Defense questions Pecker on National Enquirer's motives

National Enquirer tabloid newspapers are arranged for a photograph at a newsstand in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Defense attorneys questioned former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker about the editorial process of his tabloid, the National Enquirer, and whether the company buried Karen McDougal's story to help Trump's campaign. 

The point of the questions was to show that the Enquirer was motivated by profits, not politics, when it purchased the rights to McDougal's story about her alleged affair with Trump.

Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Pecker about the August 2015 meeting with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower and Pecker testified that prior to that meeting the Enquirer was already running negative stories about Bill and Hillary Clinton because it sold papers. 

"Running those stories was good for [American Media Inc.]," Pecker said. 

Bove introduced several examples of the Enquirer running negative stories about Trump's opponents in the 2016 Republican primary, including Ben Carson and Ted Cruz. The attorney noted that some of the information in those articles was publicly available and published in other outlets, including The Guardian.

Pecker agreed with Bove that recycling material with a new angle is quick, easy and good for business. Pecker testified the Enquirer would've ran those stories even if he hadn't discussed it with Trump. 

This line of questioning builds the defense team's narrative that negative stories about Trump's opponents were in the public domain, and other outlets covered them well before American Media Inc. If those other publications aren't being charged with campaign violations, the reasoning goes, why should Trump be for working with AMI?