Pecker is testifying he didn't know the details of the transaction between Cohen and Daniels in real time.
He said he later learned Cohen had paid Daniels out of his own funds. "That was the first time I had heard of that," he says.
Testimony ends for the day in Trump hush money trial
By CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Brynn Gingras from the courthouse
Updated 9:03 p.m. ET, April 25, 2024
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Pecker says he learned later that Cohen paid Daniels with his own money
Pecker says Cohen asked him about boxes of information on Trump after the election
Pecker testified that he met with Cohen at Trump Tower after the election, and that Cohen was still asking about the boxes of information about Trump. Pecker says he was not going to let Cohen go through the boxes.
Pecker assured Cohen there's nothing damaging to be worried about in the boxes, he testified.
AMI amended deal with McDougal, Pecker testifies
Pecker says that after the Wall Street Journal published its story on the agreement between McDougal and AMI, AMI amended the deal.
AMI received a call from a new lawyer saying McDougal wanted to amend the agreement because she would like to speak to the press, Pecker says.
Pecker says that Michael Cohen "highly recommended" he did not amend the agreement. "He said, 'it was a very bad idea,' adding that the Trump would be very angry.
But Pecker says that he did not take Cohen's advice.
Pecker says they hired a press consultant for McDougal
Pecker is saying he wanted McDougal to speak to the press because the Wall Street Journal "already set the stage and tone" to what the story was.
Pecker said he wanted to keep control of the story so it didn't go further in the market
They hired a a press consultant for McDougal who reported to Pecker, the former tabloid executive testified.
Pecker admits AMI falsely denied it was killing negative stories about Trump
Following the Wall Street Journal story, AMI issued a statement denying it was killing negative stories about Trump, Pecker says.
On the stand, Pecker is acknowledging the denials were false.
Asked why he did it Pecker says, "I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump."
Trump was upset after Wall Street Journal published article about AMI-McDougal deal, Pecker says
Steinglass is now asking Pecker about a Wall Street Journal story from November 2016 about McDougal's agreement with AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company.
In the article, the Journal questioned Pecker's relationship with Donald Trump at the time, Pecker says, adding it was published just days before the 2016 election.
Pecker says he spoke with Trump about the article the day after it was published. Trump was very upset, asking, "How could this happen? I thought you had this under control," Pecker says.
According to Pecker, Trump told him, "Either you or one of your people leaked the story."
Meanwhile: Federal judge upholds E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict and denies motion for a new trial
From CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield
While Donald Trump sits in a Manhattan courtroom in his criminal hush money trial, a federal judge upheld E. Jean Carroll's defamation verdict and denied the former president's motion for a new trial Thursday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump’s legal arguments are without merit, according to a written opinion. The judge also found that the punitive damages the jury awarded Trump pass "constitutional muster.”
Trump is also separately appealing the verdict.
Pecker says Cohen requested they use the encrypted messaging app Signal for conversations
Pecker testified that he got on a call via the encrypted message app Signal with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard and Cohen, where Cohen once again told Pecker to buy Daniel' story.
"I said, 'I am not paying for this story. I didn’t want to be involved in this from the beginning. I’m not doing it," Pecker told the court.
Pecker said that the call was made on Signal at Cohen's request. "Michael Cohen requested every time we have a conversation that we should use the Signal app," Pecker said.
Pecker testifies that Cohen told him Trump would be furious if he didn't purchase the Daniels' story
Pecker explained how he spoke to Cohen to tell him that American Media Inc. would not be purchasing Daniels' story.
"I am not purchasing this story," Pecker said he told Cohen at the time. "I am not going to be involved with a porn star."
Cohen then told Pecker that the boss would be furious with him. Pecker said earlier in his testimony that Cohen referred to Trump as "the boss."
"We’re not paying out any more monies," Pecker said he explained.
Pecker said that former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard, continued to talk to Cohen about the story, against Pecker's orders. Howard was upset about Cohen's negotiations with Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson.
According to Pecker, Howard said Cohen was going to wire the funds to Davidson twice, but never did. Howard was concerned he'd look bad to his two top sources over Cohen's behavior.
