Testimony ends for the day in Trump hush money trial

The prosecutor is showing an invoice that was prepared for the reimbursement. Pecker is explaining why the invoice is prepared by Investor Advisory Services, a company owned by a former AMI employee who became a consultant.

Pecker is explaining he used this outside service for large reimbursements, because he had "difficult experiences" within the company where his finance department would tell tabloid editors about expenses, like flying a celebrity in a private jet.

Pecker says he told the consultant, "I don’t want to have a check from the Trump Organization going through American Media."

As lawyers approach the bench for a sidebar, Trump is sitting at the defense table with his lawyer Susan Necheles. He's leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Trump just stretched a bit with his arms forward and let out a short sigh. He is now talking to Necheles.

Pecker is explaining that he negotiated with Cohen the amount he would sell the lifetime rights for the McDougal story.

Pecker says that he valued the editorial work that McDougal would do for AMI at $25,000, so he would sell the lifetime rights for $125,000.

Pecker says Cohen was anxious to get the lifetime rights signed over to him on Trump's behalf.

Pecker told Cohen he would have the contract done by the end of September.

Pecker says that he saw this as a way to recoup at least some of the money he'd laid out for Trump.

"Yes, as I said, it was coming toward the end of the quarter, so I wanted to see if I could get funds refunded before September 30," Pecker says.

Pecker testifies that Michael Cohen was insistent about getting all of the content AMI had on Trump.

Pecker says he told Cohen it was boxes of old news articles and old files. But Pecker says Cohen insisted Trump wanted the boxes.

Cohen called Pecker constantly in September 2016 to get the boxes to his office, Pecker says.

As to why Cohen wanted the documents, Pecker says: "The boss said if I got hit by a bus or if the company got sold, he didn't want someone else to potentially publish those stories."

Pecker says he discussed the reimbursement for the McDougal deal with Cohen after AMI laid out the money.

Pecker says he asked Cohen "on a number of occasions" how the company would be reimbursed.

The former tabloid executive says he wanted the repayment before September 30, when the company's quarter ended. He wanted the "proper true ups" on the various accounts at AMI, Pecker adds.

Pecker says he was explaining to Cohen why he kept discussing the issue of repayment.

"I wanted to explain to him why it was so important to be reimbursed," Pecker told the court.

Earlier in his testimony, Pecker said Cohen referred to Trump as "the boss."

Steinglass is asking Pecker why he didn't want other outlets to publish McDougal's story.

"We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign," Pecker says.

Pecker clarifies that when he says "we," he's referring to is himself and Michael Cohen.

Pecker testifies that he wouldn't have entered into the agreement if it weren't for Trump's benefit.

Trump's attorney objected to a series of questions by Steinglass about Pecker's knowledge of campaign finance laws at the time of the transaction. The objection is overruled.

Steinglass is asking whether Pecker was aware that corporations making campaign expenditures in coordination with a campaign without disclosing them was unlawful.

Yes, Pecker says.

Pecker also confirms the transaction was not reported under campaign finance obligations.

Trump passed a note from one of his attorneys to the other at that moment.

Steinglass is asking whether Pecker had any intention of printing McDougal's story about Donald Trump.

"No, we did not," Pecker says.

Steinglass followed up, asking whether Pecker's intention was so that her story did not influence the 2016 election.

"Yes, it was," Pecker says.

David Pecker testified that he had concerns about the legality of the catch and kill deals. In 2016, Pecker testified he consulted an election law attorney when AMI was structuring the catch and kill contract with Karen McDougal and said that AMI’s in-house attorney was aware of the deal.

Still, AMI moved forward and signed a deal with McDougal, including rights to any stories involving married men, with no intention of publishing health and fitness articles they promised her.

Two years later, AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors investigating Michael Cohen. Under the deal, AMI admitted it violated federal campaign finance laws by making a $150,000 donation to Trump’s campaign while coordinating with the campaign. AMI never disclosed the contribution to the Federal Election Commission. As part of the deal, Pecker cooperated with federal prosecutors.

During questioning Thursday, Pecker said he knew at the time the 2016 deal was illegal and he wouldn’t have entered into it if it wasn’t for Trump’s benefit.