David Pecker claims Michael Cohen would direct him to run negative stories on Donald Trump's opponents

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: David Pecker, a former tabloid executive, shared insights into the infamous "catch and kill" strategies that were orchestrated at the National Enquirer during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

As he took the stand as a witness during the second day of the hush money trial against the former president, Pecker said Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen would ask him and Dylan Howard, the then-editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, "to run a negative article" on a political opponent, such as Ben Carson, or Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio.

David Pecker claims Michael Cohen was part of Donald Trump's campaign 'in every aspect'

Despite Cohen's insistence that he was not part of Trump's campaign, Pecker said "Michael was physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on, at least at Trump organization, Trump Tower."

Detailing a meeting he had with Trump, Cohen, and political advisor Hope Hick in August 2015 in Trump Tower, the former publisher said, "I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me The Boss wanted to see me."

"When I spoke to Michael Cohen, that’s how he would refer to Donald Trump, as the boss," he recalled, saying he was not aware of the reason behind the meeting.

David Pecker says Michael Cohen and Donald Trump asked him what he could do to support the campaign

Speaking about the former president and his former attorney's requests, Pecker said, "Most of the time when I received a call from Michael Cohen, he wanted something."

"At that meeting, Donald Trump, and Michael, they asked me what can I do – and what my magazines could do – to help the campaign," he added.

"So, thinking about it, as I did previously, I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents and I said that I would also be the eyes and ears because I know that the Trump organization had a very small staff," he further noted.

"And then I said that anything I hear in the marketplace if I hear anything negative about yourself, or if I hear anything about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen as I did over the last several years," he continued.

"I would notify Michael Cohen and then he would be able to [have them] killed in another magazine or have them not be published or somebody would have to purchase them," Pecker added, according to The Guardian.

Internet reacts to David Pecker's claim Michael Cohen directed him to run negative stories

After Pecker claimed Cohen asked him to run negative stories against Trump's political opponents, netizens weighed in on the former publisher's testimony.

"Cohen knows everything and Trump is scared," a user wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while another user tweeted, "Sounds like campaign election interference. Ouch."

One user wrote, "This is a willful conspiracy with Trump knowing every detail of it. Hard to see how his lawyers will explain this without using unicorns and fairy dust magic."

"All these years and the truth is finally coming out," a netizen opined.

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