Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Escapades Raised “Sensitivity” To Election Law Violations, Ex-‘National Enquirer’ Boss Tells Donald Trump Hush Money Trial

deadline.com:

It was thanks in part to Arnold Schwarzenegger that the former publisher of the National Enquirer knew he could get in trouble for the tabloid’s catch-and-kill policy and buying off salacious stories about Donald Trump Over objections from Trump’s defense team, ex-American Media CEO David Pecker poignantly Thursday told the judge, jurors, Trump himself and everyone else in a packed Manhattan courtroom he was aware he was violating election law in 2016 when he secretly bought Playmate Karen McDougal’s story of an affair with Trump for $150,000.

Admitting the purchase was entirely to kill the story, Pecker said that the primary purpose behind the payoff and others in a similar vein was to help the then-Celebrity Apprentice host’s presidential campaign.

Such tactics were nothing new for Pecker. Under his deal with Schwarzenegger over 20 years ago, the former media executive said today, “I would call him and advise him of any stories that were out there, and I ended up acquiring them and buying them for a period of time.” Back on the stand in the Trump hush money trial Thursday, Pecker added, he gained a “sensitivity” to campaign finance law based what had gone down in the early 2000s with stories of Schwarzenegger’s alleged misconduct on film sets and elsewhere over the decades.

In the case of Trump and the McDougal story, Pecker came up short and the tale was published just days before the 2016 election by the Wall Street Journal.