This is a very big deal because it reveals that David Peckerâs value as a cooperating witness may be far greater than previously known.
A couple days ago the news broke that Pecker, Trumpâs long-time friend who publishes the National Enquirer, has become a cooperating witness for prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. (BTW, although Pecker was flipped by the SDNY, Iâm posting this in the Mueller thread because Iâm confident that Mueller will now also be interviewing this cooperating witness â if he hasnât already.)
The focus so far has been on Peckerâs corroboration of Michael Cohenâs testimony regarding the hush money payments made by Cohen, allegedly at Trumpâs direction and allegedly done so with Trumpâs full knowledge that the payments were a violation of campaign finance laws (this is one of the crimes for which Cohen himself will be serving prison time). So Peckerâs cooperation is already big news. However, this breaking story from The Daily Beast shows that Pecker may have knowledge that is far more damaging to the Trump administration and Jared Kushner in particular. No specific allegations have been made. However, the fact that Pecker was in close contact with Kushner during the early days of Trumpâs presidency and is now spilling everything he knows, has got to be devastating news for Kushner and the Administration.
Another angle here is that we now have reason to believe that Mueller is expanding his investigation into the shady (to say the least) ties between Trump and the Middle East. Kushner is Trumpâs point man there and Pecker has close ties there as well, especially with Saudi Arabiaâs Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, accused of ordering the murder of Jamal Kashoogi â Pecker even facilitated a massive publicity blitz for the prince.
Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trumpâs son-in-law Jared Kushner was handed a task considered critical to the presidentâs operations. In addition to serving as a senior adviser in the White House, he would also be playing the role of the main conduit between Trump and his friend David Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher and chief executive of AMI, who prosecutors said on Wednesday admitted to making a $150,000 hush-money payment âin concert withâ the Trump campaign.
During the early months of the Trump era, Kushner performed the task admirably, discussing with Pecker various issues over the phone, including everything from international relations to media gossip, according to four sources familiar with the situation. Pecker, for his part, bragged to people that he was speaking to the presidentâs son-in-law and, more generally, about the level of access he had to the upper echelons of the West Wing, two sources with knowledge of the relationship recountedâŚ
Pecker, after all, was no bit player. He has been a valuable asset within Trumpâs orbit, at least until federal investigators came knocking. His ties to Trump began well before the president was elected to office. But before Kushner was his main conduit, that role was played by Michael Cohen, the presidentâs former attorney and fixerâŚ
Pecker had banked on Cohen remaining in Trumpâs political inner sanctum after the election. But during the presidential transition, it became clear that Trumpâs then-fixer wouldnât be landing a plum job in the administrationâŚ
But Cohenâs slow-burning troubles and exile from Trumpworld nevertheless meant that Pecker needed a new point person in the White House. And according to four sources, he settled on Kushner.
It was an easy choice, given that the two men had a pre-existing relationship. Two people with direct knowledge of their acquaintance say that Kushner and Pecker got to know each other years before Trumpâs election, when Pecker was thinking about forging a business relationship with Kushner, who at the time owned The New York ObserverâŚ
AMI [Peckerâs media company], like Kushner, cozied up to the despotic Saudi government, which included the production of a glossy propaganda magazine boosting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In July 2017 ⌠Pecker visited both Trump and Kushner at the White House, bringing along with him Kacy Grine, a French businessman with ties to the Saudi business elite and royal family, as The New York Times reported early this yearâŚ
âThis is beyond the scope of David Peckerâs collusion or cooperation in snuffing out bad stories,â said Jerry George, a former Enquirer Los Angeles bureau chief and assistant managing editor of all the AMI titles. âIt goes to the core of Trumpworld."
