“You Can’t Believe This Happened”: A “Surreal” Trial and Tabloid Tales of Donald Trump

On this week’s Inside the Hive with Brian Stelter, Vanity Fair writer Dan Adler and Hollywood Reporter special correspondent Lachlan Cartwright examine Donald Trump’s sordid relationship with David Pecker, the former National Enquirer executive at the center of the ex-president’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan. Adler and Cartwright, who have both been reporting from inside the courtroom, describe the “surreal” dynamics of this week’s proceedings and reveal how the back-scratching world of tabloid media ended up creating a monster. “You can’t believe this happened. You can’t believe it’s being litigated,” says Adler. “It all still is sort of like, a decade later, a little bit hard to process.”

Cartwright, who was an editor at the Enquirer during the scandal, recalls what it was like working under Pecker, who admitted this week to using “checkbook journalism” to suppress a story about Trump’s alleged extramarital affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. “[Pecker] created this incredibly toxic newsroom, which was governed by fear and paranoia,” says Cartwright, remarking on how bizarre it was to cross paths with his former boss in the courtroom after so many years. “It was just a really surreal moment—that someone who has caused…me a lot of grief and anxiety and aggravation, in a series of legal threats that went on for some years, was in the courtroom laughing,” says Cartwright. “I felt like, you know, saying, ‘Matey boy, this is really serious. We’re talking about a plot to influence the 2016 election—which you’re copping to—and you’re having a laugh here.’”

Later in the episode, Adler and Cartwright speculate on what we might see in the coming days, which could offer insight into what motivated Pecker to do Trump’s bidding. “What’s in it for Pecker is definitely, to me, the outstanding question right now,” says Adler. Also an open question is who might be next to take the stand, though Cartwright hazards a guess: “My gut feel is that Hope Hicks could be the next witness we hear of.”

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