Photo: Pool / Getty Images News / Getty Images
The hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is now over, with David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, taking the stand.
Pecker and the Enquirer aware accused of covering up damaging stories about Trump.
In 2018, Pecker was granted immunity by federal prosecutors in their investigation into former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to hush money payments issued to women he said he made under Trump’s direction, after he spoke with prosecutors about Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
Earlier in the day, Judge Juan Merchan ruled against the prosecution, which wanted to use the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tapes in the case.
Today’s session ended early because one of the jurors had a dentist appointment.
Trump faces 34 counts of business fraud in a scheme to pay off Daniels to make sure an account of his alleged extramarital sexual encounter with her did not get published on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, threatening his ultimately narrow victory over Hillary Clinton. This is the first of four criminal cases against Trump, which include trials over the 2020 election in Washington and Atlanta, and a classified documents case in Florida.