After
prosecutors’
lead
witness
painted
a
tawdry
portrait
of
“catch
and
kill”
tabloid
schemes,
defense
lawyers
in
Donald
Trump’s
hush
money
trial
are
poised
Friday
to
dig
into
an
account
of
the
former
publisher
of
the
National
Enquirer
and
his
efforts
to
protect
Trump
from
negative
stories
during
the
2016
election.
David
Pecker
will
return
to
the
witness
stand
for
the
fourth
day
as
defense
attorneys
try
to
poke
holes
in
the
testimony
of
the
former
National
Enquirer
publisher,
who
has
described
helping
bury
embarrassing
stories
Trump
feared
could
hurt
his
campaign.
It
will
cap
a
consequential
week
in
the
criminal
cases
the
former
president
is
facing
as
he
vies
to
reclaim
the
White
House
in
November.
At
the
same
time
jurors
listened
to
testimony
in
Manhattan,
the
Supreme
Court
on
Thursday
signaled
it
was
likely
to
reject
Trump’s
sweeping
claims
that
he
is
immune
from
prosecution
in
his
2020
election
interference
case
in
Washington.
But
the
conservative-majority
high
court
seemed
inclined
to
limit
when
former
presidents
could
be
prosecuted
—
a
ruling
that
could
benefit
Trump
by
delaying
that
trial,
potentially
until
after
the
November
election.
In
New
York
—
the
first
of
Trump’s
four
criminal
cases
to
go
to
trial
—
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
faces
34
felony
counts
of
falsifying
business
records
in
connection
with
hush
money
payments
meant
to
stifle
negative
stories
from
surfacing
in
the
final
days
of
the
2016
campaign.
Prosecutors
allege
that
Trump
sought
to
illegally
influence
the
2016
race
through
a
practice
known
in
the
tabloid
industry
as
“catch-and-kill”
—
catching
a
potentially
damaging
story
by
buying
the
rights
to
it
and
then
killing
it
through
agreements
that
prevent
the
paid
person
from
telling
the
story
to
anyone
else.
Over
several
days
on
the
witness
stand,
Pecker
has
described
how
he
and
the
tabloid
parlayed
rumor-mongering
into
splashy
stories
that
smeared
Trump’s
opponents
and,
just
as
crucially,
leveraged
his
connections
to
suppress
seamy
stories
about
Trump.
The
charges
center
on
$130,000
in
payments
that
Trump’s
company
made
to
his
then-lawyer,
Michael
Cohen.
He
paid
that
sum
on
Trump’s
behalf
to
keep
porn
actor
Stormy
Daniels
from
going
public
with
her
claims
of
a
sexual
encounter
with
Trump
a
decade
earlier.
Trump
has
denied
the
encounter
ever
happened.
During
the
cross-examination
that
began
Thursday,
defense
attorney
Emil
Bove
grilled
Pecker
on
his
recollection
of
specific
dates
and
meanings.
He
appeared
to
be
laying
further
groundwork
for
the
defense’s
argument
that
any
dealings
Trump
had
Pecker
were
intended
to
protect
himself,
his
reputation
and
his
family
—
not
his
campaign.
Pecker
recalled
how
an
editor
told
him
that
Daniels’
representative
was
trying
to
sell
her
story
and
that
the
tabloid
could
acquire
it
for
$120,000.
Pecker
said
he
put
his
foot
down,
noting
that
the
tabloid
was
already
$180,000
in
the
hole
for
Trump-related
catch-and-kill
transactions.
But,
Pecker
said,
he
told
Cohen
to
buy
the
story
himself
to
prevent
Daniels
from
going
public
with
her
claim.
“I
said
to
Michael,
‘My
suggestion
to
you
is
that
you
should
buy
the
story,
and
you
should
take
it
off
the
market
because
if
you
don’t
and
it
gets
out,
I
believe
the
boss
will
be
very
angry
with
you.’”
Former
President
Donald
Trump
faces
34
felony
counts
of
falsifying
business
records
related
to
hush
money
payments
to
adult
actress
Stormy
Daniels
before
the
2016
election.
Here’s
what
you
need
to
know.
_____
Richer
reported
from
Washington.