Arkansas

Ex-publisher: ‘Eyes and ears’ for Trump | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Published

2 weeks ago

April 24, 2024

Ex-publisher: ‘Eyes and ears’ for Trump | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

NEW YORK — A veteran tabloid publisher testified Tuesday that he pledged to be Donald Trump’s “eyes and ears” during his 2016 presidential campaign, recounting how he promised the then-candidate that he would help suppress harmful stories and even arranged to purchase the silence of a doorman.

The testimony from David Pecker was designed to bolster the prosecution’s premise of a decades-long friendship between Trump and the former publisher of the National Enquirer that culminated in an agreement to give the candidate’s lawyer a heads-up on negative tips and stories so they could be quashed.

The effort to suppress unflattering information was designed to illegally influence the election, prosecutors have alleged in the first trial of a former American president and the first of four criminal cases against Trump to reach a jury.

Pecker is the first witness against Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments meant to prevent harmful stories from surfacing in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

With Trump sitting just feet away in the courtroom, Pecker detailed his intimate, behind-the-scenes involvement in Trump’s rise from political novice to the Republican nomination and the White House. He explained how he and the National Enquirer parlayed rumor-mongering into splashy tabloid stories that smeared Trump’s opponents and, just as crucially, leveraged his connections to suppress seamy stories about Trump, including a porn actor’s claim of an extramarital sexual encounter a decade earlier.

Pecker traced the origins of their relationship to a 1980s meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla..

“I would call him Donald,” Pecker recalled, adding that he had “a great relationship with Mr. Trump over the years” and that he had launched a magazine with him called “Trump Style.”

Pecker described a symbiotic relationship between Trump and the National Enquirer during the former president’s turn as a reality television host on “The Apprentice.” Trump would leak details of the show to the magazine, which in turn would run stories on the contestants.

Their ties were solidified during a pivotal August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower involving Trump, his lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen, and another aide, Hope Hicks, in which Pecker was asked what he and the publications he led could do for the campaign.

Pecker said he volunteered to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents. But that wasn’t all, he said, telling jurors how he told Trump: “I will be your eyes and ears.”

“I said that anything I hear in the marketplace, if I hear anything negative about yourself, or if I hear about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen,” so that the rights could be purchased and the stories could be killed.

“So they would not get published?” asked prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.

“So they would not get published,” Pecker replied.

Cohen, Pecker explained, would feed him information about Trump’s Republican primary opponents, and The National Enquirer would sometimes “embellish” them.

The tabloid, for example, ran stories about Trump’s primary opponents, including Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The prosecutors illustrated the point for jurors, posting several lurid headlines on screens: “Donald Trump Blasts Ted Cruz’s Dad for Photo with J.F.K. Assassin,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/apr/24/ex-publisher-eyes-and-ears-for-trump/”Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson left Sponge in Patient’s Brain!” and, in a moment of ironic foreshadowing, “Ted Cruz Shamed by Porn Star.”

At the Trump Tower meeting, Pecker said, he had indicated that he expected many women “would come out to try to sell their stories” about Trump, because he was known as “the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women.”

Trump was not, in fact, a bachelor. He had married his third and current wife, Melania Trump, in 2005.

COHEN’S ROLE

Pecker painted Cohen as a shadow editor of the National Enquirer’s pro-Trump coverage, directing the tabloid to go after whichever Republican candidate was gaining momentum.

“I would receive a call from Michael Cohen, and he would direct me and direct Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go,” Pecker said, referring to the tabloid’s then-editor.

Pecker said he underscored to Howard that the agreement with the Trump operation was “highly, highly confidential.” He said he wanted the tabloid’s bureau chiefs to be on the lookout for any stories involving Trump and said he wanted them to verify the stories before alerting Cohen.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges including one count of causing an unlawful campaign contribution and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution related to his role in the hush money payments. He also pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making false statements to a bank.

He was once a confidant of Trump’s but is now expected to be a star government witness, and routinely posts profane broadsides against Trump on social media.

