‘Did he cheat on Melania?’: Trump hush-money trial hears exchanges between National Enquirer and Karen McDougal’s ex-lawyer – live
Donald Trump in the courtroom for his hush-money trial on Tuesday.
LIVE – Updated at 18:40
Keith Davidson, who represented McDougal and Stormy Daniels, tells court about text messages with Dylan Howard.
18:40
Donald Trump’s campaign moved swiftly to fundraise off this morning’s ruling that he violated the court’s gag order.
“Democrat judge just ruled against me,” reads the subject line of an email from the Trump campaign following Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling. The email continues:
A Democrat judge JUST HELD ME IN CONTEMPT OF COURT!
“THEY WANT TO SILENCE ME!” the email says, asking supporters to “STAND WITH TRUMP” by contributing money.
18:29
Donald Trump was photographed blowing out his cheeks as he returned to the courtroom following a short break in the trial on Tuesday.
Davidson tells court Karen McDougal was his client
18:23Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Keith Davidson: “Do you know somebody named Karen McDougal?”Davison said “I do.”
“In what context?” Davidson said that “she was a client of mine” and that “I met her probably 25 years ago, she was dating a friend of mine.
Steinglass then asked: “And in the summer of 2016, did you represent her” and if so, in what capacity.
I represented her in order to provide advice and counsel about what her rights and obligations would be with a certain interaction she had.
“With whom?” Steinglass pressed. “Donald Trump.”
Davidson tells court how McDougal told National Enquirer editor about alleged Trump affair
18:20Victoria Bekiempis
Keith Davidson just testified about a meeting with him, Karen McDougal and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
The point of this meeting was for McDougal to tell her story – so that Howard could hear her account and apprise his bosses – in the event they wanted to do something with it.
Davidson said of the meeting:
Ms McDougal alleged that she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump some years prior.
“When you said romantic, does that include sexual?” Steinglass said.
“That’s what she expressed,” Davidson responded.
How long did it go on?
Davidson said:
I can’t recall specifically, it was several weeks to months, if not more, I can’t recall specifically.
Court hears about text messages between former National Enquirer editor and Davidson: ‘Did he cheat on Melania’
18:17Victoria Bekiempis
In later texts, former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard asked Keith Davidson, “Did he cheat on Melania?” and “Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania?”
“And how did you respond to this text?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Davidson.
“I really cannot say yet, sorry,” Davidson said, reading his text to Howard aloud.
Steinglass asked whether it was because he didn’t know, or whether it was because he wasn’t in a position to tell Howard. Davidson said:
It’s because it was the latter – I was not prepared to discuss the details at this point.
“How did M. Howard respond?” Steinglass asked.
“OK, keep me informed,” Davidson replied.
18:09Victoria Bekiempis
On 28 July 2016, Dylan Howard said in a text:
We are going to lay it on thick for her.
At this time, Keith Davidson said, he responded:
Good, throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Mann.
”What did you mean by that?” the prosecution asked. Davidson said:
Uh, it was sort of in jest. But I was, that was just a joke.
“Why was that a joke, why was that funny?” Steinglass pressed.
Well, I don’t think, I don’t even think the Isle of Mann is a country and I don’t, I know they don’t have an ambassador. But I think it was a reference to Mr Trump’s candidacy.
Steinglass asked him to explain more. Davidson said:
That somehow, if Karen [McDougal] did this deal with AMI, that somehow it would help Mr Trump’s candidacy.
18:09
The court is taking a break, and will resume at 2.15pm ET.
Keith Davidson is expected to continue testifying after lunch.
18:08Victoria Bekiempis
The conversations between Keith Davidson and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard continued in late July, with Howard texting Davidson and saying:
Get me a price on [Karen] McDougal. All in. Consulting gig perhaps as a fitness expert thrown into mix.
Davidson responded, reading the text aloud in court:
How about 1m now and 75k a year for the next 2 years as a fitness correspondent for ami [American Media Inc] and ur related pubs..
“I’ll take it to them, but thinking it’s more hundreds than millions,” Howard said.
”How did you respond to that?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.
“800 now and 100 per year for two years for a total of 1m.”
Howard said, “Leave w/me,” Davidson said.
“How did you take that?”
Davidson said:
That we we really weren’t in the same ballpark.
18:00Victoria Bekiempis
On 22 July, Keith Davidson reached out to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard once again, writing:
Don’t forget about Cohen. Time is of the essence. The girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia.
“Who is Cohen in this email?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked. Davidson said Michael Cohen.
