New York (AFP) - Donald Trump’s defense team vied to probe holes in a key witness’s recollection during the former president’s criminal trial Thursday, after jurors heard days of testimony regarding a plot to kill salacious stories that could have thwarted the Republican’s 2016 White House bid.

Former tabloid publisher David Pecker has been on the stand for three days in the trial of Trump, whom prosecutors accuse of falsifying business records to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence over an alleged 2006 sexual encounter that could have derailed his 2016 campaign.

He is the first former US head of state to face criminal charges. The high-stakes trial demands Trump report to the drafty Manhattan courtroom multiple times a week, less than seven months before his likely election rematch with President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors say Trump engaged in “election fraud” by having his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen make a $130,000 payment to Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.

The latest testimony from 72-year-old Pecker – whose outlets included the National Enquirer – points to a hush money payment to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, that was a precursor to the Daniels saga.

“I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump,” Pecker nonchalantly told jurors, providing a clear statement that his efforts with the candidate and Cohen were geared at influencing the presidential election – which eventually saw the real estate mogul take the White House over Hillary Clinton.

As he began the defense’s cross-examination, Emil Bove sought to ruffle Pecker by noting timeline inconsistencies, while also casting the “catch and kill” tactics described by prosecutors as “business as usual.”

Cross-examination will continue Friday.

- ‘The boss’ -

Before speaking to the defense the affable Pecker candidly explained how transfers to the tune of $150,000 were made to “catch and kill” McDougal’s story and suppress its publication, calling it a “large purchase” relative to the sums his company would normally pay for content.

He said payments to McDougal were disguised as services to American Media, the tabloid’s parent company, to avoid violating campaign finance laws.

“We purchased the story so it would not be published by any other organization,” Pecker told jurors. “We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or hurt his campaign.”

He said Cohen had encouraged him to purchase the story, and when he asked how he would get reimbursed, Cohen said “the boss will take care of it.”

McDougal’s story ultimately did come out, four days before the election in a scoop from the Wall Street Journal, which prosecutors showed jurors.

Pecker said Trump called him and was “very upset.”

“How could this happen, I thought you had this under control,” Pecker recalled Trump telling him, before hanging up with no goodbye.

And when it came to squashing Daniels’ tale of her alleged sexual affair with Trump – that hush money payment is core to the case – Pecker said he hesitated to pay for yet another story.

“I’m not a bank,” Pecker said.

The executive suggested to Cohen that he pay for it instead, which prosecutors say the then-Trump fixer did from his own home equity line of credit, wiring it through a shell company.

- Contempt allegations -

Trump has appeared increasingly disgruntled, angry even, as the trial proceeds and he’s forced to sit silently under the glaring fluorescent lights of the courtroom.

As prosecutors wrapped their questioning, Pecker told jurors that despite everything “Donald Trump was my mentor, he helped me throughout my career.”

“Even though we haven’t spoken, I still consider him a friend.”

Earlier Friday on his way to the courthouse, Trump called Pecker “a nice guy.”

Trump has also watched as Judge Juan Merchan admonished the former president’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche, who this week blustered through his defense of the Republican as prosecutors asked to hold Trump in contempt of court.

They say Trump has repeatedly violated a partial gag order barring him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors and court staff.

Perhaps seeking to avoid violating the order, Trump called Thursday’s testimony “breathtaking and amazing,” speaking to reporters outside the courtroom.

“An incredible day.”