David Pecker was Donald J. Trump’s longtime friend. He was also the publisher of The National Enquirer.
Those roles blurred leading to the 2016 presidential election, when Mr. Pecker helped broker hush-money deals with the porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, both of whom said they had sex with Mr. Trump.
Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer and now the star witness in his criminal trial, testified on Monday about his involvement in “catching and killing” stories, a term coined by old-time tabloid editors for buying the exclusive rights to stories, or “catching them,” for the specific goal of ensuring the information never becomes public. That’s the “killing” part.
According to people who have worked for him, Mr. Pecker mastered this technique. In the world of tabloid journalism, where ethical lines are hazy, deciding what to publish and why is often a calculus that covers favors doled out and chits called in.
Over two decades, Mr. Pecker ran American Media Inc., The Enquirer’s parent company, commingling journalism and business interests to an extent that other executives had not in his slowly dying industry, according to people familiar with his career.
Once called the “tabloid king,” Mr. Pecker, 72, has been written about often in his decades-long career, but before he took the witness stand last month as the first witness called in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial he had never spoken so publicly about how he operated.
During hours of questioning from prosecutors for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, Mr. Pecker walked the jury through his role in an effort to suppress negative news about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential election. He said he helped orchestrate hush-money deals related to supposed sexual encounters and an uncorroborated story about an out-of-wedlock child.
Mr. Pecker said he met Mr. Trump in part through Ronald Perelman, a businessman and big advertiser whom The Enquirer had also protected. Mr. Pecker later created a magazine called Trump Style, glorifying the mogul’s brand, and held a launch party at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for George, a political magazine he published that was founded by John F. Kennedy Jr.
“He was very helpful in introducing me to other executives and other people in New York,” Mr. Pecker testified of Mr. Trump. “And he would always advise me of parties or events or things that I would either go to or send, at that time, my editors to.”
When Mr. Pecker and investors bought The Enquirer, he said, Mr. Trump was among the first to call and congratulate him.