“And what did you mean that time is of the essence?”
Davidson said:
I think at the time Karen [McDougal] was sort of teetering, she was about to enter into a deal with ABC.
“What did you mean by the girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia?”
Davidson said:
It’s a very unfortunate, regrettable text I sent. That phrase is not one that I used or came up with. That term, I think, [was] by one of Karen’s associates at that first meeting and there was several women who were leaning on Karen to sign the deal with ABC.
“So taken as a whole, is this text another effort to spur Dylan Howard into action?”
Davidson responded in the affirmative.
Davidson testifies he reached out to former National Enquirer editor about ‘blockbuster Trump story’
17:45Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing text exchanges that Keith Davidson sent to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about Karen McDougal.
“I have a blockbuster Trump story,” Davidson said in a 7 June 2016 message to Howard that was shown to jurors.
“What did you mean by that?” Steinglass asked.
Davidson said:
It was sort of an entree or teaser to Dylan to let him know that I had perhaps an opportunity for him.
“What was the opportunity about which you were contacting him?”
Davidson said:
It was regarding the interaction between Karen McDougal and Donald Trump.
“What did Mr Howard say, if anything, in response?”
Howard responded in a text shown to jurors, read by Davidson:
Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why …
17:37Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass then brought up a copy of the retainer agreement agreed between Keith Davidson and Karen McDougal.
Under scope of services, it said:
Client is hiring Attorney to represent Client in the matter of Client’s claims against Donald Trump and or assisting Client in negotiating a confidentiality agreement and/or life rights related to interactions with Donald Trump and/or negotiating assignment of exclusive press opportunities regarding same.
This was dated June 2016. Steinglass asked Davidson to put this in simple terms.
I was to provide legal services to Karen McDougal and provide advice and counsel to her surrounding a personal interaction she had, allegedly had, with Donald Trump.
17:26Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is asking Keith Davidson about his relationships with various players in the case.
He testified about knowing former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard for years, and knowing former tabloid honcho David Pecker.
“Are you familiar with someone named Michael Cohen?” asked. Davidson said yes and that Cohen had been Trump’s lawyer.
“How did you come to meet Michael Cohen?” Steinglass asked.
Davidson said:
In approximately 2011, there was an article that was published in a blog that involved my client and Donald Trump, and I had the occasion to have a conversation with Michael Cohen related to that blog posting.
“Who was your client at the time that led you to interact with Michael Cohen on behalf of Donald Trump?”
Davidson replied:
Stefanie Clifford, otherwise known as Stormy Daniels.
Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson called to the stand
17:24
Keith Davidson is called to the witness stand next.
Davidson is Stormy Daniels’s and Playboy model Karen McDougal’s attorney. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is questioning him.
Steinglass asks: “During the period of 2015 through 2017, did you have a particular specialty?”
“At that time, my practice was heavily involved with media cases,” says Davidson.
As part of your work on media cases, did you frequently work on non-disclosure agreements?
“Yes.”
17:19
But if Farro’s testimony is concerning to Trump’s team, it’s little compared to what might come later in the week should the court get to hear from Donald Trump’s former Mr Fixit himself – Michael Cohen.
Cohen, a disbarred lawyer who served as Trump’s personal attorney for 12 years until 2018, has turned on his boss and is one of district attorney Alvin Bragg’s key witnesses.
The whole case, in fact, could turn on Cohen’s testimony about payments to two women: the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal. It all comes down to how those payments were made, and whether they were disguised – as prosecutors claim – to violate accounting and political campaign laws.
Another disbarred lawyer named Michael – Avenatti – will feature in Cohen’s testimony, because he represented Daniels and McDougal in the transactions.
(Avenatti himself is serving five years in prison for stealing $297,000 from Daniels.)
(Oh, and obstructing the IRS.)
(And defrauding Nike of $20m.)
Here’s a little more from our own Ed Helmore on the Two Disgraced Lawyer Michaels:
17:08Victoria Bekiempis
The prosecution just played an excerpt of the deposition video in which E Jean Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, asked Donald Trump: “What is Truth Social?”
“It’s a platform that’s been opened by me as an alternative [to] Twitter,” Trump replied.
Asked if @Therealdonaldtrump was his handle, he said he thought so.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold then showed another excerpt from the video deposition.
“And your current wife is Melania Trump?” Kaplan asked Trump in the deposition. Trump answered in the affirmative.
“And you married her in 2005?” “Yes,” he said.
“And you’re still married to her now?” “Yes.”
Phillip Thompson is off the stand, as defense has no questions.
