It was a busy day in Trump Legal Land, with a judge rejecting Donald’s effort to throw out his $90 million defamation judgment while the defendant sat in a criminal courtroom down the street.  About 240 miles south, the Supreme Court managed to announce the five men on the bench are totally cool with delaying Trump’s January 6th trial, even if they won’t grant the office Absolute Immunity from on High.

• On direct examination, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker said there was no discussion of protecting Trump’s family when he discussed the hush money payment.  He understood these catch-and-kill stories were related to the campaign.
• Trump once told Pecker, “I want to thank you for handling the McDougal situation and the doorman situation.”
• When Pecker walked into Trump’s office at Trump Tower where James Comer, Reince Preibus, Sean Spicer and then Chief of Staff Mike Pompeo had just given a briefing on a mass shooting.  Trump told his national security officials that Pecker “knew more than anybody else in this room.”  “No one laughed,” Pecker reported.  
• Trump repeatedly thanked Pecker for his assistance in prevailing in the 2016 election.  Trump called Pecker to thank him in the days after the inauguration and invited Pecker to the White House for a thank-you dinner in July 2017.  During one of Pecker’s visits to the White House, Trump inquired, “How is Karen doing?”
• Pecker met with McDougal, whom he had hired to keep her under contract and under wraps, in New York in 2017, further extending the conspiracy.  
• During a visit to the White House, Trump pulled Pecker aside and asked about McDonough, who was working for AMI as a columnist.  Pecker also testified he met with Trump about this at least two times at Trump Tower.  
• Pecker confirmed he signed a cooperative agreement with the Manhattan DA’s office in October 2019 that included immunity for his testimony.  
• According to Pecker, he contacted both Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the current Republican Arkansas Governor, to see if he needed to extend McDougal contract after Trump was in the White House.  Both stated they thought the contract should be extended.
• Switching to cross-examination by defense attorneys, Pecker said he had never heard of the phrase “catch and kill” before prosecutors used it.  While this may technically be true, Pecker said he had a “mutually beneficial” relationship promoting and protecting Trump for years before Trump entered politics.
• In exchanges with defense attorneys, Pecker spoke about celebrities and politicians about whom he stifles stories, saying he killed stories for Mark Wahlberg and Tiger Woods among others. 
• Trump’s lawyers got Pecker to admit that the National Enquirer spent “hundreds of thousands” of dollars buying stories from dozens of women who accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of having affairs or sexual impropriety.  Schwarzenegger, who has denied a number of affairs, did not pay Pecker any money.  
• Pecker met with the DOJ in 2018; Jeff Sessions was Attorney General at the time.  Pecker said he called Cohen at one point because he was worried after he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission.  Cohen told Pecker not to worry about it because “Trump had Sessions in his pocket.”