Anxiety

McDougal's claim and Cohen's anxiety: Pecker describes handling of another potential Trump sex scandal

Michael Cohen "was very agitated," the tabloid executive testified.

ERICA ORDEN

David Pecker detailed his initial handling of claims by former Playboy model Karen McDougal that she had a yearlong romantic relationship with Trump.

In June 2016, Pecker’s deputy Dylan Howard told him about McDougal’s claims, Pecker testified, and Pecker instructed Howard to go to Los Angeles to interview McDougal about her allegations.

As soon as Pecker heard of McDougal’s story, he said, he contacted Michael Cohen. Though Pecker and Cohen had been speaking every few weeks, “when this subject came up, I spoke to him much more frequently, almost every day, sometimes a couple of times a day,” Pecker said. At that point, Cohen asked Pecker to communicate with him using Signal, an encrypted app.

Around the time Howard flew to L.A. to interview McDougal, Cohen’s calls became even more frequent, Pecker said.

“Michael was very agitated. It looked like he was getting a lot of pressure to get the answer right away,” Pecker testified. “He kept on calling, and every time he called, he seemed more anxious.”

Asked about the source of Cohen’s anxiety, Pecker said, “I assumed that he had a conversation with Mr. Trump,” but Pecker added that he didn’t speak directly to Trump about McDougal until later.