Prosecutors show clip of Trump saying he has ‘no idea who these women are’
17:05Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutors played some of the videos that C-SPAN produced while Dr Robert Browning was still on the stand.
In some of the videos that ran before the election, Trump denied allegations of inappropriate conduct with women, saying in one 14 October 2016 rally from Greensboro, North Carolina:
As you have seen right now, I have been viciously attacked with lies and smears … I have no idea who these women are, I have no idea, no idea …
At another event on 22 October 2016 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Trump can be heard on video saying:
They’re trying to poison the mind of the American public. Every one of those woman lied when they came forward … total fabrication, the events never happened, never. All of these lies will be sued after the election is over.
17:05Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is now asking Phillip Thompson about Trump’s deposition transcript in E Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against him.
She’s asking whether the company produced both an exact copy of the transcript, and video of the deposition, to the district attorney’s office.
Mangold is now showing the jury the cover page for the deposition of Donald J Trump in the E Jean Carroll case in October 2022.
Phillip Thompson takes the stand
16:59
Robert Browning is off the stand.
The prosecution calls its fifth witness: Phillip Thompson, a custodian of records testifying for Esquire Deposition Service.
16:48Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is asking Robert Browning whether C-SPAN had been subpoenaed to provide prosecutors of video of events with Donald Trump.
She asked whether he complied. “Yes, we did.”
Mangold is now playing some of the videos that C-SPAN produced and in effect asking Browning to confirm whether they’re portions of videos produced by the network.
Banker Gary Farro returns to the stand
16:47
Gary Farro, the prosecution’s third witness, has returned to the stand.
Farro works at Flagstar Bank as a private client adviser and was previously at First Republic, which was used by Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen.
C-SPAN archivist Robert Browning takes the stand
16:46
The prosecution’s next witness is on the stand: Dr Robert Browning.
Browning says he is the executive director of C-SPAN archives and has worked there for 37 years.
16:41Victoria Bekiempis
“Are you nervous?” prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asks Robert Browning.
“A little bit,” he says, offering a friendly smile.
“I manage the collection of video that’s all aired on the network,” he later said of his work.
He’s basically being called in a custodial capacity, discussing facts surrounding media that prosecutors are admitting.
16:37
The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is inside the Manhattan courthouse today to show his support for Donald Trump.
Posting to X this morning, Paxton wrote:
With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump.
16:37Victoria Bekiempis
The jury has returned. Judge Juan Merchan is going over scheduling matters.
He informs them that they will not be working the Friday before Memorial Day, as one of the jurors had let a court officer know they had a flight; right before the jury entered the courtroom, Merchan had addressed this and neither side objected. He also told them that there would be no court on 17 May.
16:28Hugo Lowell
The New York judge presiding in Donald Trump’s criminal trial fined the former president $9,000 on Tuesday for violating a gag order designed to protect trial participants from his abuse.
Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt of the gag order in nine out of 10 instances identified by prosecutors, in which Trump assailed the credibility of his former lawyer Michael Cohen and the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan also warned Trump that he could be subject to jail time if he continued to violate the gag order. He wrote:
The Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.
The judge imposed the maximum $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations, but Trump may be subject to more penalties this week after Merchan scheduled another contempt hearing on Thursday for additional alleged violations.
16:27Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold conducted a brief redirect of Gary Farro. She asked why Michael Cohen’s accounts were closed by First Republican in 2017.
“When we saw negative press, we chose to close the accounts that we could,” Farro said, explaining that First Republic couldn’t close the mortgage account but could shutter “the bank ones”.
And what is the negative press you’re referring to here?”
“Stormy Daniels, when it came out.”
On a brief re-cross, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche tried to discredit Farro for Cohen’s questionable transaction. If Cohen had gotten away with misrepresenting his intent, was it possible “there wasn’t appropriate due diligence?” Blanche asked.
“I don’t know if that’s a fair statement,” Farro said. Once a transaction goes from one lawyer to another, as it did in Cohen’s case, Farro said he “can’t be expected to know” what happens after that.
16:09Victoria Bekiempis
Donald Trump’s being held in contempt could well cause more issues for him at the trial.
As both sides are discussing housekeeping matters, the prosecution said that it wants to question Trump about this if he takes the stand.
The people wish to give supplemental Sandoval notice that if the defendant testifies in this trial, the people will seek to cross-examine him on those findings.
16:03
Gary Farro has completed his testimony and is off the stand.
The court is taking a short break.
16:00Victoria Bekiempis
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche doubled down on his nothing-to-see-here approach at the end of his cross.
