Trump New York tri­al: Peck­er ran neg­a­tive Clin­ton sto­ries before 2015 meet­ing

The New York crim­i­nal hush mon­ey tri­al against for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump resumed Fri­day with the cross-exam­i­na­tion of David Peck­er, the for­mer pub­lish­er of the Nation­al Enquir­er, as defense attor­ney Emil Bove attempt­ed to dis­man­tle the prosecution’s case.
Under ques­tion­ing from Bove on Fri­day, Peck­er acknowl­edged his tabloid had already been run­ning neg­a­tive arti­cles about Hillary Clin­ton, who would become the Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee for pres­i­dent against Trump in 2016, before he agreed to help Trump sup­press sto­ries. Pros­e­cu­tors want the 12-mem­ber jury to view Pecker’s con­duct in run­ning neg­a­tive sto­ries on Trump’s polit­i­cal oppo­nents, while silenc­ing neg­a­tive press about the then-pres­i­den­tial can­di­date, as a unique pat­tern that proves Trump sought his ser­vices to influ­ence the pres­i­den­tial elec­tion.
But Peck­er admit­ted Fri­day that run­ning neg­a­tive sto­ries about Trump’s polit­i­cal foes was a prac­tice he engaged in well before a 2015 meet­ing with Trump and Trump’s for­mer attor­ney Michael Cohen, which the pros­e­cu­tion says marked the begin­ning of a “catch-and-ki …