Trump’s lawyers are expected to make attacks on Cohen’s credibility a foundation of their defense, but in opening with Pecker, prosecutors hoped to focus attention on a witness with a less volatile backstory. Besides maintaining that Trump is innocent, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told jurors that Cohen cannot be trusted and has “an obsession with getting Trump.”

GAG ORDER HEARING

Pecker’s testimony Tuesday came after a hearing earlier in the day in which prosecutors urged Judge Juan M. Merchan to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $1,000 for each of 10 social media posts that they say violated an earlier gag order.

Prosecutors argued that the trial is threatened by Trump’s repeated attacks on witnesses and jurors, mostly launched on social media and his campaign website. They urged Merchan to hold Trump in contempt over what they said were 11 violations of a gag order that bars the former president from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives.

When Blanche claimed that the former president was trying to comply with the order, Merchan replied, “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”

The gag-order hearing, held with the jury out of the courtroom, demonstrated a jarring reality for Trump as he seeks to reclaim the White House while under indictment: His political reflexes, and the norm-busting ethos that has defined the Trump era, often clash with the letter of the law.

Witnesses in the case “rightly fear” being subjected to the former president’s “vitriol,” a prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, told the judge. He rattled off statements that Manhattan prosecutors believe crossed the line, including calling Cohen and porn actor Stormy Daniels “sleaze bags” and reposting an attack on the jury pool. That happened the night before a juror who had already been seated asked to be excused.

“What happened here was exactly what this order was meant to prevent, and the defendant doesn’t care,” Conroy said.

Blanche argued that Trump’s posts were not personal and did not violate the order, because he was simply responding to “a barrage of political attacks.”

But Merchan implored Blanche to stick to the facts and the law.

Merchan did not immediately rule, but he seemed skeptical of defense arguments that Trump was merely responding in his posts to others’ attacks and had been trying to comply with the order.

CATCH AND KILL

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.

In this case, that included a $130,000 payment to Daniels to silence her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter that Trump denies. Prosecutors also described other arrangements, including one that paid a former Playboy model $150,000 to suppress claims of a nearly yearlong affair with the married Trump, which Trump also denies.

In another instance, Pecker recounted a $30,000 payment from the National Enquirer to a Trump Tower doorman for the rights to a rumor that Trump had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower. The tabloid concluded the story was not true, and the woman and Trump have denied the allegations.

As Pecker described receiving the tip in court, Trump shook his head.

Pecker said upon hearing the rumor, he immediately called Cohen, who said it was “absolutely not true” but that he would look into whether the people involved had indeed worked for Trump’s company.

“I made the decision to purchase the story because of the potential embarrassment it had to the campaign and to Mr. Trump,” Pecker said.

In response to the prosecutor’s question about who he understood the boss to be, Pecker replied: “Donald Trump.”

Explaining why he decided to have the National Enquirer foot the bill, Pecker testified: “This was going to be a very big story. I believe it was important that this story be removed from the marketplace.”

If he published the story, Pecker said, it would be “probably the biggest sale of the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley.”

Jurors viewed an internal Enquirer email and invoice describing the payments to the doorman to kill his story. One document describes the funds coming from the publication’s “corporate” account. An invoice references an “immediate” $30,000 bank transfer payment for “‘Trump’s non-published story.”

Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker, Jake Offenhartz and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press; and by Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.

Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)

Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in New York. (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool)

Former president Donald Trump, left, watches as David Pecker answers questions on the witness stand, far right, from assistant district attorney Joshua Steingless, in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, at podium, makes arguments challenging the contempt charges to Judge Juan Merchan , Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Judge Juan Merchan presides over Donald Trump’s trial in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump walks in Manhattan state court in New York, Monday, April 23, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump speaks upon arriving at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while he walks, as his criminal trial over charges that he allegedly falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 continues, at Manhattan state court in New York, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP)

Former president Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. Before testimony resumes Tuesday, the judge will hold a hearing on prosecutors’ request to sanction and fine Trump over social media posts they say violate a gag order prohibiting him from attacking key witnesses. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)

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Arkansas

Civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer Johnny Cash to replace Arkansas statues at the US Capitol – The Boston Globe

Published

37 mins ago

May 6, 2024

Press Room

Civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer Johnny Cash to replace Arkansas statues at the US Capitol – The Boston Globe

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — When Arkansas lawmakers decided five years ago to replace the statues representing the state at the U.S. Capitol, there was little objection to getting rid of the existing sculptures. The statues that had stood there for more than 100 years were obscure figures in the state’s history.

