Maggie Haberman, a CNN commentator and New York Times reporter, shared her observations from inside the courtroom during the trial of former President Donald Trump related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. The trial is prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and presided over by Judge Juan Merchan.
During her appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Haberman described Trump’s demeanor as “unhappy” and “tense,” particularly during the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. Pecker is a key witness due to his involvement in the “catch and kill” scheme designed to suppress potentially damaging stories about Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Haberman pointed out that Trump’s apparent discomfort might be due to the secrets Pecker knows and could reveal during his testimony. She mentioned that Trump seemed visibly unhappy while seated at the defense table and that his dissatisfaction was evident during breaks and at the end of the court day.
Pecker’s testimony is expected to shed light on Trump’s alleged use of hush money to cover up extramarital affairs. Haberman noted that this was different from the typical media appearances by former aides, allies, or advisors. In this setting, Pecker is under oath, which adds credibility to his statements.
Anderson Cooper remarked on the tension in the courtroom as Pecker testified. Haberman agreed, emphasizing that Pecker’s poise and non-prosecution agreement add weight to his words, potentially painting a compelling picture for the jury. Pecker’s reluctance to testify indicates that he’s likely appearing due to a subpoena, highlighting the legal pressure he faces to disclose information related to Trump’s case.
COOPER: So what do you make of the former president’s demeanor today? What was it like?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: There were a couple of things that were striking. He looked very unhappy. He looked very unhappy on the monitors where you can see his face. He looked – in court, we’re well behind him, so we can’t see his face when we’re in there. We have a better view when we’re in the overflow room.
COOPER: So there’s an overflow room that has monitors?
HABERMAN: Correct. And there’s monitors in the courtroom, too, but it’s much easier to see the monitors in the overflow room. They’re right up at your face. It’s just different. He looked unhappy when he left for break. He looked unhappy when he left – when court ended for the day.
It was tense in the room when David Pecker was on the stand. It was tense in the room when Colangelo, the prosecutor, was going through the narrative of the case and talking about Stormy Daniels and Access Hollywood and Karen McDougal. And all of these things that Trump does not want to hear about.
COOPER: I said this on air earlier today when we were covering this, but I just kept imagining what is going through Trump’s mind when he’s sitting there at the defense table watching David Pecker, his former friend-ish, who knows a lot of secrets about him, going back a long time on this stand.
HABERMAN: It’s just – it’s fundamentally different than what we have seen with Trump over many years now, which is a lot of former aides or allies or advisors going on television, or writing books. This is a courtroom, and this is under oath. And this is David Pecker opening his testimony and we only heard a little bit of testimony. He’s coming back tomorrow.
But him opening saying, we practiced, and I’m paraphrasing, “But we practiced checkbook journalism,” that is a quote, at the National Enquirer. We paid for tips about celebrities and so forth. And Trump knows what that means and he knows what kind of information that meant that David Pecker had.
And David Pecker was very poised. And I think that he’s going to tell a story that the jury is going to find pretty compelling.
COOPER: David Pecker essentially made a deal. I mean, he has a non- prosecution agreement …
HABERMAN: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
COOPER: … and so that’s why – I mean, he’s testifying.
HABERMAN: Yes, he’s testifying under subpoena. I mean, he is not doing this because he wants to.
COOPER: The prosecutors say he’s a co-conspirator.
HABERMAN: Correct. He is not there because he wants to be there. But the prosecutors are going to try to suggest that his testimony, the same way they’re going to try to say this with Michael Cohen, is credible for X, Y, Z reasons. And that these are things Trump just didn’t want to have come out.
