David Pecker described his “catch and kill” operations for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods and Mark Wahlberg at Donald Trump’s hush money trial Thursday.
The former National Enquirer honcho said shortly after Schwarzenegger announced his run for California governor in 2003 more than 30 women came forward to the magazine claiming affairs or sexual harassment against the actor, who was then-married to Maria Shriver.
Silver-haired Pecker, 72, testified he spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” buying up the negative stories for the bodybuilder-turned movie star, who he was working on a magazine deal with for his company, American Media Inc. [AMI], at the time.
“The agreement I had with Arnold was, I would call him and advise him of any stories that were out there. And I ended up acquiring and buying them for a period of time,” he said.
Schwarzenegger, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, went on to be elected and served as governor from 2003 to 2011.
After Schwarzenegger took office, one of women who Pecker had purchased a story from ended up approaching to the Los Angeles Times, which published it. When Schwarzenegger was questioned by reporters about the story, he told them to “ask my friend David Pecker.”
The episode was “very embarrassing to me and the company,” Pecker testified.
Pecker has been giving evidence about how he bought up stories on Trump in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors charge Trump tried to influence the outcome of the election by working with Pecker and his lawyer Michael Cohen to buy up negative stories about him and that he then falsified business records to conceal those payments.
During cross examination by Trump’s lawyers, Pecker said he’d been engaged in the practice of buying up people’s stories but not publishing them for decades.
He said he purchased photos of golf icon Woods meeting a woman in a Florida parking lot in 2007 — then used the photo as leverage to get him to appear on the cover of Men’s Fitness.
He also bought up a story about an argument between Wahlberg and his wife which was never published, Pecker said.
He also recalled catching and killing negative stories about well-known Democrat Rahm Emanuel, the ex-Chicago mayor who was Obama’s chief of staff and is current US Ambassador to Japan.
Earlier, while under questioning by prosecutors, Pecker gave details about a deal he’d struck to lock up former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal’s story about an affair she said she had with Trump.
Pecker testified McDougal told him she “she didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky” when she first approached the Enquirer about purchasing her story.
Pecker said he offered $10,000 for McDougal’s story, but she refused.
He said he eventually organized a payment of $150,000 for the story, and testified he believed it was true.
Pecker also said how then president-elect Trump had been flippant about their plan to “catch-and-kill” damaging stories about him at a Jan 2017 Trump Tower meeting attended by FBI director James Comey, which received no objection.
“He probably knows more than anyone else in this room,” Trump told the men about Pecker.
“It was a joke,” Pecker added. “Unfortunately, they didn’t laugh.”
The joke landed with Trump Thursday though; he chuckled at the defense table.
Later in the same meeting Trump mentioned McDougal to him, Pecker said.
“How’s our girl doing?” the president-elect purportedly said.
“She’s cool. She’s very quiet. No issues,” Pecker responded.
At that time McDougal’s claims had already been revealed around two months earlier by the Wall Street journal ahead of the November election.
Pecker also testified porn star Stormy Daniels was shopping her story about an alleged 2007 one-night- with Trump to several publications as his bid for office gained steam in early 2016.
Jurors saw an October 9 text from the Enquirer’s editor-in-chief at the time, Dylan Howard, to Pecker which read: “Woman wants 120k. Has offers from [Daily] Mail and GMA want her to talk and do lie detector live. I know the denials were made in the past – but this story is true. I can lock it on publication now to shut down the media chatter and we can assess next steps thereafter. OK?”
Pecker replied he couldn’t pay that much, and Howard then suggested calling Cohen about the matter and a deal was eventually worked out.
After Pecker — who exited as CEO of AMI in 2020 — finished his testimony, he was asked by the prosecutor if he had any ill will toward Trump.
He replied: “On the contrary, I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career.
He noted he hadn’t had contact with him since 2019, but “even though we haven’t spoken, I still consider him a friend.”
Following the day’s court proceedings, Trump spoke in the courtroom hallway.
Referring to Pecker, he said: “Today was breathtaking in this room. You saw what went on. It was breathtaking. Amazing testimony.
“This is a trial that never should’ve happened, a case that should’ve never been filed.”
Pecker returns to the stand Friday to complete cross examination.
