STORY: On his second day of testimony, former tabloid publisher David Pecker gave new details on his efforts to help Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid by burying negative stories...

...including an alleged affair with a former Playboy model.

Pecker talked about how the National Enquirer paid to buy Karen McDougal's story - but didn't publish it:

a practice known as "catch and kill", which is considered unethical by mainstream journalism outlets.

Pecker also said he alerted Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen when he heard that porn star Stormy Daniels was looking to sell her story of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump for $120,000 in the weeks before the election.

He said Cohen pressed him to buy Daniels' story - but testified that he didn't want to be involved with a porn star.

Cohen has said he ultimately paid Daniels $130,000 to stay silent.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal his reimbursement to Cohen for the 'hush money' payment - and has pleaded not guilty.

The trial is the first of a former U.S. president.

It carries political risks for Trump as he prepares for a November election rematch with President Joe Biden and fends off three other criminal indictments, to which he has also pleaded not guilty.

McDougal and Cohen are expected to testify later in the trial.