Turley inside the court: Jury rehears testimony from Pecker about killing negative Trump stories

Jury now hearing Pecker's testimony of when he received a call from Donald Trump. He said that Trump told him that Karen "is a nice girl" and that he heard that there was a group trying to buy McDougal's story and asked what Pecker thought he should do. Pecker recommended buying the story. Pecker said that he believed that the story would be embarrassing "both to himself and to his campaign." That is an interesting passage because it shows a dual interest in avoiding such stories. Pecker also testified that he previously killed stories for Trump (before he ran for office) and did so for a number of other celebrities.

Another snippet of testimony is from the direct examination of Pecker by Steinglass on the agreement that was not executed. Pecker testified that he no longer wanted to be reimbursed for the money paid to McDougal in speaking with Cohen. He said that he was not going forward and wanted to "rip up the agreement." He said Cohen was "screaming" at him and said that "I am the lawyer...and can't understand why he is concerned."

The jury then heard a snippet from Pecker when the same phone call came in while Pecker was at an investor's meeting. This second recollection included that Trump said "I normally do not buy stories because they always come out." That is the second such observation from Trump. Pecker pushed that they should purchase it.