>>> HE KNOWS THE LAW AND THIS IS WHY HE'LL BE THE STAR WITNESS OF THIS CASE. AND WHY THE PROSECUTION ARE GOING TO BE RELYING ON HIM. HE COULD REALLY SET THE TABLE HERE. GOING BACK TO THAT MEETING AT TRUMP TOWER IN AUGUST OF 2015, TWO MONTHS AFTER DONALD TRUMP GOES DOWN THE ESCALATOR WITH WHERE THEY HAD THIS MEETING, IT IS MICHAEL COHEN AND HIGH SCHOOL TRUMP AND IT IS DAVID PECKER AND WHERE PECKER SAID HE'LL BE THE EYES AND EARS OF THE CAMPAIGN. >> LACKLAN CARTWRIGHT. THE DETAILS THAT DAVID PECKER'S FORMER EDITOR TOLD US ABOUT, THAT HIS BOSS COULD SHARE WITH THE JURY AS HE'S DONE TODAY. IT IS A RELATIONSHIP THAT PECKER DESCRIBED AS MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL INSTEAD OF THE CASE OF THE STORIES THAT WERE KILLED AN IT IS A RELATIONSHIP THAT GREW OVER TIME INTO IN PERSON VISITS EVERY MONTH AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCED HIS CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT. PECKER DETAILS THE SECRET PLAN TO CATCH AND KILL ANY NEGATIVE STORIES ABOUT TRUMP AND WOMEN. SOMETHING HE WOULD RUN BY MICHAEL COHEN AS WELL AS THE QUOTE EMBELLISHED NEGATIVE STORY THAT'S RON HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT, ABOUT TRUMP'S POLITICAL RIVALS. PECKER SAID, THEY PLEASED BOTH TRUMP AND COHEN AND PECKER ADMITTED THEY BENEFITED THE CAMPAIGN, EXPLICITLY. JOINING OUR CONVERSATION, NPR MEDIA CONVERSATION, DAVID HOLCOMB IS HERE. AND DAVID, YOU'RE THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT WE'RE LEARNING FOR THE FIRST TIME FROM DAVID PECKER'S TESTIMONY? >> IT IS PRETTY STARK. TO THINK ABOUT PRACTICES THAT WERE IN AFFECT AT THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER. IF YOU STOPPED SOMEONE ON THE STREET AND SAID IS THE GOSSIP TABLOID GOING BE AN AVATAR OR HAVE SECRET AGENDAS MADE FOR THE STORIES THEY PUBLIC OR DON'T PUBLISH. AND PEOPLE THOUGHT GOSH, THERE MIGHT BE SOME GIVE AND TAKE MAYBE THERE IS SOME FAVORITISM. BUT WHAT WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT HERE IS THAT THIS TABLOID, THAT IS CONSUMED BY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, OFTEN ON CHECK OUT STANDS AND OFTEN AT HOME, OFTEN THESE DAYS ONLINE, SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA, WAS PICKING AND KILLING WHAT STORIES TO PUBLISH ON THE BASIS OF WHAT WOULD HELP A FRIEND OFITY PUBLISHER DAVID PECKER, A FRIEND BY THE NAME OF DONALD TRUMP AND ACCORDING TO PECKER'S OWN TESTIMONY, WHAT MIGHT EMBARRASS HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAME IN THAT 2016 CYCLE. PECKER WAS ON BOARD IN 2016 WALKING THROUGH STORIES WITH MICHAEL COHEN ABOUT WHAT THINGS THEY SHOULD PICK TO GO AFTER, HILLARY CLINTON AND HE HAD PREVIOUS THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT KIND OF STORIES EARLIER IN THE CYCLE MIGHT EMBARRASS TRUMP'S REPUBLICAN RILES, TED CRUZ AND MARCO RUBIO AND WHICH STORIES COULD WE KEEP FROM SEEING LIGHT OF DAY. THIS IS NOT EVEN A TABLOID GOSSIP IMPULSE. THIS IS A PARTISAN OR PROPAGANDA ARM OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN. >> WHAT IS EXTRAORDINARY, I TAKE YOUR POINT ABOUT A BASELINE UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER. BUT WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT PECKER'S TESTIMONY IS ALL OF THINGS THAT THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER DID FOR THE FIRST TIME TO BENEFIT THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN. AND