A key witness in Donald Trump’s court case used to run a media company in Harrogate.

David Pecker was chief executive of American Media Inc in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections. Court documents say he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” for the Trump campaign to prevent negative stories.

AMI owned the tabloid National Enquirer and was at the heart of the ‘catch and kill’ policy in which it paid hush money to bury stories to protect the former president. Trump is alleged to have falsified accounts when paying back the money.

Adult entertainer Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claim to have had affairs with Mr Trump, received payments.

AMI acquired Weider Publications, an international fitness and bodybuilding media company with offices at Windsor Court in Harrogate, in 2003.

The Harrogate business, which was run by an American, employed about 30 people and published European and Australian editions of the market-leading magazines Muscle&Fitness and Flex. It also ran a mail order business.

Mr Pecker kept a close eye on developments in Harrogate and often summoned staff from the town to America for business meetings.

He authorised the decision to close the Harrogate office in 2015 and sent a message to staff thanking them on their final day. The building, in the shadow of Windsor House, was later converted to flats.

Windsor Court has been converted from offices to flats.

Despite being a major player in US media circles, Mr Pecker keeps a low media profile so his testimony is eagerly anticipated.

Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel at the Department of Defense, tweeted this week that “David Pecker is going to be a star witness”.

Trump is alleged to have falsified records “to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election”.

He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records and claims Judge Juan Merchan “hates” him.

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A Harrogate family have spoken of how the loss of their 12-year-old son led them to set up a bakery in his memory.

Reef Carneson died in June last year after battling cancer since he was a baby. He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at just five months old.

Although Reef’s death left his parents Lydia and Ryan — who are originally from South Africa — grieving, the family resolved to try to do something positive.

‘He was a miracle’

Reef was the first to undergo a bone marrow transplant in Pretoria, South Africa, when he was just 11 months old.

Lydia says she and her husband, Ryan, were told that Reef would have “just days to live”.

However, Reef was a fighter and pulled through.

Lydia said:

“We realised that he was a miracle.”

Complications from his condition led the couple to take him to America in 2011 for treatment for graft-versus-host disease, which meant his body was rejecting new bone marrow.

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The family settled in Los Angeles where Reef’s condition improved until he was diagnosed with skin cancer.

He seemed to be improving but his health began to deteriorate over the years.

Following the election of President Donald Trump, the family was forced to leave America when the immigration rules were changed and their work visas became void.

Lydia, who also has British citizenship, took Reef and the family to Chapel Park in Newcastle where they settled in February 2021.

Four months later, Reef passed away after his cancer had spread.

Moving to Harrogate

Lydia and her family decided to leave Newcastle in search of a fresh start.

She said:

“We could not stay in Newcastle. The memories were too much.”

Once in Harrogate, Ryan, a trained pastry chef, tried to find work but found the grief too much to handle.

Despite the heartache, the couple decided to make a fresh start in their lives.

Reef dressed in his chef outfit ready to help his dad.

In January this year, the pair launched IndulgenceByRyan in an effort to make something positive out of their grief.

The business was inspired by Reef, who Lydia says always wanted to be like his dad and would often help him in the kitchen.

Lydia said:

“It’s so difficult to function normally when you have such grief.

“We had always thought about the bakery because it is something that we wanted to do and he [Reef] always wanted to be like his dad.”

She added that she hopes the family’s story will help others who may be grieving the loss of a loved one.

The bakery specialises in cakes, cookies and chocolate and recently has taken on a partnership with Harrogate’s fairytale boutique, Beyond Imagination Emporium.

It does not currently have its own shop in town and is currently deliveries only. Lydia says owning an outlet in Harrogate is “the dream”.

“We would like a nice place for people to meet up and have coffee.”

American expats living in Harrogate are counting down the minutes to Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president today.

Mr Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States at 5pm UK time but due to covid the celebrations will be more subdued — not only in America but also Harrogate.

Harrogate has strong connections with the United States — many Americans have worked at nearby RAF Menwith Hill .

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said US armed forces and civil servants were apolitical and therefore no celebrations or marking of such occasions was conducted at military sites.

But some Americans will privately mark the moment when power passes from Donald Trump to Biden.

We spoke to two expats in Harrogate: one Democrat and one Republican, and both said they will be relieved to see the back of Mr Trump.

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Zahed Amanullah is a firm Democrat who proudly flies the flag for Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I am very hopeful. Being an expat, it’s hard to sit here and watch what is happening. But in 2021 there’s a lot that people can do to be involved.

“Democrats Abroad, which I am a member of, has had a huge surge in membership. It’s not just talking about politics but getting involved in phone banks and hosting conversations.

“Joe Biden has turned out to be the man of the moment. He turned out to be the kind of person to not just defeat Trump but to guide a steady ship throughout 2021 and beyond.”