“I remember giving tours to constituents from Arkansas, to young people, and I would point out the two representatives in Statuary Hall in our United States Capitol from Arkansas,” said former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who also served in Congress. “And they would say, ‘We’ve never heard of them.’”

Instead of two little-known figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, the state will soon be represented by the “Man in Black” and a woman who was instrumental in the fight over school desegregation.

Officials plan to install statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates this week and musician Johnny Cash later this year.

Bates, who headed the state NAACP, mentored the Black students known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. She is a well-known civil rights figure in Arkansas, where a downtown street in the capital, Little Rock, is named in her honor. The state also marks Daisy Bates Day on Presidents Day.

Benjamin Victor, the Idaho sculptor who was chosen to create the statue of Bates, said he began his work by extensively studying her, including reading her 1962 autobiography and visiting her Little Rock home and Central High. He said he hopes the statue will help U.S. Capitol visitors learn more about her as well.

“I hope it really first and foremost inspires them to study Daisy Bates’ life and legacy,” Victor said. “A big part of it is to capture that spirit of hers and inspire others to do the same and stand up for what’s right.”

The 8-foot tall bronze statue depicts Bates, who with her husband published the Arkansas State Press newspaper, walking with a newspaper in her arm. She holds a notebook and pen in one hand and wears a NAACP pin and rose on her lapel.

Cash was born in Kingsland, a tiny town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Little Rock. He died in 2003 at age 71. His achievements include 90 million records sold worldwide spanning country, rock, blues, folk and gospel. He was among the few artists inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The 8-foot (2.4-meter) tall statue of Cash depicts the singer with a guitar slung across his back and a Bible in his hand. Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse, who was selected to create the statue, has sculpted other musical figures from Arkansas such as Al Green, Glen Campbell and Levon Helm.

Kresse views Cash as a much-needed addition to the Capitol as a counterbalance to the conflict in Congress, he said.

“He walked the walk and he lived what he believed. And that was just this quality that really appealed to me,” Kresse said. “And that interior thoughtfulness was something that I really wanted to try to bring out in this sculpture.”

The Bates and Cash statues will replace ones depicting James P. Clarke, a former governor and U.S. senator in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney. The statues had come under scrutiny, especially over racist comments Clarke made calling on the Democratic Party to preserve “white standards.”

Republican Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican who is now the Senate president pro tem, began calling for the statues to be replaced in 2018. Clarke Tucker, Clarke’s great-great-grandson and a Democratic state senator, also called for his ancestor’s statue to come down.

“There was recognition broadly that it was time for a change,” said Hutchinson, who signed the 2019 law requiring the Bates and Cash statues to go up.

Choosing their replacements was the hard part, with lawmakers offering competing ideas ranging from Walmart founder Sam Walton to a Navy SEAL from the state who was killed in Afghanistan. After some wrangling, lawmakers eventually approved Bates and Cash.

Sen. David Wallace, who sponsored the legislation to replace the previous sculptures, said he hoped the new statues would tell people more about the types of figures Arkansas has produced over the years.

“We wanted to do the common person that represented Arkansas,” Wallace said. “And I think that with Daisy Bates and with Johnny Cash, we covered the spectrum in Arkansas. Just, they represent the common folks of Arkansas.”

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Arkansas

Arkansas baseball loses its second series of the year

Published

8 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Arkansas baseball loses its second series of the year

After weeks of Arkansas handing Kentucky Ls, the Wildcats have finally struck back.

