David Pecker explains how National Enquirer helped Trump’s 2016 campaign with ’embellished’ headlines including ‘Ted Cruz shamed by porn star’ and ‘Ben Carson left a sponge in patient’s brain’

You don’t become America’s gossip king without knowing something about women, human nature, and powerful men like Donald Trump.

So when David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, was asked about the crucial Trump Tower meeting and a so-called “catch and kill” plan to help the Trump campaign fend off the affected pieces, he was clear about his role.

“I was the one who thought a lot of women would try to sell their stories because Mr. Trump was known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women,” he said in his Bronx accent.

“It’s very common for these women to call a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories.”

The former president has plenty to fear from his estranged friend’s testimony. But he enjoyed that moment and the reference to his days as a man about town.

He leaned over to lead attorney Todd Blanche and whispered in his ear. His lawyer grinned and looked for all the world as if they were two schoolboys sharing a prank.

Pecker was the only witness Tuesday. He gave his testimony in a serious tone, speaking seriously and slowly about the daring business of buying up “kiss and tell” stories and dreaming up lurid magazine covers that would sell millions.

The prosecution case centers on the company he once headed, American Media Inc, and its stable of supermarket tabloids.

Prosecutors allege his long relationship with Trump put him at the center of a scheme to buy and then destroy stories that were damaging to his friend’s 2016 campaign.

But as he gave his testimony, the 72-year-old also revealed the inner workings of a dirty industry that produced baffling headlines to order.

It also presented a dilemma for the court, as it wanted to get to the facts of the case without distracting the jury from their task. So every time the National Enquirer headlines were shown to the jury, they received a warning from the judge.

“The evidence does not prove that the allegations in these headlines are true,” Judge Juan Merchan said.

Headlines included “Ted Cruz shamed by porn star,” at a time when he emerged as the main challenger to Trump’s efforts to win the 2016 Republican nomination.

“Clumsy surgeon Ben Carson left a sponge in the patient’s brain,” was another statement that coincided with the neurosurgeon’s surge in polls.

Pecker gave his testimony with the calm assurance of the accountant he once was.

He got into magazines when he joined CBS’ magazine division as an accountant in the late 1970s. He stayed with the division, rising through the ranks as it was sold and resold, eventually becoming president of Hachette in 1990 when it owned the portfolio.

He even collaborated with Trump and launched a magazine called “Trump Style.”

But it was with American Media Inc and the National Enquirer that he developed his profound influence on the country’s famed culture and politics.

“When I bought the National Enquirer in March 1999, one of the first phone calls I got was from Mr. Trump…,” he said in court, recalling how the future president told him, “Congratulations, you have a bought a great copy. magazine.’

Their relationship deepened after that. They developed a mutually beneficial partnership: Trump gave him exclusive details about his Apprentice TV show, like ratings or juicy tidbits from the celebrity version, which boosted the magazine’s circulation and kept Trump in the public eye.

Pecker was a frequent visitor to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, traveling on his private plane.

In June 2015, Pecker was invited to Trump Tower to watch the famous ride down the golden escalator as Trump announced his run to the White House.

Two months later, he described his return to the building to meet with fixer Michael Cohen and Trump, where they made a plan for handling the media coverage.

He would be the “eyes and ears” of the campaign, using his editors’ network of sources to spot and then snuff out stories that could damage Trump.

It was mutually beneficial, he said, because he would get story tips in return.

‘Michael Cohen called me and said, “We’d like you to write a negative article about a certain” … let’s say for the sake of argument … about Ted Cruz, and then he – Michael Cohen – sent me information about Ted Cruz or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio,” he said, “and that was the basis of our story and we would embellish it from there.”

At different times, each of the three Republicans emerged as Trump’s biggest challenger to winning the party nomination.

The result was headlines like: ‘Ted Cruz Sex Scandal: Five Secret Mistresses’ or ‘Family Man’ Marco Rubio’s Love Child Stunner.’

Cruz has always maintained that Trump planted the bizarre stories, including one about his father playing a role in JKF’s murder. On Tuesday he was proven right.

Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, was reportedly pictured with assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 in New Orleans, just before Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

On the witness stand, Pecker described how his investigative team was charged with this task

“We mashed up the photos and the other photo with Lee Harvey Oswald. And mixed the two together,” he said, indicating that the whole thing was made up.

‘That’s how the story was prepared, created, I should say.’