Next stop: Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/oW0C4LQVBf

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 19, 2021

Harold Clemens is a Republican who could not bring himself to vote for Trump. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I hate to say this but it is embarrassing to be an American at the moment. I have been a Republican since university because of their stance on business but I did not vote for Trump.

“There are few times in your life when you remember where you are when an event happens. For me it is the Gulf War, 911 and the storming of the Capitol.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the right people for the job. They can mend bridges and heal the political divide in America right now.”

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Here we are again.

Locked down tight. Shielding from the any one of the three Covid-19 variants currently spreading across the land at exponentially increasing rates. Working from home if at all possible and avoiding all but necessary travel. Obsessively checking and rechecking our place in the vaccination queue and hoping against hope that the ability of the NHS to get vaccines into the arms of the population matches the prodigious available supply of those vaccines.

I fully support Boris Johnson’s decision to return to a national lockdown. With record numbers of positive Covid-19 tests being reported each and every day and as high dependency and critical care beds in our hospitals approach full capacity, he and the leaders of the Kingdom’s devolved parliaments had little choice but to turn the door key once more. Sir Keir Starmer, who is quickly establishing a reputation for himself as both Cassandra and Statesman, gave the Prime Minister his fulsome support. Clearly he has been spooked by the confidential briefings on the spread of Covid-19 he receives as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Regardless, we should laud him for his principled stance.

One person to whom the nom de guerre Statesman could never be attached is Gavin Williamson. Surely Mr Williamson can now confidently be ranked as the worst Education Secretary to have ever graced the government benches. Schools’ leaders and staff are in open revolt, stoked up as ever by their unions, angered by Mr Williamson’s combination of myopia, lettuce-like communication skills (green, wet and limp) and post-hoc policy announcements.

Parents must again help school their children at home and confront a patchwork quilt of online educational provision, which follows, broadly speaking, the established pattern that those who would benefit most from excellent services are those least likely to have the opportunity to do so. And those parents least able to afford the required time away from work to help their children learn are faced with the worst of Hobson’s choices: work to earn now and limit their children’s educational opportunities or prioritise educating the kids and struggle to earn the money needed to put food on the table.

Mr Williamson is self-regarding and childish (the man keeps a Tarantula on his House of Commons office desk for ‘House of Cards’ effect, for goodness’ sake), he is dishonourable (Theresa May sacked him as Secretary of State for Defence because she had “compelling evidence” he had leaked confidential and sensitive National Security Council – he denied it but everyone in Westminster didn’t believe him for a minute, such is his reputation for cheap and transparent politicking), he is, well, a bit thick (which we ought to forgive him for) and, given that, inexplicably arrogant (which we shouldn’t).

In the end, though, I believe that we get the politicians we deserve. If I’m right, the current crop of British politicians serve only to confront us with the inconvenient truth of our just desserts. The view in the mirror of our public life is unedifying. To change it we have to care more, watch more, say more and do more. We must. If we don’t, there is every danger that we will follow in the misguided footsteps of the United States and undermine the fabric of our polity so as to expose its limited foundations and character.

It’s remarkable that a third national lockdown in the United Kingdom is only the second story this week, and second by a long chalk. The events in Washington DC on January 6 and 7 were truly extraordinary. A sitting President walked into the garden of the White House and incited the supporters he has anyway spent four years inflaming to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, lay siege to and storm the Capitol building that is home to both houses of Congress. This on the day of a joint sitting to ratify the US Electoral College votes and elevate the Biden/Harris ticket to power.

The MAGA (Make America Great Again) gang overran the Capitol Hill police and security staff and tried to establish mob rule. Windows were smashed, crash barriers were upended, walls were scaled, offices were occupied, weapons were brandished, a woman died of gunshot wounds and three others lost their lives. Donald Trump almost got his Presidential death wish, to bring down American democracy because it didn’t give him the electoral result he wanted.

Trump, his family and assorted sycophants have brought low the United States’ reputation as the cradle of democracy. Using his bully pulpit, the social media wild west, friendly and partisan television networks, toadying public officials, a successful populism that enflames and exploits the prejudices of the ignorant, 60 fallacious lawsuits and pure brass neck, this man tried everything to cling on to the power he lost in November’s elections. Thank goodness that America’s system of government and judiciary held in the face of such a brazen assault. The alternative is unthinkable.

Unless the powder keg explodes between now and January 20, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th US President that day. Frighteningly, a YouGov poll of Republican voters conducted this week reports that fully 45% of them believe that Biden’s Democrats stole the election.  Biden will consequently step into a smouldering crucible, packed with the combustible tinder of opposing views. For all our sakes, we have to hope his unique political emollience can walk the US back from the brink.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.