“In October of 2016, nothing about the way this account was opened, funded, or the wire was sent out at the time, raised any red flags for you, correct?” Blanche asked of Cohen’s Essential Consulting account opening. Gary Farro said:
Not based upon any answers to the questions I had.
“You never had any communications with him about Donald Trump, did you?”
“I did not,” Farro said.
“And you’ve never spoken with Donald Trump, have you?”
“I have not.”
15:48Victoria Bekiempis
Right now, Gary Farro is being cross-examined by defense lawyer Todd Blanche.
The attorney is trying to downplay Michael Cohen’s urgency after the Access Hollywood tape, suggesting that the ex-Trump lawyer was always neurotic – not hurried because of his efforts to sway the election for Trump.
Blanche asked Farro about direct testimony where he said “everything was urgent” with Cohen. Was that accurate? Farro said:
Ninety percent of the time, it was an urgent matter, yes.
15:48Victoria Bekiempis
Wasn’t it true that when Farro was assigned to Cohen, it was because managers knew “you were firm with clients” – capable of talking them down? Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked. Gary Farro said yes.
“And that you don’t accept any nonsense from clients?” Blanche pressed.
Farro said:
Not that I don’t accept any nonsense … I try to rationalize with clients that things aren’t as urgent as they seem.
Blanche asked whether Farro thought it was fair to describe Cohen as “an aggressive guy, a fast speaker”. Farro said: “I would.”
Blanche’s intent here is to try chipping away at prosecutors’ contention that Trump’s camp worried that the campaign would fall into a tailspin if additional damaging information surfaced.
By suggesting that Cohen was always worried and harried and hurried, Blanche is trying to undermine any claim that they took urgent steps to sweep Stormy Daniels’ account under the rug.
15:32Victoria Bekiempis
The prosecution’s direct testimony of Gary Farro has ended, with the prosecution drilling down that Michael Cohen’s paperwork requesting a wire transfer from this account, to Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, misrepresented the true purpose of his transaction.
Farro said the way Cohen had requested the loan and transfer seemed to be in keeping with a real estate transaction.
This is an important point, as Farro said transfers for things that weren’t routine business – involving politics or media or the adult industry, for example – had additional checks involved.
Did any of the wire transfer paperwork indicate that money was being transferred on behalf of a candidate?
Farro said no, and that “we would have additional due diligence”.
Would that have delayed the transaction? the prosecutor asked. “It certainly would.”
15:32Victoria Bekiempis
Gary Farro offered similar answers when it came to questions about media wire transfers.
“Did any of the wire transfer paperwork indicate that money was being transferred for a payment to an adult film star?” prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asked. “It did not,” Farro replied.
With something like that, we might have considered that a reputational risk and might not have accepted the wire.
15:15Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asked Gary Farro “why did it take five or six hours to open the account”. Farro replied:
Michael Cohen isn’t our only client, we do have other things that take precedence.
Moving things around and opening an account in a single day, he said, was “very quick”.
While Farro’s testimony is granular, it speaks to how prosecutors are trying to establish Donald Trump’s motive.
They have contended that Trump’s campaign was panicking after the Access Hollywood tape – in which he bragged about groping women – emerged on 7 October 2016.
Jurors are now seeing, through documents and testimony, that Cohen was working quickly in the days that followed, allegedly to silence Stormy Daniels.
15:14Victoria Bekiempis
Right now, prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is continuing to question banker Gary Farro about documents associated with Michael Cohen’s LLC, Essential Consultants, for which he opened a bank account.
Remember: prosecutors said that Cohen used Essential Consultants to funnel money to Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, to bury her account for an extramarital sexual encounter with Donald Trump.
Farro, who had been Cohen’s private banker at First Republic bank, is being asked about documents related to the formation of Essential Consultants; this is providing a timeline for jurors about Cohen’s financial maneuvers related to the alleged hush-money payoff.
15:11Victoria Bekiempis
Private banker Gary Farro, who is on the stand for a second day, last week described financial maneuvering related to Donald Trump’s alleged catch-and-kill scheme.
In 2015, Farro became then Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s contact at First Republic Bank. His testimony lifted the veil on Cohen’s financial chicanery to protect his then boss.
Prosecutors allege that Trump, Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker plotted in the summer of 2015 to bury stories that could harm Trump’s GOP presidential bid. Cohen, who allegedly shuttled a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, sought to open accounts in October 2016 for two new LLCs.
