Nat’l Enquirer ex-publisher says tabloid made up stories to help Trump campaign

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified at Donald Trump’s trial Tuesday, April 23, detailing how the tabloid aimed to assist Trump in winning the White House. Pecker stated that the publication implemented its “catch and kill” strategy. That strategy involved purchasing and burying negative stories about the then-candidate during the 2016 election.

Pecker also admitted that the National Enquirer, with Trump’s assistance, fabricated and published the 2016 false story of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz. The story showed Rafael Cruz in a photo with Lee Harvey Oswald distributing pro-Fidel Castro flyers in New Orleans in 1963. The story insinuated that Rafael Cruz worked with Oswald prior to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

On the stand Tuesday, Pecker confessed that the tabliod fabricated both the photo and story.

Sen. Cruz was one of Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination, and Trump echoed the story on the campaign trail.

“His father, I don’t know his father,” Trump remarked about the story in July 2016. “I met him once. I think he’s a lovely guy, I think he’s a lovely guy. All I did was point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer there’s a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast. Ted never denied it was his father, instead he said ‘Donald Trump!’ I had nothing to do with it!”

On the stand, Pecker recalled a meeting at Trump Tower in New York City in 2015. Trump, Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen, Trump’s campaign communications director Hope Hicks and Pecker all attended. Pecker said they devised a plan for the National Enquirer to aid Trump’s campaign.

Pecker reiterated that Trump was directly involved in the process. He also admitted their friendship was “mutually beneficial.” He testified that he aimed to assist his friend in being elected by publishing favorable stories about him and negative stories about his competitors.

When the story about Rafael Cruz garnered attention, Sen. Cruz criticized Trump, labeling him a “pathological liar.”