The Diamond Hogs traveled to Lexington this weekend to play its series against No. 8 Kentucky. The Hogs won the first match 10-3 but gave up the following two, 11-3 and 7-4, respectively.

In game one, the Razorbacks took control of the game late. Hagen Smith was his spectacular, again, and held off the Cats offense for most of the game. He gave up one run in the third, but other than that, the performance was nearly flawless. He pitched his second-most strikeouts of the season with 14 for his ninth double-digit game.

The offense finally started to heat up going into the fifth. Peyton Stovall kicked things off with an RBI double. In the sixth, the Hogs took advantage of a back-to-back walks and brought in three more runs. However, they opened up the throttle in the sixth inning, scoring six runs. Unfortunately, they left little in the gas tank for the rest of the weekend.

In the final two games, Arkansas looked emaciated from the plate, scoring a combined seven runs to Kentucky’s 18. The Razorbacks batted a measly 2-15 with runners in scoring position (RISP) for a .133 average in games two and three. To compare, Arkansas batted 5-17 (.294) in the first game. Batting with RISP has been an Achilles heel of this baseball, hitting .278 since the beginning of conference play. That’s last in the league.

DID YOU KNOW?
Going in to today, Arkansas is hitting .195 with runners in scoring position in SEC games.
— Ben Brandon (@BenBrandonHoops) May 5, 2024

Arkansas has two SEC series left before the conference tournament, and it doesn’t get easier. The Diamond Hogs will face No. 16 Mississippi State at home and take on No. 1 Texas A&M in College Station.

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Arkansas

Can Arkansas Miracle At Kentucky Derby Inspire Pittman, Razorbacks?

Published

15 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Can Arkansas Miracle At Kentucky Derby Inspire Pittman, Razorbacks?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman could use a little luck in 2024. He went out and signed Bobby Petrino as his offensive coordinator which deflected a little bit of heat off his seat for the time being.

Pittman attended the 150th Kentucky Derby Saturday to support his friends Dan and Scott Hamby, owners ofrace winner Mystik Dan. The horse wasn’t one of the favorites to win entering Saturday with 18-1 odds. However, the winner forged his way to victory by a nose over Sierra Leone.

Mystik Dan’s jockey was little known Brian Hernandez. While Pittman isn’t considered an unknown commodity amongst the coaching profession, he has shown the ability to win at a moderate level. His first 26 games as Razorbacks coach, Arkansas strung together a 15-11 record overall and 7-11 mark in SEC play.

A promising start was short-lived once KJ Jefferson fumbled on a ‘Superman leap’ as the team swagger and confidence popped like a balloon. Since that game, the Razorbacks are 8-14 with only three conference wins.

Brushing shoulders of greatness in Louisville might just be the rub Pittman needs to return Arkansas to its winning ways in 2024. Like Derby winner, Mystik Dan, he essentially came from nowhere to become the champion.

Arkansas will need to pull off a win or two in surprise fashion if the team plans on making a bowl game. During the 2021 season, the Razorbacks witnessed a lot of breaks go its way throughout the fall. Circumstances are a bit different but similar for a turnaround.

Petrino will have to break in a brand new quarterback. A passer that many around the program is considered an underrated talent. That’s yet to be seen but with a rigorous Southeastern Conference to play, Taylen Green will have ample opportunity to prove doubters wrong.

Second-year defensive coordinator Travis Williams will hope to build off an up-and-down 2023 season. Linebacker play will be a huge question mark as the group pads prior college experience to a youthful room. The middle of Arkansas’ defense will be pressured early on especially as the team travels to Oklahoma State in week two.

Maybe Pittman has identified what he needs to makeup for lost time over 19 months. No one is asking for a championship this year or any year for that matter. But, seeing success by other Arkansas residents is bound to bleed over into football season. Bowl eligibility shouldn’t be out of the question yet as the Razorbacks preseason win total is set at 5.5 by Fan Duel.