--- title: Who is David Pecker, Trump Hush-Money Trial's First Witness? description: David Pecker, the former president and CEO of American Media Inc., has taken the stand as the first witness in Donald Trump’s trial. canonical: https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/ author: Simmone Shah article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-04-22T16:49:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T11:52:43.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Who Is David Pecker, the First Witness in the Trump Hush-Money Trial? og:description: And what his testimony could reveal. og:url: https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt606cec2b9ff7161a/698a55d7d075339df9e70af8/david-pecker-trump-trial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: david-pecker-trump-trial og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Who Is David Pecker, the First Witness in the Trump Hush-Money Trial? twitter:description: And what his testimony could reveal. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt606cec2b9ff7161a/698a55d7d075339df9e70af8/david-pecker-trump-trial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Who Is David Pecker, the First Witness in the Trump Hush-Money Trial? > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Updated: Jan 19, 2026 11:52 AM UTCPublished: Apr 22, 2024 4:49 PM UTC  David Pecker, chair and CEO of American Media, speaks at the Shape and Men's Fitness Super Bowl Party in New York City, Jan. 31, 2014. David Pecker, chair and CEO of American Media, speaks at the Shape and Men's Fitness Super Bowl Party in New York City, Jan. 31, 2014. Marion Curtis—Reuters  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Updated: Jan 19, 2026 11:52 AM UTCPublished: Apr 22, 2024 4:49 PM UTC David Pecker, the former president and CEO of American Media Inc., has taken the stand as the first witness in former President [Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial](https://time.com/6965419/trump-hush-money-trial-legal-questions/). Pecker, prosecutors are expected to argue, aided Trump in numerous “catch-and-kill” schemes to bury negative stories about the then-presidential candidate as he ran for office in 2016\. At the center of this case, Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to reimbursement of $130,000 paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump from years prior. (Trump has denied all wrongdoing.) Here’s what to know about David Pecker, the prosecution’s first witness in the [historic trial](https://time.com/6968242/judge-juan-merchan-donald-trump-trial/). ## **Who is David Pecker?** David Pecker is the former president and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the tabloid the National _Enquirer_ and a longtime friend toTrump. Ahead of the 2016 election, Pecker met with Trump and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen with the [intention](https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7324/7324%5F34.pdf) of suppressing negative stories about Trump by buying the rights to the stories and refraining from publishing them, according to a 2018 non-prosecution [agreement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1119501/dl) between AMI and the U.S. Department of Justice. Pecker was given immunity from prosecution in 2018 by the DOJ. ## **How is he related to this case?** Prosecutors are expected to argue that Pecker was a key figure in the alleged scheme to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels when she intended to go public with claims that she had an affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Pecker told Trump that Daniels was looking to sell a story about the sexual encounter (which Trump denies), according to the New York [_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money-evidence.html). Soon after, Cohen reached out to Daniels offering a $130,000 payment. “According to the prosecutor, Trump and Cohen came to an agreement with Pecker that Pecker and the _Enquirer_ would help the Trump campaign,” says Chris Edelson, assistant professor in the Department of Government at American University. Prosecutors will argue that Pecker aided Trump in numerous “catch and kill” schemes, in which the National _Enquirer_ purchased the rights to stories but never ran them. “By paying for it, and basically having them sign a nondisclosure agreement or a contract, they were able to kill stories,” says Joel Kaplan, professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. In one instance, Pecker and Dylan Howard, former editor-in-chief at the _National Enquirer_, coordinated with the Trump campaign to pay model and actress Karen McDougal $150,000 to purchase the rights to her claim that she engaged in a relationship with Trump, according to a Federal Elections Commission [agreement](https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7324/7324%5F26.pdf) with AMI. In a 2018 non-prosecution [agreement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1119501/dl), AMI admitted that the McDougalpayment was “substantially more” than the company might typically pay for a story, because Trump’s lawyer Cohen had assured Pecker that AMI would be reimbursed for the payment. [Cohen has said](https://time.com/5479762/michael-cohen-donald-trump-hush-payments-wrong/) Trump brokered the McDougal deal with Pecker. Trump has denied he directed Cohen to break the law. ## **What could his testimony reveal?** In this case, Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to the Stormy Daniels payment in order to corrupt the 2016 election.Pecker’s testimony will be key for the prosecution to show that important information was withheld from the American public, says Kaplan. “By entering into this catch and kill agreement, he was able to prevent the publication not just by the National _Enquirer_, but by anyone, of information that could have been important to the American people before they voted,” Kaplan says. “That's the theory of the case.” Prosecutors will likely use Pecker’s testimony to establish a pattern that shows the payments were part of an intentional cover-up, experts say. “What the prosecutors want to show the jury is that Trump and Cohen had a plan. They knew there was information that could be damaging, whether it's true or not, and that they wanted to prevent it from getting out before the election.” says Edelson. “If they can show that this was part of a broader scheme, it wasn't something that happened once, I think that that paints a picture for the jury that this was a coordinated planning conspiracy.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/"},"headline":"Who Is David Pecker, the First Witness in the Trump Hush-Money Trial?","datePublished":"2024-04-22T16:49:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-19T11:52:43.000Z","description":"Pecker, prosecutors are expected to argue, aided Trump in numerous “catch-and-kill” schemes to bury negative stories about the then-presidential candidate as he ran for office in 2016.","url":"https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Explainer","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt606cec2b9ff7161a/698a55d7d075339df9e70af8/david-pecker-trump-trial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simmone Shah","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt606cec2b9ff7161a/698a55d7d075339df9e70af8/david-pecker-trump-trial.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"david-pecker-trump-trial","caption":"David Pecker, chair and CEO of American Media, speaks at the Shape and Men's Fitness Super Bowl Party in New York City, Jan. 31, 2014.","creditText":"Marion Curtis—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6969739/david-pecker-witness-trump-hush-money-trial/","name":"Who Is David Pecker, the First Witness in the Trump Hush-Money Trial?"}}]}] ```