Update: The testimony is done in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and the jurors are off until next Tuesday, but Judge Juan Merchan still found cause this afternoon to call out one of Trump’s lawyers.
Merchan scolded lawyer Emil Bove during a conference on jury instructions for trying to resurrect a defense that the judge rejected during pre-trial motions. Merchan said it was “disingenuous” of Bove to bring the matter up again. It was a moment reminiscent of the judge warning defense lawyer Todd Blanche that he was “losing all credibility” during a gag order hearing in April.
The subject today was “advice of counsel,” in which defendants can lessen or eliminate their guilt by providing evidence that they relied on what their lawyers told them. More than two hours into the negotiation, Bove raised the subject — but apparently under a different name, “involvement of counsel.” The language...
Merchan scolded lawyer Emil Bove during a conference on jury instructions for trying to resurrect a defense that the judge rejected during pre-trial motions. Merchan said it was “disingenuous” of Bove to bring the matter up again. It was a moment reminiscent of the judge warning defense lawyer Todd Blanche that he was “losing all credibility” during a gag order hearing in April.
The subject today was “advice of counsel,” in which defendants can lessen or eliminate their guilt by providing evidence that they relied on what their lawyers told them. More than two hours into the negotiation, Bove raised the subject — but apparently under a different name, “involvement of counsel.” The language...
- 5/21/2024
- by Sean Piccoli
- Deadline Film + TV
Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial kicked off this week with witness testimony from media honcho David Pecker, who said that the former president was well aware of the catch-and-kill scheme and even thanked Pecker for his help in hiding two potentially “damaging” stories. The former American Media Inc. Chairman and CEO set the stage for the rest of the trial, giving a chronological overview of how he was brought into a meeting with Trump and his former fixer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015, two months after...
- 4/27/2024
- by Catherina Gioino
- Rollingstone.com
Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial reached the end of its second week as the prosecution’s first witness, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, returned to the stand on Friday.
Defense attorneys sought to challenge Pecker’s narrative of Trump’s alleged involvement in suppressing “embarrassing” stories in the 2016 campaign.
Throughout the week, Pecker testified that Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, had requested him to serve as their “eyes and ears” and uncover whatever salacious stories could harm Trump’s candidacy. Pecker also said that he was asked to publish negative stories about Trump’s opponents. In cross-examination, Trump’s attorney, Emil Bove, aimed to undermine Pecker’s credibility and highlighted instances in which he had mixed up dates and suggested that the passage of time could affect his memory.
Pecker admitted that he had killed over 30 stories about women who claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger had harassed...
Defense attorneys sought to challenge Pecker’s narrative of Trump’s alleged involvement in suppressing “embarrassing” stories in the 2016 campaign.
Throughout the week, Pecker testified that Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, had requested him to serve as their “eyes and ears” and uncover whatever salacious stories could harm Trump’s candidacy. Pecker also said that he was asked to publish negative stories about Trump’s opponents. In cross-examination, Trump’s attorney, Emil Bove, aimed to undermine Pecker’s credibility and highlighted instances in which he had mixed up dates and suggested that the passage of time could affect his memory.
Pecker admitted that he had killed over 30 stories about women who claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger had harassed...
- 4/26/2024
- by Baila Eve Zisman
- Uinterview
It’s been Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
The past and potentially future leader of the free world spent most of it in a dingy Manhattan courtroom, no longer the master of his domain. It’s a place where he dutifully sits down when the judge tells him to sit, where he’s unable to say whatever he wants, where he’s not allowed to use his phone. And worst of all, where there’s no red button for him to push when he wants a Diet Coke. And according to him, it was bitterly cold — “freezing,” in fact, sounding like your elderly uncle at Thanksgiving. Forget a legal defense; someone needs to give him a sweater.
The criminal hearing in which he’s facing 34 felony counts is not the trial we deserve. That would be either the Georgia election interference case, the federal classified...
The past and potentially future leader of the free world spent most of it in a dingy Manhattan courtroom, no longer the master of his domain. It’s a place where he dutifully sits down when the judge tells him to sit, where he’s unable to say whatever he wants, where he’s not allowed to use his phone. And worst of all, where there’s no red button for him to push when he wants a Diet Coke. And according to him, it was bitterly cold — “freezing,” in fact, sounding like your elderly uncle at Thanksgiving. Forget a legal defense; someone needs to give him a sweater.
The criminal hearing in which he’s facing 34 felony counts is not the trial we deserve. That would be either the Georgia election interference case, the federal classified...
