The defense’s questioning has turned to the deal between the National Enquirer’s parent company and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Defense attorney Emil Bove sought to get at what both her and the Enquirer’s objectives really were in making the 2016 deal.
The $150,000 agreement gave American Media Inc. exclusive rights to McDougal’s account of any relationship with “any then-married man,” a clause Pecker has testified was specifically about Trump. She claims they had an affair in 2006 and 2007; he denies it.
The contract also called for McDougal to pose for magazine covers and to produce, with a ghostwriter’s help, columns and other content on fitness and aging for various American Media titles.
Pecker testified earlier this week that the provision for content was essentially a fig leaf for a pact that was really about keeping McDougal’s story from becoming public and potentially influencing Trump’s chances at the presidency.
But in response to questions Friday from Bove, Pecker said McDougal was looking to restart her career and that American Media had pitched itself in a video conference as a venue that could help her. The company indeed ended up running more than 65 stories in her name, he said.
When American Media signed its agreement with her, “you believed it had a legitimate business purpose, correct?” Bove asked.
“I did,” Pecker said.
McDougal’s story — and American Media’s deal with her — ultimately became public, anyway in a Wall Street Journal article four days before the 2016 election, after early and absentee voting had started.
