President Trump said the trial today "was breathtaking."
"Breathtaking and astounding," he told reporters after leaving the courtroom. "This is a trial that should’ve never happened, this is a case that should’ve never been filed and was really an incredible, an incredible day. Open your eyes. And we can't let this continue to happen to our country."
Mr. Pecker initially testified to a grand jury that the 2015 meeting happened the first week of August. Prosecutors informed him that Mr. Trump was away to participate in a debate the first week of August 2015.
"And you change your testimony here," Mr. Bove said.
"When I discovered that," Mr. Pecker started.
Mr. Pecker affirmed for the defense that he had done analyses and determined that stories about Donald Trump drove sales for the National Enquirer.
He said one of the first times he gave Mr. Trump a heads up about a potentially negative story was in 1998, though it was unsuccessful.
"That's almost 17 years prior to the meeting you described in August 2015. Seventeen years of providing President Trump with a heads up about potentially negative publicity?" Mr. Bove asked.
Defense attorney Emil Bove is questioning Mr. Pecker, beginning with his stake in AMI and fiduciary obligations.
"Part of AMI's model was to purchase a story, yes? And on Tuesday, you referred to AMI's model as 'checkbook journalism,'" Mr. Bove asked.
"Yes," Mr. Pecker said.
Mr. Pecker said he did not contact President Trump at the time.
"I felt that with the investigation going on at the same time, I thought it would be inappropriate to respond or have any conversation with Mr. Trump," Mr. Pecker said.
Mr. Steinglass asked about his feelings toward President Trump today.
Mr. Steinglass asked Mr. Pecker if he came to learn that the FBI had search warrants on the home and office of Mr. Cohen.
"Yes. The FBI came to my home on that same day, with a search warrant for my phone," he said. "I subsequently received a phone call from Dylan Howard that he had his phone also taken by warrant from the FBI, and he mentioned to me that he also heard that Michael Cohen had his office or apartment at that time."
Mr. Pecker said when he received a letter about a federal investigation, he had contacted Mr. Cohen immediately, who said, "Why are you worried? Jeff Sessions is the attorney general and Donalt Trump has him in his pocket."
"I said, I am very worried," Mr. Pecker said. "We admitted to a campaign violation."
Mr. Pecker said AMI made a statement of facts and signed a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Pecker said there was also a meeting between him, Ms. Dougal, Mr. Davidson, and Mr. Howard at a restaurant, to make sure the terms of their agreement were met. Ms. McDougal was not trained for the media roles, and was working with ghostwriters whom Mr. Howard said he had to switch because they weren't working well together.
Mr. Pecker said he wanted to know she was not going to speak with the press after the Wall Street Journal article. Then he learned she was interviewed by Anderson Cooper. He received a phone call from President Trump the next day.
"He said, I thought we had an agreement with Karen McDougal that she can't be in any interviews,'" Mr. Pecker said. "Mr. Trump got very angry when he heard that I amended it [the agreement]. He was very upset, couldn't understand that I did it."
After the lunch break, Mr. Pecker continued his testimony under direct examination.
He said he attended a White House thank you dinner with four business associated, and was taken to the Oval Office. He recalled Jared Kushner being present. President Trump asked about Ms. McDougal again at this event.
In January 2017, Mr. Pecker received a call from Rhona Graff, President Trump's aide, about a meeting at Trump Tower. By then, he was the president-elect.
"I never saw tighter security like that in my lifetime," Mr. Pecker said.
In the waiting room, President Trump's bodyguard asked him "how's our girl," referring to Ms. McDougal from his earlier inquiry, Mr. Pecker said. "I said she's cool, very quiet, no issues."
Mr. Pecker said he had a meeting with Mr. Cohen at Trump Tower where Mr. Cohen was asking again for the National Enquirer clippings of stories about Mr. Trump, and Mr. Pecker said he was having an executive go through the boxes, which had been moved from Florida to New York.
He told Mr. Cohen there was nothing damaging in them, and that he was not going to let Mr. Cohen go through the boxes himself.
"We were arguing back and forth about that," Mr. Pecker said.
Toward the end of October 2016, Mr. Pecker said he also received an inquiry from Mr. Trump's bodyguard who overheard his boss saying Karen McDougal was speaking with ABC News.