- 4/26/2024
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Donald Trump was back in court on Thursday for the seventh day of his criminal hush money trial. The court heard a third day of testimony from David Pecker — the former National Enquirer boss who used the publication to buoy Trump ahead of the 2016 election. While Pecker’s testimony earlier this week contained plenty of damning evidence, the former tabloid boss dropped an under-oath bombshell when he recalled that Trump complained to him that Stormy Daniels had breached the hush-money deal she’d made with Trump fixer Michael Cohen after...
- 4/25/2024
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez and Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
David Pecker, a former publisher for the National Enquirer, confessed that an article which claimed a connection between Sen. Ted Cruz‘s (R-Texas) father, Rafael Cruz, and Lee Harvey Oswald was completely fabricated.
The story, published in 2016, claimed that a previously unidentified man photographed with Oswald handing out leaflets to support the former Cuban president Fidel Castro in New Orleans was actually Rafael.
The report noted that “experts” who reviewed photos of the evangelical preacher from this period found that he appeared to look similar to the assassin’s companion.
Former President Donald Trump made comments about this article by saying that Sen. Cruz’s father was in the company of Oswald just months before when he shot John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Even though Rafael confessed that he once backed Castro, he says he had been “duped” and did not know he was a communist.
One of Sen. Cruz’s...
The story, published in 2016, claimed that a previously unidentified man photographed with Oswald handing out leaflets to support the former Cuban president Fidel Castro in New Orleans was actually Rafael.
The report noted that “experts” who reviewed photos of the evangelical preacher from this period found that he appeared to look similar to the assassin’s companion.
Former President Donald Trump made comments about this article by saying that Sen. Cruz’s father was in the company of Oswald just months before when he shot John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Even though Rafael confessed that he once backed Castro, he says he had been “duped” and did not know he was a communist.
One of Sen. Cruz’s...
- 4/25/2024
- by Alessio Atria
- Uinterview
David Pecker stabbed impatiently at his veal piccata. We’d been having a cordial business lunch, but he was growing frustrated. The publisher of the National Enquirer was pitching an ambitious deal to me involving major money — not a Stormy Daniels sort of deal — but my disinterest in it puzzled him.
“This could be an important journalistic venture,” he said.
“That may be true,” I replied, “but I don’t care to be part of it.”
We exchanged a friendly handshake and he picked up the tab, but no deal was made.
A decade later, Pecker is wallowing in another journalistic venture, albeit perversely different. The Donald Trump hush-money criminal trial, in which he is a key witness, hinges on a controversial Pecker deal, this one with Trump. It involves a “catch and kill” genre story — one at which Pecker had become a master.
Pecker, having made a deal with prosecutors,...
“This could be an important journalistic venture,” he said.
“That may be true,” I replied, “but I don’t care to be part of it.”
We exchanged a friendly handshake and he picked up the tab, but no deal was made.
A decade later, Pecker is wallowing in another journalistic venture, albeit perversely different. The Donald Trump hush-money criminal trial, in which he is a key witness, hinges on a controversial Pecker deal, this one with Trump. It involves a “catch and kill” genre story — one at which Pecker had become a master.
Pecker, having made a deal with prosecutors,...
- 4/24/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said that Donald Trump’s denial of a sexual relationship with adult film actress Stormy Daniels is comical.
“I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character. And so far as I know, you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you,” Romney wryly remarked to CNN.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, clandestinely paid Daniels $130,000 by mortgaging his home ten days before the 2016 election to ensure her silence on the alleged liaison with Trump. Subsequently, Daniels divulged to 60 Minutes the details of her affair with Trump in a hotel suite after they met at a celebrity golf tournament held at Lake Tahoe in 2006.
Trump later denied any sexual involvement with Daniels, deployed his legal team to issue threats of litigation and cited violations of a confidentiality agreement. Nevertheless, Romney, a prominent critic of Trump, who himself contended as the...
“I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character. And so far as I know, you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you,” Romney wryly remarked to CNN.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, clandestinely paid Daniels $130,000 by mortgaging his home ten days before the 2016 election to ensure her silence on the alleged liaison with Trump. Subsequently, Daniels divulged to 60 Minutes the details of her affair with Trump in a hotel suite after they met at a celebrity golf tournament held at Lake Tahoe in 2006.
Trump later denied any sexual involvement with Daniels, deployed his legal team to issue threats of litigation and cited violations of a confidentiality agreement. Nevertheless, Romney, a prominent critic of Trump, who himself contended as the...
- 4/24/2024
- by Baila Eve Zisman
- Uinterview
Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial heard testimony on Tuesday from the architect of a notorious “catch-and-kill” scheme that buried damaging stories about the former president in the run-up to the 2016 election: former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Pecker lifted the veil on the National Enquirer’s catch-and-kill arrangement with the Trump campaign and revealed just how involved Trump and his fixer, Michael Cohen, were in dictating the publication’s 2016 campaign coverage.
