Australian journalist Dylan Howard is at the centre of Donald Trump’s hush money trial after the judge named him “a co-conspirator”.

The 42-year-old is a former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, whose long-time publisher David Pecker is a key witness to prosecutors chasing Trump for business fraud.

Co-conspirator

Howard was named editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer in 2014, where he worked under Pecker.

Pecker told the court that he entered an agreement with Trump through his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to buy off stories that would negatively impact the presidential candidate before the 2016 election.

He said that Howard informed him that porn star Stormy Daniels, a key witness in the case, had contacted Howard about selling her affair story for $230,000.

Pecker did not want to purchase the story because the Enquirer had difficulties receiving compensation from Trump in the past.

This resulted in Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and the prosecution’s star witness, paying for it himself.

Pecker said he was frustrated that the Enquirer‘s parent company, American Media, had already paid thousands of dollars to bury other stories that were unflattering to Trump.

“I thought it should come off the market,” he said.

“If anyone was going to buy it, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump should buy it.”

Howard has not been charged or accused of a crime.

Catch and kill

Pecker’s testimony has laid out an elaborate scheme where the National Enquirer would purchase and bury stories for high-profile people like Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mark Wahlberg.

Pecker alleged that Howard played a key role as editor-in-chief in this arrangement.

If Trump reimbursed Cohen under the guise of legal fees, this is where prosecutors argue that the scheme became illegal by falsifying business documents.

The scheme became illegal if repayments made to Cohen were disguised as legal fees, prosecutors say. Photo: Getty

Howard told a relative via text messages that “at least if (Trump) wins I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud”.

Seedy chequebook journalism isn’t illegal, but Manhattan’s Attorney-General Alvin Bragg accused Trump of falsifying business records to hide the repayments to Cohen.

Cohen spent three years in jail and was disbarred after pleading guilty to business fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations for his role in the payment to Daniels.

Howard told Pecker that he could “lock it on publication now to shut down the media chatter”, according to emails shown to the court.

“We can assess next steps thereafter,” he wrote in an email.

“I know the denials were made in the past, but this story is true.”

The road to court

Howard will not appear in person at the trial. He moved back to Australia and has a spinal condition that Pecker said would make it impossible for him to travel to America.

Howard grew up in Geelong and started his journalism career at the Geelong Advertiser as a teenager, before stints as a photographer in New York, sportscasting for SEN 1116 in Victoria and Channel Seven.

After returning to the United States in 2009, he released the audiotape of Mel Gibson abusing his girlfriend over the phone.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accused Howard and the National Enquirer of attempted blackmail in 2019 after the billionaire was contacted by the publication in regards to an affair.

It has been alleged that he supplied Harvey Weinstein with information about one of the women who was sexually harassed by the now-jailed movie producer.