AMONG THOSE, THEY PAID SUMS THAT THEY'VE NEVER PAID BEFORE. A TYPICAL SOURCE PAYMENT WOULD BE $250 AND IF IT IS A CELEBRITY, UP TO $10,000 AND I MAD THAT DECISION BECAUSE OF THAT POTENTIAL EMBARRASSMENT IT WOULD BRING TO THE CAMPAIGN AND TRUMP. AND THE OME THING THEY HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE IS PAY THE SUMS FOR THINGS THAT DIDN'T BENEFIT THEM FOR STORIES KILLED SO HISTORY WAS MADE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP WITH "THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER" AND THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN. >> IT IS AN INVERSION OF EVERYTHING THAT YOU THINK MOTIVATED A TABLOID PUBLISHER. YOU'RE PAYING A DOORMAN MONEY BECAUSE HE'S PEDDLING A STORY THAT HE'S BROUGHT TO YOU, I THINK ON THE TIP LINE AS LOCKLAN CARTWRIGHT HAS REMEMBERED IT, BUT NONETHELESS, HE'S BROUGHT TO YOU SAYING THAT TRUMP HAD IMPREGNATED A MAID AT TRUMP TOWER AND THEY DON'T USE THIS TO SEE HOW COULD THIS SELL ZILLIONS OF COPIES AND HE SAID HE WAS SUBJECT NUMBER ONE FOR READERSHIP AND HE WOULD DWARF ANYTHING ELSE IN TERMS OF THE INTEREST OF THEIR AUDIENCE AND WE'RE GOING TO TAKE THIS OUT OF CIRCULATION UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION BECAUSE THAT IS GOING TO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND TRUMP THE POLITICIAN. NOT ABOUT HEY I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD MEAN FOR HIS MARRIAGE. NOT ABOUT GOSH, HIS SON BARRON IS STILL YOUNG. NONE OF THAT COMES UP HERE. THIS IS ALL ABOUT WORKING WITH SOMEBODY WHO IS WORKING HAND AND GLOVE ON CAME MATTERS, MICHAEL COHEN IS PUTTING OUT KIND OF ERUPTIONS THAT HAVE BESET POLITICS SENSE JUST AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BUT ARE PLAYING OUT IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND IN FRONT OF OUR EYES ON CABLE NEWS AND EVERYWHERE ELSE. >> AND EVEN EIGHT YEARS AGO, WHEN YEAR TALKING ABOUT NATIONAL ENQUIRER AND WHAT MICHAEL COHEN AND DONALD TRUMP SAW IN TERMS OF THE ABILITY AND THE REACH, YOU COULD TAKE US BACK TO THAT MOMENT THERE AND WHAT MICHAEL COHEN, I DON'T THINK MARCO RUBIO OR TED CRUZ WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT IS WHAT THEY WERE PITCHING AT THE TIME DAVID PECKER ASIDE, WHAT DID THEY OFFER DONALD TRUMP AND MICHAEL COHEN? >> WELL IT SEEMS TO ME IF I UNDERSTAND YOUR QUESTION CORRECTLY, THAT THE IDEA IS WHAT ROLE THAT THE "NATIONAL ENQUIRER" COULD PLACE AND YOU THINK IT IS A DINOSAUR BUT IN REALITY, EVEN THOUGH IT IS BEING IN SOME WAYS -- EVEN THOUGH IT IS BEING SUPERCEDED BY THINGS ONLINE, WHAT THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER IS ABLE TO DO IS SERVE AS A ME MENTION, A DEFINE OF THE NEWS CYCLE AND GINNING THINGS UP ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON ENABLED BILL CLINTON'S CONTINUAL SEXUAL DALLIANCES AND HIS BAD BEHAVIOR, TO KEEP HILLARY IN THE HEADLINES, TO RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT HER HEALTH AND HER COMPETENCE AND BILL CLINTON'S CHARACTER AND DEFLECTING FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP HIMSELF. THIS IS WHAT YOU WOULD NOW SEE ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA WARRIORS DOING FOR CAMPAIGNS AND OFTEN IN THEIR EMPLOYEE AND IN THE TOP LEVELS OF THE INNER WORLD OF TRUMP'S WORLD AND ENSURING THAT MAIN STREET PRESS OUTLETS ARE FOLLOWING ITS LEAD ABOUT WHAT THE STORY THEY'RE PURSUING AND