Manhattan prosecutors argued in their opening statement on Monday that while...
During his testimony on Tuesday, Pecker lifted the veil on the National Enquirer’s catch-and-kill arrangement with the Trump campaign and revealed just how involved Trump and his fixer, Michael Cohen, were in dictating the publication’s 2016 campaign coverage.
Manhattan prosecutors argued in their opening statement on Monday that while...
- 4/23/2024
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez and Catherina Gioino
- Rollingstone.com
Update: David Pecker, the former CEO of the celebrity magazine and tabloid company American Media, was first witness today, as prosecutors try to show the extent to which Donald Trump sought to suppress embarrassing stories in advance of the 2016 election.
Pecker testified for about 25 minutes, telling the jury about his work publishing Star magazine, National Enquirer and other periodicals before the clock ran out on a court day that was scheduled to end early. He said matter-of-factly that he practiced “checkbook journalism, with budgets of $10,000 per story, sometimes more, for paying sources.
Pecker will return to the stand on Tuesday after a morning hearing on a request by prosecutors to seek a contempt ruling against Trump for allegedly violating the judge’s gag order in the case.
In opening statements, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo identified Pecker — who is testifying under a subpoena — as “the eyes and ears” in the “catch and...
Pecker testified for about 25 minutes, telling the jury about his work publishing Star magazine, National Enquirer and other periodicals before the clock ran out on a court day that was scheduled to end early. He said matter-of-factly that he practiced “checkbook journalism, with budgets of $10,000 per story, sometimes more, for paying sources.
Pecker will return to the stand on Tuesday after a morning hearing on a request by prosecutors to seek a contempt ruling against Trump for allegedly violating the judge’s gag order in the case.
In opening statements, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo identified Pecker — who is testifying under a subpoena — as “the eyes and ears” in the “catch and...
- 4/22/2024
- by Sean Piccoli
- Deadline Film + TV
In October of 2016, Donald Trump’s fixer paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who was shopping out claims of a scandalous affair between herself and Trump — who at the time was in the heat of his first campaign for president. The long tail of the scandal’s fallout would ultimately land Trump in criminal court, where on Monday prosecutors delivered opening arguments to a jury they hope to convince of the former president’s guilt.
Trump didn’t seem too concerned with the gravity of the situation — bobbing his...
Trump didn’t seem too concerned with the gravity of the situation — bobbing his...
- 4/22/2024
- by Catherina Gioino, Nikki McCann Ramirez and Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
What happens in the manhole stays in the manhole.
That would be one way to describe this initially intiguing and increasingly outrageous Japanese horror flick, which features pop star Yuto Nakajima as a young man who, on the eve of his wedding, falls into the film’s titular trap and can’t get out.
Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Sketches of Kaitan City) from a script by Michitaka Okada (Masquerade Hotel), the movie definitely makes the most out of its setting, concocting dozens of obstacles to keep the suspense high as its hero gets sliced, bludgeoned, heralded on social media and poisoned by toxic sewage as he attempts to escape. But about midway through, #Manhole more or less jumps the shark — or is it the manhole? — by throwing in so many twists that it veers toward gory parody.
Premiering in Berlin’s Panorama section, the film should find an audience at home thanks to Nakajima,...
That would be one way to describe this initially intiguing and increasingly outrageous Japanese horror flick, which features pop star Yuto Nakajima as a young man who, on the eve of his wedding, falls into the film’s titular trap and can’t get out.
Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Sketches of Kaitan City) from a script by Michitaka Okada (Masquerade Hotel), the movie definitely makes the most out of its setting, concocting dozens of obstacles to keep the suspense high as its hero gets sliced, bludgeoned, heralded on social media and poisoned by toxic sewage as he attempts to escape. But about midway through, #Manhole more or less jumps the shark — or is it the manhole? — by throwing in so many twists that it veers toward gory parody.
Premiering in Berlin’s Panorama section, the film should find an audience at home thanks to Nakajima,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The investigation into Donald Trump’s role in a pre-election hush money payment to Stormy Daniels — the porn star alleged former lover of the former president — is starting to heat up.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is set to begin presenting evidence to a recently impaneled grand jury, which could lead to criminal charges against Trump, The New York Times reported on Monday. CNN reported that David Pecker — the former head of the National Enquirer who was involved in the effort to keep Daniels quiet — is meeting with prosecutors,...
