Is Trump Afraid of This Key Hush-Money Trial Witness?

An old-friend-turned-witness against Donald Trump in the former president’s New York hush-money trial has spent the better part of the week throwing Trump under the bus—but for whatever reason, Trump still hasn’t slung any mud back.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer and former CEO of its parent company, American Media Inc., has so far told the court under oath that Trump coordinated a scheme to pay off his former mistresses ahead of the 2016 presidential election, that Trump administration officials Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders would lend their own approval for the scheme once Trump was in office, that Trump’s effort to bury the affair rumors was singularly intended to sway the 2016 presidential election, and that the payments apparently skirted FEC campaign finance laws. And yet Trump has remained uncharacteristically quiet about Pecker, refusing to take down the former tabloid executive—causing some legal experts to ask why.

“He hasn’t done a darn thing to tear down Pecker,” trial lawyer Michael Popok told the “LegalAF” podcast. “Pecker is dumping willingly on Donald Trump and supporting the entire case.”

That’s notably different from Trump’s treatment of his other ex-allies. His former fixer Michael Cohen, for instance, has become a frequent target of Trump’s social media vitriol, even though Cohen, a witness in the criminal trial, is technically protected by the gag order imposed on Trump.

But some legal experts believe that Trump’s silence could be an indication that Pecker has even more dirt on the GOP presidential nominee.

“My guess is that from Trump’s vantage point, Pecker has a lot of power, because he can create stories (including negative and even fake ones) about HIM! So he has power/leverage; not in Trump’s interest to antagonize him,” wrote former FBI agent and attorney Asha Rangappa on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Pecker can’t lie, he is already on record and AMI has a non prosecution agreement stipulating to certain facts, so I doubt that is the expectation,” she added.

Trump is accused of using Cohen to sweep an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels under the rug ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He faces 34 felony charges in this case for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts.