David Pecker Biography Flash a weekly Biography.
David Pecker has been everywhere in news headlines this past week as a historic witness in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial over hush money payments. As former publisher of the National Enquirer and longtime Trump ally, Pecker’s courtroom testimony offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at strategies used to suppress damaging stories during the 2016 presidential campaign. ABC News reports that Pecker was summoned to Trump Tower twice after the 2016 election, meeting directly with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. Pecker recounted how Cohen confided concerns over his bonus for orchestrating the hush money deal with Stormy Daniels and Pecker, in turn, lobbied Trump on Cohen’s behalf. Pecker testified that Trump sounded reassuring, promising, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it.”
In front of a packed courtroom, Pecker detailed negotiating the $150,000 McDougal deal to quiet a former Playboy model’s affair claims, and he vividly described late-night calls as Stormy Daniels threatened to go public. Instead of buying Daniels’ story himself, Pecker testified he advised Cohen to arrange the deal directly, saying, “I am not purchasing this story, I am not going to get involved with a porn star,”—which Cohen said would anger Trump. Pecker added that after a front-page Wall Street Journal report outed these “catch and kill” arrangements, Trump called him in a fury, worried the deal had been exposed and demanding to know how it got out. Pecker’s company then publicly denied the story, but he admitted under oath that the denial was untrue and intended to protect himself, his business, and Trump.
Pecker further revealed how, after Trump’s election, he released McDougal from her agreement against Cohen’s wishes, trying to keep some degree of control over the unfolding story. During a post-election visit to Trump Tower, Pecker recalled Trump thanking him personally for handling the McDougal and doorman situations, which Pecker interpreted as gratitude for keeping negative stories out of the press.
While David Pecker’s testimony has dominated mainstream headlines, there are no reports in the past few days of new business ventures, public appearances outside court, or major movements on his social media accounts. However, his decades-long influence in the media world was recently recognized by an academic shoutout: the “David Pecker Distinguished Professor Lecture: AI in Publishing,” hosted at MS in Publishing in March 2025, highlighted Pecker’s lasting industry footprint.
No unsubstantiated rumors or speculative stories about David Pecker have surfaced on social media or business news. Every recent account traces back to his key role as a prosecution witness in the Trump hush money trial—a moment likely to shape how future biographies tell the story of American media and politics.
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