with the scheme to identify and silence damaging stories about Trump.
But Pecker did give jurors some insight into his time running the supermarket tabloid when he was CEO of its parent company American Media Inc.
“Being in the publishing industry for 40 years, I realized early in my career that the only thing that was important was the cover of the magazine,” Pecker told the jury.
And he explained how reporters at his organization could not spend more than $10,000 on a story for the National Enquirer without his approval.
Anything over that amount would need to be vetted for approval, he testified.
“I had the final say on the celebrity side on the magazine,” Pecker added.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo during openings said Pecker paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman, Dino Sajudin, to keep him from repaeating claims Trump had a child with a former housekeeper. The story turned out to be totally false.
Pecker also paid former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal $150,000 to stop her story from going public that she allegedly had an affair with Trump while he was married, Colangelo claimed.
Pecker will likely be grilled about the arrangements for those two deals on Tuesday.
Trump is also accused of having Cohen pay $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to stop her from publicly revealing her claims she once slept with a married Trump.
After, Trump allegedly logged reimbursement payments to Cohen — for fronting the money to Daniels — as legal expenses, which Colangelo told jurors is the illegal cover-up and why Trump is charged with falsifying business records.
The Big Apple real estate tycoon orchestrated a “criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 president election,” Colangelo said. “He then covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records, by lying over and over again.”
In his own opening remarks, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the jury his client was “cloaked in innocence.”
“President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office should never have brought this case,” Blanche said.
“There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy,” he added.
Over the course of the six-week trial Cohen is expected to testify as the prosecution’s star witness. Daniels is also likely to testify.
But Blanche painted them both as liars whose words can’t be trusted — calling Cohen an ex-con who is “obsessed” with going after the ex-president and Daniels, a hungry opportunist, who allegedly attempting to “extort” Trump for her payment.
As to Daniels, “her testimony, while salacious, does not matter,” Blanche said.
At the end of trial Monday, Trump stood up and slowly sauntered out of the room, his eye scanning the row of reporters, but saying nothing.
He then gave a speech outside the court about how the trial, which he has to attend, is stopping him from hitting the campaign trail.
