'More devastating than Michael Cohen': First Trump witness takes stand

The former chairman of the National Enquirer’s parent company took the stand Monday as the first witness called in Donald Trump's New York hush money criminal trial, and he's expected to confirm Trump's motivation and intent when it came to his alleged attempt to buy the silence of an adult film star he's accused of sleeping with.

David Pecker, who once headed American Media, helped Trump bury embarrassing stories before they had a chance to circulate in the media. He was also a key figure in the scheme to cover up the hush money payment Trump allegedly made to Stormy Daniels ahead of his 2016 campaign, prosecutors claim.

As MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin points out, Pecker "can testify that Trump not only understood but heartily endorsed his publication’s offer to ‘catch and kill’ negative stories about him, especially as they pertained to Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs."

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“And given how few people outside Michael Cohen directly communicated with Trump about the scheme at issue, Pecker’s testimony could be critical in establishing Trump’s intent and knowledge," Rubin wrote in a post to X.

New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman agreed, saying that Pecker “could be a key witness — in ways more devastating than Michael Cohen," adding that Pecker’s testimony “should be strong proof of core allegation that the hush money scheme was geared toward influencing the outcome of the presidential election,” Goodman wrote, noting that Pecker met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower to set up the catch-and-kill election operation that “set the whole scheme in motion.”

Salon reports that Pecker contacted former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who then negotiated an agreement to send a $130,000 payment to Daniels to "purchase" her silence. The prosecution expects Pecker to shore up Cohen's testimony.

"Pecker will also likely testify about his involvement in a flurry of phone calls, a day after the Access Hollywood tape broke, to buy-and-bury Stormy Daniels' story," Goodman wrote in his post, adding that Pecker is "also likely to testify about his conversations directly with Trump and Cohen in December 2016 — on the arrangement for Trump to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payment to Daniels."