“I thought it should come off the market, and if anyone was going to buy it, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump should buy it,” Pecker said.”
Pecker said Cohen pressed him to buy Daniels’ story, but Pecker testified he did not want to be involved with a porn star.
Cohen has said he ultimately paid Daniels US$130,000 to stay silent and was reimbursed US$420,000 by Trump after the election. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for labelling his payments to Cohen as legal fees.
Before that, Pecker testified, American Media bought McDougal’s story and signed an agreement to use a shell company to secretly sell it on to Trump.
Pecker said he called off the deal after speaking with a company lawyer.
“Michael Cohen said, ‘The boss is going to be very angry with you.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going forward, the deal is off,'” Pecker testified.
“He was very angry, very upset, screaming, basically, at me,” Pecker said of Cohen.
Pecker said Trump was angered when Pecker allowed McDougal to speak to news media after the Wall Street Journal revealed the hush money deal.
