Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal weaknesses have resurfaced in former President Trump's trial over allegations he made secret payments to the porn star in an attempt to cover up their sexual relationship.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified Thursday that he was reluctant to pay a Playboy model who claimed she had an extramarital affair with Trump because of his experiences with Schwarzenegger during his 2003 gubernatorial campaign.
“A number of women called” the tabloid with allegations of meetings with Schwarzenegger, Pecker said, adding that before the governor's bid, the bodybuilder-turned-movie star made an agreement with Schwarzenegger that “I would call him and tell him about all the stories that were out there , and I ended up buying them for a while.”
Pecker said as he testified to suppress stories about Trump's relationships with Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actor Stormy Daniels. The lawsuit centers on paying Daniels $130,000 not to disclose an alleged meeting with Trump, 77, in 2006. He has denied having affairs with both women.
'catch and kill'
The case centers on “catch and kill,” a strategy by tabloids like the Enquirer to get the rights to a story and then bury it.
Pecker testified that his company reached out to 30 to 40 women after Schwarzenegger announced his gubernatorial bid in 2003 over alleged sexual relations with or harassment by the actor, and said he spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to obtain the rights to the stories women.
The Times reported in 2005 that days after Schwarzenegger entered the race, the publisher of the Enquirer agreed to pay a woman $20,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement about an alleged affair with the action star and signed a $1,000 contract with one of her friends .
Governor as magazine editor
Before the election, The Times reported that more than a dozen women had accused Schwarzenegger of groping them, and after he left office, the paper said he fathered a child with a member of his household while he was married to the Kennedy heir. and former journalist Maria Shriver.
Months after Schwarzenegger was elected governor, Pecker announced that former Mr. Universe will serve as executive editor of Muscle & Fitness and FLEX magazines.
Schwarzenegger ended the deal in 2005 after The Times and Sacramento Bee reported it, according to a report by The Times.
Representatives of the former governor did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
A corrosive relationship
Questioning from Trump lawyer Emil Bove on Thursday prompted Pecker to describe his deal with Schwarzenegger and his subsequent doubts about dealing with Trump because of how such deals comply with campaign finance laws.
The former president had an acrimonious relationship with Schwarzenegger, who replaced Trump as host of the reality TV competition “Celebrity Apprentice” and spoke out against his fellow Republican.
Since leaving office in 2011, Schwarzenegger has rebooted his Hollywood career and focused his political efforts on fighting climate change and gerrymandering. After the January 6 uprising in the US Capitol, he particularly spoke about his personal experiences from his childhood in Austria after World War II.