Mr. Pecker said he checked with Mr. Howard, who checked with his source, Keith Davidson, attorney to Ms. McDougal, and they said this was not true. He passed this assurance on.
Then he received a number of calls from the Wall Street Journal, which "had a series of questions about Karen McDougal's agreement that American media purchased her story on her relationship with Donald Trump and they also questioned my relationship with Donald Trump."
In subsequent conversations, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Pecker to purchase the story a number of times. Mr. Pecker refused each time, telling him he would not be involved with a porn star and was not paying any more monies after the two other stories.
He said Mr. Cohen was upset, and told him that "the boss would be furious" at Mr. Pecker.
Mr. Pecker said he found out later that Mr. Cohen had continued discussing with Mr. Howard about purchasing the story, and he was not pleased, because he told Mr. Howard to stay out of it.
Mr. Pecker said he had never communicated with Stephanie Clifford, better known by her adult film stage name Stormy Daniels.
He said he was having dinner with his wife when he received an urgent call from Mr. Howard, who said two of his best sources, Mr. Davidson and an agent for celebrities, had come to him about Ms. Clifford wanting to sell a story about a sexual relationship with Donald Trump.
Mr. Howard said they could acquire the story for $120,000 if they made the decision "right now."
The judge asked if Mr. Pecker's testimony would conclude today. Both the prosecution and defense said no, there is a long way to go.
Mr. Pecker continued his testimony by describing the infamous Access Hollywood tape.
"It was very embarrassing, very damaging to the campaign," Mr. Pecker said. He added that Mr. Cohen told him as much and said that "everybody was concerned about what impact it would have."
Proseuctors sought to admit several texts into evidence arguing that statements of future intent are an exception to the hearsay rule. They included texts by Mr. Howard to a relative saying "at least if he wins I'll be pardoned for electorial fraud."
Mr. Bove argued this was the first time the government was making these arguments and that the texts contain "very substantial factual assertions" that they objected to.
Justice Merchan said he was excluding the texts for the time being but would read over the cases the government cited. He said that even though the texts came from an American Media phone, they were not business records but a private conversation between relatives that the defense would not be able to cross examine.
Court resumed with attorneys conferring with the judge over portions of an exhibit prosecutors seek to admit into evidence. The defense requested some redactions, and argued there was no foundation to name Barry Levine of American Media as a member of a conspirator. Prosecutors said they wanted to admit the email as evidence as Mr. Howard pursued negotiations as part of his job responsibility, not for truth of the content.
"We have more than established prima facie conspiracy to prevent election by unlawful means," Mr. Steinglass argued. "We've elicited sufficient testimony to conclude prima facie that Dylan Howard is a member of the conspiracy."
Justice Merchan said he agreed Mr. Howard was a co-conspirator and asked how difficult it would be to redact portions of it. Mr. Steinglass argued they believed it was admissible for context.
Mr. Pecker said even though the contract was signed they never executed it.
He called Mr. Cohen to say he wasn't going forward with it, the deal was off, and that "it's a bad idea and I want you to rip up the agreement."
Mr. Cohen was "very, very angry," Mr. Pecker said. "very upset, screaming, basically, at me."
Mr. Pecker said his publications sometimes had big disbursements for flying a celebrity out for an interview or things like that, and he had a consultant, a former longtime employee, he worked with on these. Mr. Pecker said he had had "some pretty difficult experiences" such as the payroll being leaked and top executive salaries being published on the front page of the Palm Beach Post.
"So I called David and said, I don't want a check from the Trump Organization going through American Media, so I'd like you to reach out to Michael Cohen whereby you can bill him for $125,000 and reimburse American Media," Mr. Pecker said. That invoice was submitted into evidence.
"Jurors, this document has been accepted into evidence, not for the truth of what it says, evidence that this invoice was created," Justice Merchan said.
Mr. Pecker affirmed that the purpose of purchasing the story was to keep it from influencing the election when prosecutors asked, leading to a sidebar with the judge.
Attorney Joshua Steinglass rephrased the question, asking whether Mr. Pecker was aware that expenditures aimed at influencing an election were unlawful.
"Yes," Mr. Pecker said.
