Ex-National Enquirer Boss David Pecker Testifies He Consulted Top Trump Officials About Karen McDougal's Alleged Hush Money Contract

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that he once consulted with Donald Trump's top White House officials about a hush money contract with the former president's alleged mistress and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Pecker said he asked Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders about extending the two-year contract, which gave McDougal $150k for the rights to her story.

McDougal alleged she had a nine-month-long affair with Trump between 2006 and 07.

Pecker was also the CEO of National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc.. Per the alleged agreement with McDougal, the story would only be published by AMI and its entities.

MSNBC correspondent Vaughn Hillyard recounted these and other details revealed in Pecker's testimony on Thursday after the former tabloid boss once again took the stand in Trump's New York criminal trial.

Pecker reportedly testified that Hicks and Huckabee Sanders supported the idea of extending the contract, but that he let it "run out" after Trump told him, "It's your business," according to Hillyard.

Shortly afterward, in March 2018, McDougal went public about the alleged affair in a bombshell interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Pecker said that after the interview aired, he got an angry phone call from Trump, who demanded to know "how this happened," Hillyard reported.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to call Hicks to the stand, and Trump's White House executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout has also been identified as a potential witness.

Before proceedings on Thursday, Trump stood outside the Manhattan courthouse and told reporters how fond he was of Pecker.

“He’s been very nice. David’s been very nice. He’s a nice guy,” Trump stated, per Mediaite.

During his testimony, Pecker also admitted that he worked to keep employees in the AMI newsroom from learning about the alleged payments to McDougal.

“I believed that that payment would raise a lot of questions and issues and be communicated to the rest of the editors, which is something I didn’t want to happen,” he said, according to NBC. He reportedly also paid $30,000 to a doorman, who claimed that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock.

Pecker was the head of AMI from 1999 until his resignation in 2020.

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Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying his business records regarding the hush money he allegedly paid to McDougal, as well as to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

If convicted, Trump could spend more than four years behind bars. The trial is expected to last at least six weeks.