I spoke too soon. Pecker is now recanting his testimony.
Yet Pecker had meetings with McDougal to address those other issues in the contract, her writing articles with ghost writers and fitness tips in other AMI publications.Quote:
The prosecution is having Pecker re-confirm that the purpose of the National Enquirer's contract with former Playboy model Karen McDougal was to suppress her potentially damaging story about Donald Trump and help influence the 2016 election.
Additional items about writing articles and appearing on covers were extraneous, Pecker confirmed, in response to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, who is bringing things back to his team's central argument about the agreement.Pecker testifies he never told his company's general counsel that the true purpose of the deal was to influence the election. He also never told the attorney that he planned to transfer the rights to Michael Cohen, who pledged to reimburse him.Quote:
The provisions about McDougal getting to write articles and appear on covers of the tabloid were "included in the contract as a disguise," Pecker says.