Judge Juan Merchan is now reading his limiting instruction to the jury about the non-prosecution agreement (NPA) that prosecutors struck with the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc.
Steinglass is having Pecker go over parts of the non-prosecution agreement from September 20, 2018.
Merchan instructs the jury about the NPA with the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the conciliation agreement. He says they are to “assist you in assessing David Pecker’s credibility and to help provide context surrounding some of the events.”
Merchan says they may not consider this information when considering Trump’s guilt as to the charges at issue in this trial.
Part of the agreement, shown in court, says SDNY will not criminally prosecute American Media Inc. for any crimes “related to its participation, between in or about August 2015 up to and including in or about October 2016, in making a contribution and expenditure aggregating $25,000 and more during the 2016 calendar year, to the campaign of a candidate for President of the United States.”
Remember: Pecker was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony and AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.
