NEW YORK — Donald Trump never mentioned worrying about his wife, Melania, getting wind of his alleged trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal — only his future in politics, a Manhattan jury heard Thursday during explosive testimony at the former president’s hush money trial.

During his third day on the witness stand, the former CEO of American Media, David Pecker, said the hush money scheme he helped carry out for Trump had one goal: to win him the White House.

Pecker described a high-stakes scramble to silence women who claimed Trump cheated on his wife with them in the lead-up to the election and being showered with gratitude from the then-president after it appeared to succeed. The hush money scheme was part of a broader effort to use stories in the National Enquirer and other AMI publications to advance Trump’s political brand.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker if Trump ever expressed concern for how Melania would think about his affairs.

“No,” the witness replied.

Jurors also saw a black-and-white photo of Pecker and Trump walking by the White House rose garden in January 2017, where Pecker said the then-president invited him as a “thank you,” and asked him how “our girl” was doing about the former Playboy model Pecker paid $150,000 to silence.

“I wanted to thank you for taking care of the (Karen) McDougal situation,” Pecker quoted Trump, sitting just feet away from him in the courtroom.

Pecker told the court he felt Trump “was thanking me for buying (their) stories and not publishing them.”

The longtime publisher walked the jury through how he worked closely with Trump’s ex-fixer, Michael Cohen — arranging for his company to pay off McDougal and for Cohen to pay him back through a shell company. McDougal has long claimed she and Trump had a 10-month affair in 2006 and 2007, shortly after his third marriage, to Melania, and the birth of their son, Barron Trump.

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, alleging he covered up hush money payments as part of a sweeping scheme to defraud voters. He has pleaded not guilty.

...continued

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.