We have the full transcript.
Transcript from the trial today.
And even though virtually
nothing happens in court
without a team of reporters
posting it online almost in real time,
even the fastest reporter
can capture the scope and the sweep
the full context
that the complete record does.
CNN's John
Berman has been going through it,
including more of David Pecker
testimony in the catch and kill scheme.
At the heart of the case,
some of it deals with former
Playboy model Karen McDougal,
whose story of her
alleged relationship
with Trump was caught
and killed by David Pecker.
Before we bring you the details,
the transcript,
I just want to play for you
what Karen
McDougal told me in early
television interview
about why she decided to tell her story.
I feel like the contract is illegal.
I feel like I wasn't presented correctly.
I was lied to
and everybody involved in this deal.
I want the rights back
and I want to share my truth
because everyone else
is talking about my truth, which
I need to share my story.
Do you have any regrets
about the relationship
that you said you had with them
back then?
Yeah.
The only regret I have
about the relationship that I had with
Donald was the fact that he was married.
And John Berman joins me now.
John, you've been digging
deeper into transcript.
What what stands out?
First of all.
This is the transcript of just today
so you can see how much paper
comes out here.
And the part where they talk about
Karen McDougal
was at the very end of today's hearing.
The prosecution
saved the Karen McDougal part
in any here.
David Pecker recounts
being pulled out of a meeting
from a phone call by Donald Trump to
ask about the various
whispers have been going on
about Karen McDougal.
We don't have graphics in this,
but let me read this to you.
Pecker says in the testimony
he mentioned to me,
he said,
I spoke to Michael Michael Cohen.
He said he told me about that time.
He told me about that.
He said he told me about Karen.
He said to me, what do you think this is?
Pecker saying that Trump asked him,
What do you think about Karen McDougal?
Pecker goes on to say,
I believe you should buy it.
I believe you.
Trump should buy the Karen
McDougal story.
Trump said to me, Look, everything
he says, I don't buy stories.
And he said that any time you do
anything like this,
it always gets out, Pecker says.
I still
believe we should take the story off
the market.
Trump says,
Let me think about it
and I'll have
Michael Cohen call you in a few days.
And this we do have a graphic of later
in the testimony.
Pecker talks about how he was
speaking to Michael Cohen.
This is Josh Stein Glass, the prosecutor.
How would you describe
Michael Cohen's tone during those calls
about Karen McDougal?
Pecker says Michael was very agitated.
It looked like
he was getting a lot of pressure
to get the answer, like right away.
STEIN Glass asks,
What makes you say that?
Pecker says
he kept on calling in each time
he called, he seemed more anxious.
SUNGLASSES Did you understand?
Did you understand
as to where that pressure to find out
more was coming from?
Pecker says, Well, you know,
I assumed he had a conversation with Mr.
Trump, and Mr.
Trump was asking Michael Cohen,
Did we hear anything yet?
You would have. Objected.
You can't assume.
So as you hear the word
assume, objection.
Look, he was jumping up before I was.
I mean, yes,
testify.
I assume
this or I assume that that's not
those are in fact so. Objection. Right?
I apologize.
Which is so
that's my instinct. Okay.
I do find the transcript fascinating.
I'm dying to read it.
And actually,
a friend of mine, Jim Walden,
who's a brilliant attorney, he's
the one who filed the motion
asking for the daily transcript
to be released.
The people who aren't too happy about it,
the court reporters who get paid
a daily copy to do this.
But,
you know, again,
these aren't crimes
like nothing that you just spoke about.
It's a crime.
Michael Cohen
Being anxious is not a crime.
It just means it's something
that they're interested in.
And I mean,
when you talk about the relationship
changing in 2015, we now know
that when you declare yourself
for public office,
whether it's city councilperson
or President United States,
they come out,
they're coming to get you,
which is now why we don't get good people
running for office anymore,
because they go back to high school
and see what you did back then.
So I'm not surprised
that once Trump goes
from being a TV star
and a real estate magnate
to being president, United States,
all these people come out
and yeah, it's
a mutually beneficial society
and they help each other.
To me, the
the anxiety of Michael Cohen
was spoke to the pressure.
From Trump.
Assumed from Trump.
So I mean, that's
the only reason that that matters.
But the other thing I would just note,
I mean, the Karen
McDougal story is not over.
This is just the beginning
of what we will learn about
this Karen McDougal story.
And when you look
at the charging documents here for Trump,
there are some hints
about where this goes next.
David Pecker ends up paying her,
but at some point
he decides to not get reimbursed
from Trump world.
And I'm curious as to why that happened.
So this is the opening salvo,
but there's more to come. Yeah.
So again,
you're not going to find the crime A to Z
found in any one paragraph of testimony.
Prosecutors have to build a case here.
And I think two things jump out at me
from that transcript.
One, this is a full nine
alarm fire in Trump world
and in the National Enquirer.
In Pekar's environment, they are
I mean, they're
pulling each other out of meetings.
They're borderline panicking.