Cohen plunked his own money into one of the LLCs, Essential Consultants, which wired money to Daniels’ lawyer, so she would not go public with her claim about an alleged extramarital liaison with Trump.
Cohen allegedly set up LLCs to facilitate hush-money payments without the candidate’s fingerprints, as Trump’s campaign feared that additional accounts of boorish behavior could sink his chances in the general election, prosecutors have said.
14:59Victoria Bekiempis
Gary Farro was asked about Essential Consultants’ incorporation documents in Delaware, which showed that Michael Cohen had set up the LLC on 17 October, 2016.
Farro was also shown email correspondence related to creation of a bank account for essential consultants. Cohen reached out on 26 October 2016 wanting to open a bank account for Essential Consultants.
Cohen’s demeanor in requesting the account was pressing, Farro testified. “Michael Cohen, everything is urgent with Michael Cohen,” Farro said, prompting laughter in the courtroom.
Judge finds Trump in contempt for violating his gag order, fines him $9,000
14:49
Judge Juan Merchan says that Donald Trump is fined $9,000 for violating prohibitions on commenting on witnesses.
Prosecutors had accused the former president of violating his gag order multiple times, asking the judge to fine him $1,000 per violation.
Under the gag order, Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, public statements about trial witnesses concerning their roles in the investigation and at trial, prosecutors other than the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and members of the court staff or the district attorney’s staff.
Trump is free to criticize Merchan himself, though it will probably not help Trump win the favor over the judge, who will decide on Trump’s sentence if the jury finds him guilty.
Before the trial, Merchan extended the gag order to cover his family and Bragg’s family after Trump posted about Merchan’s daughter, who worked for a company that helped Democratic candidates with digital campaigns.
14:43
Judge Juan Merchan says he won’t hold the trial on 17 May so that Donald Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
“I don’t think the May 17 date is a problem,” Merchan said.
Eric Trump joins his father in the courtroom
14:38Victoria Bekiempis
Donald Trump has walked into the courtroom; he’s wearing a dense blue suit, red tie, white shirt and what appears to be an American flag pin on his lapel.
Eric Trump is here, in the front row. His father had been standing and chatting with him for a few moments.
This is the first time a member of Trump’s family will be attending this trial.
14:38Hugo Lowell
Donald Trump has arrived in the courtroom for his New York criminal trial with his lawyers.
Before we get started today, he has a quick word with his campaign chief, Susie Wiles, who is in the front row of seats behind the defense table, standing next to Eric Trump.
14:36
Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench and court is now in session.
13:38
Last week was mainly about testimony from major witness and Trump ally David Pecker.
Prosecutors had a few main goals with Pecker, who is the former CEO of American Media Inc (AMI) and CEO and publisher of the National Enquirer.
They wanted to:
Show that Pecker and Trump engaged in an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.
Establish AMI’s “catch-and-kill” pattern of purchasing negative stories about Trump to keep them under wraps.
Show how close the former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was with Trump.
Tee things up for future testimony about the falsified payments scheme that Trump allegedly used to repay Cohen for the hush-money payment to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels from telling the public about her alleged affair with Trump right before the 2016 election.
Mission accomplished, for the most part: Pecker gave them pretty much all of the above.
Read the Guardian’s Trump on Trial newsletter for more details about Pecker’s days on the stand:
Trump hush-money trial enters third week with testimony from banker who worked with Cohen
13:25
And we’re back: Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial enters its third week today, after a fallow day yesterday.
Expected today? A possible ruling on whether Trump owes at least $10,000 for violating his gag order, and more testimony from the private banker Gary Farro about dodgy financial maneuvering to hide Trump’s dirty laundry from American voters.
Farro already told the court last week that in 2015 he became the contact for Michael Cohen – then Trump’s attorney – at First Republic Bank, where he says he witnessed Cohen’s financial chicanery to protect Trump.
Prosecutors say Trump, Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker plotted in the summer of 2015 to bury any negative stories that could harm Trump’s run for president.
The next year, with crucially less than a month to go before the election, came the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged about groping women.
And a day after that – 8 October 2016 – prosecutors say Cohen learned that Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film star, was alleging an affair with Trump.
Prosecutors say Trump’s campaign feared that any additional accounts of boorish behavior could sink his chances in the general election – so, they say, Cohen set up LLCs to facilitate hush-money payments without the candidate’s fingerprints.
As evidence, they say Cohen sought to open accounts for two new companies in October of 2016. Into one of them – Essential Consultants – he plunked his own money. This was the account that wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer, so she would not go public with her story.
We’ll learn more today: court is expected to resume at 9am ET.