Arnie, Tiger Woods and Mark Wahlberg: The celebrities dragged into Trump’s hush money trial

A string of famous names have been dragged into Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial, after four days of testimony from the former publisher of the supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer.

David Pecker became the first witness to take the stand in the former president’s New York hush money trial this week, laying out a so-called “catch-and-kill” scheme at the centre of the case.

Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about an alleged sexual encounter she claims she had with Mr Trump in 2006. Mr Trump denies both the affair and any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty to all of the charges against him and routinely insisting that he is the victim of a “witch hunt.

During his time on the stand, Mr Pecker testified about the alleged plan to buy and then suppress negative stories about Mr Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Among the stories Mr Pecker testified he had a hand in killing were a bogus allegation originating from a former Trump Tower doorman that Mr Trump had an illegitimate child with a maid who worked at the building as well as a story about an alleged nine-month affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

While laying out his involvement in the alleged scheme to protect Mr Trump’s reputation and offering a glimpse into the practice of so-called “chequebook journalism”, the tabloid mogul also name-dropped numerous other famous figures. None of the celebrities named are accused of any wrongdoing in connection to the case.

Here’s a look at the famous faces who have cropped up in the trial testimony so far:

The legendary bodybuilder and movie star, who was Mr Trump’s successor as