"It was a difficult situation and it gave me sensitivity about buying any stories in the future. So that's how I became sensitive about this topic," Mr. Pecker said.
So when he was preparing to do a deal with Ms. McDougal, Mr. Pecker said he consulted with a campaign attorney to make sure the contract was "bulletproof."
It was a two year agreement with columns in several of Mr. Pecker's publications, a ghostwriter, and approval over any photos used of her, and life rights to her story about Donald Trump.
Mr. Pecker said between 2002 and 2003, he acquired a story for Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was running for governor of California.
Joel Weider's magazines Muscle and Flex were up for sale and Mr. Pecker was acquiring them. Mr. Weider had a decades-long relationship with Mr. Schwarzenegger and said before they finalized the transaction the two of them had to meet.
Mr. Schwarzenegger told Mr. Pecker that he had some 70 or 80 lawsuits against his tabloids the Globe and National Enquirer, because they always ran negative stories about him.
Mr. Howard returned with terms: Ms. McDougal had agreed to: $150,000 for lifetime rights to the story, Mr. Pecker said. The model wanted to "restart her career;" she wanted to write for celebrity magazines and get on health and fitness covers, and launch a clothing line and beauty product company, and be an anchor for red carpet events.
They spoke for a long time, and "Michael was very agitated, why is this taking so long, why didn't you buy the story yet, why didn't you finish the agreement," Mr. Pecker said.
Mr. Pecker asked again who should pay the $150,000, and Mr. Cohen said Mr. Pecker should. Mr. Pecker reminded him he had just paid $30,000 for the Dino Sajudin story. He said he didn't have a problem with letting her write for his magazines or be on covers, but wanted reimbursement for the $150,000.
Mr. Pecker said in the third week of June 2016, he was making a presentation at his investor's meeting when he got a call from Donald Trump, who said he had been told by Mr. Cohen that a Mexican group was going to buy the story for $8 million. Mr. Pecker said he absolutely did not believe that.
"He said, what do you think I should do? I said, you should buy the story and take it off the market," Mr. Pecker said.
Mr. Trump had said Ms. McDougal was "a nice girl," and so Mr. Pecker believed the story was true, he said.
The judge did not issue a ruling on the new violation allegations.
Mr. Pecker continued his testimony about the deal with Karen McDougal, former Playboy model who alleged a year-long affair with Donald Trump.
Mr. Pecker said his chief content officer Dylan Howard believed the story could be true, but that Ms. McDougal had no corroborating evidence like phone messages, photos, or expense reports. Mr. Howard offered $10,000 to buy the story and was refused.
The parties conferred with the judge before the jurors were brought in.
The defense said they'd come to an agreement with the government on evidence that had been objected to, but prosecutors said they had new evidence to cite of President Trump giving remarks outside the courtroom, in which he referred to payments to Michael Cohen as legal expenses.
He also gave a news interview where he said the judge was "rushing the trial like crazy" and said the jury pool was "95 percent Democrat."
"In the meantime I'm at this trial, my constitutional rights have been taken from me," President Trump said.
"I think the Supreme Court has a very important argument before it today. I would have loved to have been there but the schedule would not allow for it," he said. "I should be there, but he wouldn't allow it. I think he puts himself above the Supreme Court, which is unfortunate."
He said presidential immunity needed to be preserved.
President Trump commented on the economy before heading into the courtroom, referring to the news on the GDP and rising prices.
"This is Bidenomics ... and it's catching up before he leaves office," he said. He added that other countries were losing respect for the United States and if the dollar loses its place as the standard "that'll be like losing the biggest war we've ever lost, and it's a shame but it's all the way down to 1.6 and nobody thought that would be possible."
President Trump said he met with construction workers that morning, unionized and not, and they "showed great support." He announced rallies in New York to honor the police and fire officers, and teachers.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying 34 business records in a scheme to suppress negative news stories during the 2016 election cycle.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office kicked things off last week with accusations that President Trump violated his gag order at least 10 times in social media posts. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments on the allegations on April 23, and said he would reserve his decision.
David Pecker, former head of American Media Inc. and publisher of the National Enquirer, was the first to testify this week. His direct examination by prosecutors will continue.
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