The hush money trial of Donald Trump

David Pecker is back on the stand to resume his testimony.

As then-chairman of American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, Pecker was involved in numerous catch-and-kill schemes he orchestrated on behalf of Donald Trump, and is said to have helped broker the Stormy Daniels deal .

According to court documents, an agent of Daniels contacted AMI in October 2016 and said she was willing to go public with her allegations of an affair with Trump. Pecker then allegedly contacted Cohen, who then negotiated the deal, according to court documents from Cohen’s plea agreement.

In a separate incident, AMI agreed to pay model and actress Karen McDougal $150,000 months before the 2016 election for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump. While this payment is not part of the indictment against the former president, prosecutors are expected to use it to establish a pattern of such payments.

Pecker was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony and AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.

read more the other protagonists in the case.