Trump hush money trial live updates: David Pecker returns to witness stand

Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:

Bove has less than an hour of cross-examination left. Then there’s some redirect.

It’s highly likely that Pecker will be done today.

I doubt we’ll get an idea who the next witness will be for Monday, but last time prosecutors gave the defence a heads-up the afternoon before.

Thus far, Bove hasn’t done much if anything to undermine Pecker’s credibility, and Pecker’s description of events is consistent with his prior testimony.

Jurors are only getting the defence’s perspective, not anything new about what happened.

“This is the FBI’s interview, is that correct? These are the FBI notes? The FBI notes, some of these here, are wrong. I know what I testified to yesterday,” says Pecker.

Are you saying the FBI made a mistake here?

“I know what the truth is. I can’t state why it’s written this way.”

Bove: “Your testimony is inconsistent with what’s written here?”

Steinglass, loudly: “Objection.”

Morning recess. 15 minutes.

During that meeting on 6 January 2017, according to Pecker yesterday, Trump told him “I want to thank you for handling the McDougal situation” and “the doorman situation”.

Bove: “Was that a mistake?”

Bove: “Do you believe Trump said that to you as we sit here right now?”

Bove reminds him about what prosecutors in other meetings have said about the importance of telling the truth, and how it could be criminal if he does not.

He is reminded of a report from a meeting with law enforcement about the meeting that notes that “Trump did not express any gratitude towards Pecker and AMI.”

Bove shows the interview report to Pecker.

He’s been scanning the document and can’t seem to find what Bove is telling him.

Questioning now turns to the topic of Stormy Daniels.

“You did not authorise [editor Dylan] Howard to speak to Keith Davidson about Stormy Daniels?” Yes.

What Howard did was “unauthorised and outside of his employment?”

Steinglass objects. It’s sustained.

When Howard told him that Michael Cohen has not paid Keith Davidson, “you were surprised to hear that” because you told him to “stay out of it” and you were “not happy.”

“The main concern was Howard’s reputation,” Bove says. “The concern was Dylan Howard would look bad [if he doesn’t pay his sources] … And he said that to you.”

“And so you and Howard called Cohen, said to Cohen, I want you to know I’m not paying or doing anything on this. And you meant it.” Pecker agrees.

Bove is asking about the meeting that Pecker walked into with James Comey, Sean Spicer et al when he was being briefed on the Fort Lauderdale mass shooting.

“You knew that after that meeting there were some issues between President Trump and James Comey, right?”

There is an objection, a sidebar with Judge Merchan, and then the objection is sustained.

The court is now looking at the payment to McDougal.

Bove asks whether everyone who signed on to this was following procedure, and that there were no “false entries.”

“You didn’t do anything inappropriate when you consulted counsel [about McDougal]? … When you told Cohen the deal was ‘bulletproof’, you meant it because you had legal advice?”

In reference to Keith Davidson [McDougal’s lawyer], Bove asks about him learning that Dylan Howard was “using a major attorney as a source”?

Pecker: “I wouldn’t classify him as a major attorney.”

Pecker says Howard was just one of “50, several other editors” at the time, and “they all have their own sources” and how they get stories. He’s suggesting there wasn’t anything unusual about that pipeline.

The “major attorney” answer got a laugh in the overflow room. Pecker smirked a bit.

Bove turns to the agreement signed by Karen McDougal, focusing on the bulk of that arrangement, concerning her role working for AMI properties.

“AMI told Ms McDougal that her promotion to AMI magazines would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?”

“Running 65 stories with Ms McDougal’s name?”

“When AMI signed this agreement … you believed it had a legitimate business purpose, correct?”

Yesterday, Pecker said he included those roles to “substantiate the $150,000 payment” to buy the rights to her story: “With respect to campaign, uh, laws, I wanted to have the contract be a record that stipulates that – for the services that she was going to perform for American Media – has a basis for it.”

Bove recalls Cohen trying to get a job with Mark Cuban in summer 2016, and Cohen calling on Pecker for a “little help” to arrange paparazzi to cover a meeting between them.

Publishing those photos would “put pressure on Trump to treat Cohen differently” Bove says.

“Michael Cohen never said that to me,” Pecker says. He admits that it could’ve looked that way.