With David Pecker on the stand in the Trump trial, much of the testimony has related to the National Enquirer and other trashy tabloids. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And so it was with the weird (and oddly illuminating, or at least illuminating the odd) relationship between Trump and the tabs. WaPo (Gift Article): Trump’s long, strange history with the tabloids. “When Marla Maples was about to give birth to Donald Trump’s fourth child, Tiffany, in 1993, then-New York Daily News gossip columnist Linda Stasi had her editor’s orders: Get in the room to see the baby. Maples objected, but Trump invited Stasi to the hospital, where she walked into the private room after the birth, conducted a quick interview, then asked if her photographer could snap a photo. Maples shooed her out, Stasi said in an interview. Trump soon followed, holding an empty blanket. ‘Here, take my picture. Just pretend there’s a baby in here,’ Stasi recalled Trump saying. The camera flashed.” (Related: Can you name the pithy public intellectual who once wrote, “PT Barnum may have been the greatest sociologist of all time.” Hint: It was me, last week.)

+ Before today’s testimony, there was a hearing on Trump’s (obvious) violation of the gag order. It included this exchange: Judge Merchan: “What is your caselaw that supports your position that your client can repost and that doesn’t violate the gag order?” Trump attorney Blanche: “I don’t have any cases. It’s just common sense.” (I must have missed the episode of Law & Order when this legal strategy was deployed.) Judge skewers Trump defense’s ‘credibility’ in gag order hearing ahead of key witness testimony.

+ NYT (Gift Article): The Circus Trump Wanted Outside His Trial Hasn’t Arrived. (At least he’s got the nonstop one taking place on cable news.)