The other thing is it establishes
a really important
chain of communication,
because this is one of
the rare instances.
There's a few
where David Pecker has direct
contact with Donald Trump.
Most of it's with Michael Cohen.
And the weakness
that Arthur just pointed out is, well,
how do you know that Michael Cohen
was truly acting
on Donald Trump's behalf?
You can't assume you're right.
And maybe Michael
Cohen was just a free agent.
I mean, Michael Cohen
is not super reliable,
but the chain here is David Pecker
makes contact with Donald Trump
who essentially hands him off
to Michael Cohen,
says Cohen's going to handle
is you to go and do your thing.
I'll have Michael Cohen call
you back in a few days.
That's
one of the things, though,
that David Pecker said today,
and correct me
if I'm wrong on the stand, was that
according to him,
Trump was very detail oriented
and actually paid attention
to a lot of the mundane details
of this transaction.
He's not saying that
he was aware
that the line item was a legal fee, but
he's indicating
Trump was very much involved in this.
And what you just read,
John also backed set up
that according to Cohen.
And what Cohen will probably testify
is that Donald
Trump is breathing down his neck
very closely
following the Karen McDougal.
He talked about how he would sit
with Trump in Trump Tower
on the 26th floor
and Trump's assistant at the time
would come in
and bring him invoices and checks,
which I thought was
a really notable moment.
I have that.
I can.
Read that, and Donald Trump would sign.
It. I can read that.
This is from page
1002 of the transcript
signing Chuck Stein. Glass.
Joshua Stein. Glass.
The prosecutor asks,
Did you have occasion over the years
to observe Mr.
Trump's business practices?
Pecker responds, Yes.
Josh Stein.
Glass asks, In what context?
Pecker responds, I was
I had a meeting with Mr.
Trump in his office,
and when I was there,
his assistant, Rona,
brought in a batch of invoices
and checks to sign.
And I observed Mr.
Trump, and I noticed that
he reviewed the invoice
and looked at the check.
And then he would he was signing them.
That tells you a couple of things.
First of all, it's very important that
the prosecution
establish that Donald Trump
signed knew what
knew what the corporate records were.
That's what this whole case is about.
The other thing that tells you
is that
David Pecker is not on Team Trump.
He didn't have to give
that kind of testimony.
That was
he was burying Donald Trump with that.
You know, when I interviewed Jeffrey.
Well, I agree with you, Boy,
I'll tell you why. I know.
I'll tell you one good reason,
because was.
In 2000, shark
moves on the Remora fish is all alone.
Well, okay.
I agree with.
But he could also be you know,
they could have figured out
a way to charge him. But.
But wait a sec.
You know.
Did David park the.
Horse before the cart?
I mean, this is witness number one.
He hasn't even been cross-examined yet.
There is still a lot of road
left to go here.
And I think what they're
establishing, though,
is that Trump paid very close attention
to what we all know, his finances.
He doesn't part easily with his money.
I was looking Karen McDougal
wrote a lot down about her
relationship with Trump
when they were having
this alleged affair, which Trump denies.
But she wrote down
that Trump was so careful with his money,
he was so worried about creating a paper
trail of their relationship
that she would book her travel
when they would meet
places and Trump would reimburse.
I mean, let's just
step back for a second.
If a guy, a married guy,
is having a affair and and having sex
allegedly with a porn star
and it's starting to unravel,
he's going to pay very close attention,
I would imagine,
to every detail
of how this is being hushed up.
I mean, is this not just
this is not something you would
I don't care
if he's a top executive,
whatever you would think,
this is actually something
I would actually want to
know all the details.
And that's like, is this
He wanted to know.
He wanted
he he says it
at one point to Michael Cohen.
This has to be paid in cash, doesn't he?
I mean, at one point he's
talking about this
needing to be done in cash.
That's on a tape
that, Michael,
that we're going to hear
soon in this trial.
Michael Cohen
secretly recorded Donald Trump
a shady move, by the way. I asked.
I had four defense lawyers
in the green room with me today.
I said,
have you ever even thought about this?
That's really something
that threatens your marriage.
Are you going to leave it up
to Michael Cohen?
Well, but
every detail without checking
like being an overlord, and.
That's what a commonsense,
rational person would do.
But the tape
that we're talking about here
that Michael Cohen makes of Donald Trump
actually suggests Donald Trump is like,
just get it done.
He's not in the weeds.
In fact, at one point,
Michael Cohen says, no, no, no,
no, I got it.
Alan and I are going to handle you.
Don't worry about it.
We're going to pay him.
You don't worry about the how and the
how is the crime.
So when that tape comes up, that's going
be a problem for the prosecutors.
I also think that,
you know, part of the thing
about Trump paying
attention to details is more to
what Caitlin was saying,
which is the amount of money
even for a very rich person
like Donald Trump.
He didn't really want to part ways
with $150,000
for Karen McDougal, 134 Stormy.
He did not want to part ways
with that money he.
Has to pay his attorney.
He tried to get out of it
once the election was over.
So it's really about
the dollars here
that was concerning to him.