ROGUE’S GALLERY

Trump Trial Reveals Other Stars Who Paid to Have Unsavory Stories Killed

David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, dished the details during his testimony Thursday.

Testimony in Donald Trump’s trial on Thursday revealed a list of other celebrities who allegedly dished out cash—or favors—to have the rights to negative stories purchased and killed by the National Enquirer. Trump has been infamously accused of calling on the magazine’s publisher, David Pecker, to kill negative stories about him during his campaign and presidency’s early days, allegations at the center of Trump’s alleged hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016. While testifying about this pay-to-kill strategy, however, Pecker also threw a number of other celebrities under the bus who he claimed had reached an agreement with him to save face. That included Tiger Woods, who cut a deal to avoid unsavory photos being published, and Mark Wahlberg, who did the same to cover up a story about an argument he got into with his wife, Pecker testified. He added that he also struck an agreement with Arnold Schwarzenegger to bury negative stories about him as he campaigned to be governor of California—something he said he agreed to in exchange for something Schwarzenegger described as a “giant acquisition.” In keeping the governor-to-be’s record clean, Pecker testified he dealt with “30 or 40” women who came forward with stories about Schwarzenegger.