Dylan Howard,the then editor-in-chief of theNational Enquirer,also told the tabloid’s boss David Pecker that he believed a story about Trump having sex with porn star Stormy Daniels was true and suggested paying $US120,000 ($183,900) to bury it,according to emails shown in court.
Dylan Howard,a former Channel Seven reporter,pictured here in 2014,made a career in the US tabloid industry.Getty Images
“Woman wants 120k … I know the denials were made in the past – but this story is true,” he wrote in an email to Pecker days before the presidential election.
“ I can lock it on publication now to shut down the media chatter and we can assess next steps thereafter. OK?”
The bombshell revelations were made during Trump’s historic trial on Thursday (Friday AEST),in which the former president has been accused of falsifying business records to ensure his 2016 campaign to win the White House wasn’t derailed.
Giving evidence for the third day,Pecker,who then led American Media Inc,the publisher of theEnquirerand other popular tabloid magazines,also told the court that he suppressed stories for other people,including Hollywood actor turned former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger,American actor Mark Wahlberg and former Barack Obama staffer Rahm Emanuel.
Former president Donald Trump sits in a courtroom in Manhattan criminal court.AP
Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove cited these agreements to suggest to the jury that suppressing stories was merely “standard operating procedure” at theEnquirer,which had used “chequebook journalism” for years.
The Daniels payment began with a tip in October 2016 – shortly after Trump was caught on anAccess Hollywood tape bragging about grabbing women by their genitals.
Pecker told the court he was having dinner with his wife one Saturday night in October when he received an “urgent call” from Howard,who had received information from two of his best sources – lawyer Keith Davidson and publicist Jenny Rodriguez – that Daniels was trying to sell a story about having a sexual relationship with Trump.
He said Howard told him they could acquire the story for $US120,000 from Davidson,who was Daniels’ lawyer,“if we made the decision right now”.
Former president Donald Trump (left) watches as David Pecker (far right) answers questions on the witness stand from Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass.AP
However,Pecker said he did not want to pay Daniels because AMI had already forked out $US30,000 ($46,000) to kill an unverified story from a Trump Tower doorman claiming Trump had a child born out of wedlock,plus another $US150,000 ($230,000) to silence an alleged affair with formerPlayboyplaymate Karen McDougal.
“I am not a bank,” he said. “If anyone was going to buy it,I thought Michael[Cohen] and Donald Trump should buy it.”
During legal back-and-forth in between Pecker’s testimony,Judge Juan Merchan and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass also named Howard as a “co-conspirator” in the catch-and-kill scheme to help Trump’s presidential campaign by burying damaging stories about the Republican candidate.
In text messages read aloud with the jury absent,Howard and one of his relatives discussed him travelling to California in 2016 to talk to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal – the woman who was ultimately paid $US150,000 to kill a story about her affair with Trump.
David Pecker,chairman and chief executive of American Media,in 2014.AP
In another text message on the night of the 2016 election,Howard wrote:“At least if he wins,I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud”.
Merchan opted to exclude the texts from being shown to the jury for now because it was a private conversation with a family member and not a business record.
The jury was,however,later shown images of Pecker and Howard at the White House after Trump won the election,in what the witness described as a “thank you” dinner.
Howard,42,a former reporter with theGeelong Advertiser and the Seven network,has not been accused of any crime and will not be a witness in the trial due to a spinal injury.
In a statement to this masthead,his lawyer John Harris said Howard had received statutory immunity for providing evidence in the case last year and “further,in May 2021,the Federal Election Commission concluded that it lacked a sufficient basis to bring election law claims against Mr Howard”.
“Mr Howard’s actions at the behest of,and for the benefit of,the publisher ofThe National Enquirer have been previously documented extensively. Similarly,as Mr Pecker testified,Mr Howard did not determine which stories regarding Mr Trump would be run by the publication,” Harris said.
“He regrets that he is unable to travel to New York to testify in order to provide his own knowledge and viewpoint,rather than have his actions characterised by third-parties,including his former employer.”
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business reports – and the prospect of jail – over the payment to Daniels,which his says he paid using a shell company set up to conceal its true purpose.
Prosecutors allege Trump then reimbursed Cohen by fraudulently filing the money as a legal expense,even increasing it to $US420,000 ($643,700) paid in instalments,so it looked more legitimate.
Trump has acknowledged he reimbursed Cohen – and the jury has also been shown cheques bearing his signature – but insists the payments were legitimate for Cohen’s legal services.
As Pecker testified,Trump initially leant back in his seat and closed his eyes briefly,but became more animated as the hearing went on,often folding his arms or passing notes to his lawyers.
Also on Friday,the US Supreme Court considered an appeal by Trump to claim immunity from being prosecuted over his attempt to subvert the 2020 election,although a number of conservative and liberal justices on the bench seemed deeply sceptical of this idea.
The night before,he was also named as a co-conspirator in two separate schemes to create and Michigan against President Joe Biden four years ago.
And a federal judge rejected his bid to strike out $US83.3 million in damages he was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation.
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