Trump Attorney Destroys Bragg Case Right Out of the Gate

This week, former Trump ally, National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, was called as the prosecution’s first witness.

Bragg’s team tried to paint his actions as manipulating media stories to help influence the election, all part of this big conspiracy charge that he needs to prove against Trump.

It took Trump's Defense attorney, Emil Bove, about 10 seconds to destroy that theory on cross-examination.

The Norm

For years, publishers have purchased stories for the purpose of killing them.

This is done for various reasons, including gaining leverage over the individual in question for an exclusive interview or for a host of other reasons.

According to prosecutors, when Pecker did this regarding an alleged affair between Donald Trump and Karen McDougal, it was a “conspiracy” to influence the presidential election.

Bove started to poke holes in that theory as soon as he was able to cross-examine Pecker.

Pecker then explained that Trump was “good for business,” so Pecker would often tip Trump off about possible negative stories, and Trump returned the favor by giving him the inside scoop on “The Apprentice.”

The media and prosecutors have accused Pecker of killing the McDougal story to help Trump, which Bove addressed, asking Pecker, “Before this investigation started, you had not heard the phrase ‘catch and kill,’ correct?”’

Pecker agreed, which drew an approving nod from Donald Trump at the defense table.

The truly damaging aspect of the cross-examination, however, was when Pecker started rattling off more names of stories that he had purchased and never published.

That list included Rahm Emanuel, current U.S. ambassador to Japan and former Democratic mayor of Chicago, and former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As noted above, this was often done to have leverage over the subject of the story, and nothing more.

Believe me, if Donald Trump was not the subject of those stories, this case would never have gone to court.