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is set to begin presenting evidence to a recently impaneled grand jury, which could lead to criminal charges against Trump, The New York Times reported on Monday. CNN reported that David Pecker — the former head of the National Enquirer who was involved in the effort to keep Daniels quiet — is meeting with prosecutors,...
- 1/30/2023
- by Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
This writer has been fortunate to have covered all of Richard Bates Jr.’s films ever since he exploded onto the scene in 2012 with his stunner, Excision. Ricky’s latest project is King Knight, which follows the high priest of a modern-day coven (played hilariously by Matthew Gray Gubler), who finds himself dealing with a bit of an existential crisis after he gets invited to attend his 20th high school reunion.
Also written by Bates Jr., King Knight features a brilliant ensemble featuring the likes of the aforementioned Gubler, as well as Angela Sarafayan, Barbara Crampton, Ray Wise, Andy Milonakis, Emily Change, Kate Comer, Nelson Franklin, Josh Fadem, Johnny Pemberton, and Swati Kapila.
King Knight celebrated its world premiere this weekend as part of the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival, and to mark the occasion, Daily Dead spoke with Richard Bates Jr. about the inspiration behind his heartwarming celebration of Wicca, putting together his cast,...
Also written by Bates Jr., King Knight features a brilliant ensemble featuring the likes of the aforementioned Gubler, as well as Angela Sarafayan, Barbara Crampton, Ray Wise, Andy Milonakis, Emily Change, Kate Comer, Nelson Franklin, Josh Fadem, Johnny Pemberton, and Swati Kapila.
King Knight celebrated its world premiere this weekend as part of the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival, and to mark the occasion, Daily Dead spoke with Richard Bates Jr. about the inspiration behind his heartwarming celebration of Wicca, putting together his cast,...
- 8/10/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Mark Tarlov, who produced such films as Copycat and Serial Mom, passed away on July 31st after a battle with cancer. His family made the announcement. Tarlov was 69.
Tarlov landed his first entertainment job in Business Affairs at Warner Bros. in 1979. Four years later, he EP’d his first feature, Christine, based on the Stephen King novel and directed by John Carpenter. Next, he produced Sidney Lumet’s Power starring Richard Gere, Gene Hackman and Julie Christie.
In the ’90s Tarlov worked with the British novelist William Boyd to transform the Mario Vargas Llosa novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat film, Tune in Tomorrow, directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette. His collaboration with William Boyd grew into a lifelong friendship and yielded another film based on Boyd’s novel, A Good Man in Africa starring Colin Friels,...
Tarlov landed his first entertainment job in Business Affairs at Warner Bros. in 1979. Four years later, he EP’d his first feature, Christine, based on the Stephen King novel and directed by John Carpenter. Next, he produced Sidney Lumet’s Power starring Richard Gere, Gene Hackman and Julie Christie.
In the ’90s Tarlov worked with the British novelist William Boyd to transform the Mario Vargas Llosa novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat film, Tune in Tomorrow, directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette. His collaboration with William Boyd grew into a lifelong friendship and yielded another film based on Boyd’s novel, A Good Man in Africa starring Colin Friels,...
- 8/9/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Mark Tarlov, a producer on the John Waters-directed films Pecker, Serial Mom and Cecil B. Demented, died July 31 at his home in Manhattan after a battle with cancer, his family announced. He was 69.
Tarlov also worked with British novelist William Boyd to transform the 1977 Mario Vargas Llosa book Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat Tune in Tomorrow (1990), directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette.
Tune in Tomorrow was the closing-night selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the audience and critics awards at the Deauville Film Festival.
The ...
Tarlov also worked with British novelist William Boyd to transform the 1977 Mario Vargas Llosa book Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat Tune in Tomorrow (1990), directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette.
Tune in Tomorrow was the closing-night selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the audience and critics awards at the Deauville Film Festival.
The ...
Mark Tarlov, a producer on the John Waters-directed films Pecker, Serial Mom and Cecil B. Demented, died July 31 at his home in Manhattan after a battle with cancer, his family announced. He was 69.
Tarlov also worked with British novelist William Boyd to transform the 1977 Mario Vargas Llosa book Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat Tune in Tomorrow (1990), directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette.
Tune in Tomorrow was the closing-night selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the audience and critics awards at the Deauville Film Festival.
The ...
Tarlov also worked with British novelist William Boyd to transform the 1977 Mario Vargas Llosa book Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter into the offbeat Tune in Tomorrow (1990), directed by Jon Amiel and starring Keanu Reeves, Peter Falk, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson and John Larroquette.
Tune in Tomorrow was the closing-night selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the audience and critics awards at the Deauville Film Festival.
The ...
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