Testimony ends for the day in Trump hush money trial

During cross-examination today, Trump attorney Emil Bove asked the former National Enquirer publisher about stories involving other celebrities and politicians. 

Trump’s attorney sought to establish with David Pecker that AMI used “checkbook journalism” to control narratives in the press and fostered mutually beneficial relationships with several celebrities – not just Trump.

Pecker continued to respond “yes” to most of Bove’s questions, effectively letting the Trump attorney weave a narrative with short responses from the publisher.

CNN has reached out for comment from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rahm Emanuel, Ari Emanuel, Mark Wahlberg and Tiger Woods.

Bove is now walking Pecker through his deal with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which he described earlier today during the prosecution's questioning.

Pecker this morning said he agreed to a "catch and kill" deal with Schwarzenegger in 2003 when Pecker was trying to acquire fitness magazines and shortly before Schwarzenegger announced his run for governor of California.

Earlier today, Pecker described how women reached out to him with stories about alleged relationships or alleged sexual harassment after Schwarzenegger announced his run.

Bove in court now stated that 30 or 40 women ended up coming to AMI with stories about Schwarzenegger. Pecker confirmed the statement.

Pecker says he spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for stories from women about Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect Pecker's testimony from this morning.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office discussed the non-prosecution agreement that David Pecker signed with prosecutors in an effort to get ahead of attacks from the defense, according to CNN legal analysts.

Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, and its parent company, American Media Inc., have been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. He has been on the stand for the last several days.

The prosecution wants “to be the first ones to point all this information out, so that the defense doesn't do it, because the defense can weaponize it if they bring out for the first time” that a witness has an agreement with prosecutors, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said.

The district attorney’s office is likely to argue that Pecker is “laying it all out on the line,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said, explaining how the prosecution will try to frame the agreement to the jury.

The defense, however, is likely to try to discredit Pecker and argue that he is in the pocket of the prosecution “because they're the ones who gave him a sweetheart deal,” Honig added.

Bove's tactic with his early questioning of Pecker is part of a strategy to argue that the publisher's work helping Trump during the 2016 election was nothing new or out of the ordinary.

Bove says: "Many politicians work with the media to promote their image." Pecker confirms that's accurate.

Pecker also confirms that he's had "mutually beneficial" relationships with other celebrities — not just Trump.

Bove asks if it's "standard operating procedure" for politicians to work with the media. "Yes," Pecker says.

Bove also walked Pecker through his "mutually beneficial" relationship with Trump, where Trump provided him with stories and information about "Celebrity Apprentice," and he tipped off Trump to negative stories and printed positive stories about Trump.

"Before this, you had not heard the phrase catch and kill?" Bove asked Pecker, referring to the hush money case investigation.

"That's correct," Pecker responded.

"The first time you had heard the phrase was from a prosecutor right?" Bove asked.

"That's correct," Pecker responded.

More context: The practice of "catch-and-kill" means buying exclusive rights to a story for the express purpose of never publishing the information. It is a tactic that gained widespread notoriety during the 2016 presidential election.

Pecker spent the morning taking the jury through the machinations of the Stormy Daniels' and Karen McDougal's “catch and kill” deal. 

Pecker confirmed during cross-examination that he has been giving Trump a heads up on negative stories for about 17 years before the election.

Bove clarifies with Pecker that dating back to the 1990's it was standard practice "to not publish negative stories about President Trump."