'What have we done?': Lawyer recounts hush money deal struck before 2016 election
‘What have we done?’: Lawyer recounts hush money deal struck before 2016 election
Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumed Thursday in a Manhattan courtroom with a former lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels recounting the deal struck days before the 2016 election to suppress her claims that she had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump — and the role he suggested the deal may have played in his campaign victory.
“What have we done?” attorney Keith Davidson said in a text sent on election night to the National Enquirer executive who’d helped him to mediate the deal. “Oh my god,” responded the exec, Dylan Howard, who was the Enquirer’s editor-in-chief at the time. He described the text as “gallows humor” about their understanding that “our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
On cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Emil Bove tried undermining Davidson’s credibility by asking him about other salacious tabloid stories he had been involved with, including people who peddled sex tapes featuring wrestler Hulk Hogan and influencer Tila Tequila, and a person who allegedly leaked information about actress Lindsay Lohan’s stint in rehab. Davidson was evasive with his answers, saying he couldn’t remember details about specific cases. “I had over 1,500 clients in my career,” he said.
He acknowledged that he was investigated for extortion in relation to the Hogan tape back in 2012. “That is true,” he told Bove, while denying any wrongdoing.
Davidson had represented Daniels and Karen McDougal, who both claim to have had affairs with Trump in 2006 and were paid to keep quiet about those claims in 2016. Trump has denied their claims.
The National Enquirer’s parent company paid McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 as part of what prosecutors described as a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress negative stories and benefit Trump’s presidential campaign.
Then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen then payed Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet in an agreement that was fully executed on Oct. 31 — eight days before Election Day.
On Nov. 4, Davidson said he heard from an “upset” Cohen after The Wall Street Journal ran a story on the deal to suppress McDougal’s story. Cohen said his “boss” — Trump — “was very upset” and “threatened to sue Karen McDougal.”
Davison said he next heard from Cohen that December, while he was doing holiday shopping in a department store that had “Alice in Wonderland”-themed decorations. He said Cohen was complaining that Trump was not taking him to the White House. “I’ve saved that guy’s ass so many times you don’t even know,” he quoted Cohen as telling him. Cohen then complained that Trump had not repaid him the $130,000 he spent on Daniels’ payment, Davidson said.
On cross-examination, he said Cohen sounded so disheartened in that conversation “I thought he was going to kill himself.”
Trump eventually did reimburse Cohen in payments that prosecutors say were falsely recorded as legal payments. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Davidson said he heard from Cohen again in January 2018, when the Wall Street Journal was working on a story about the hush money payment to Daniels. He said he drafted a statement for her to issue, where she denied having a “sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many years ago.”
Davidson maintained the statement was technically accurate because “I don’t think that anyone had ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic.”
Later in the afternoon, prosecutors played a recording of a phone conversation that Davidson said Cohen had “surreptitiously” recorded. On the tape, Cohen tells Davidson that Trump, who he did not name, had complained about the Daniels’ settlement.
In the recording, Cohen said, “I can’t even tell you how many times he said to me, you know, ‘I hate the fact that we did it,'” and “my comment to him was “but every person you spoke to said it was the right thing to do.'” Davidson said he understood that “he” referred to Trump and “we did it” referred to the payment to Daniels.
The testimony came after prosecutors argued that the judge overseeing the trial should find the former president in criminal contempt — again — for violating a gag order.
The hearing focused on remarks Trump made last week to reporters in the courthouse hallway and in interviews with two news outlets. In his remarks, Trump referred to Cohen — a key figure and probable witness in the trial — as “a convicted liar.” Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress about a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Trump last week also complained that the jurors are overwhelmingly Democrats. Jurors weren’t asked about their party affiliations during the selection process.
Judge Juan Merchan this week held Trump in contempt for nine violations of his April 1 order prohibiting criticism of witnesses and jurors. The violations all pertained to posts on Trump’s social media account and his campaign website. Merchan fined Trump $9,000 — the maximum allowed by law — and warned that any future violations could result in jail time.
“He’s already been found to have violated the gag order nine times, and he’s done it again here,” prosecutor Chris Conroy told the judge Thursday. “His statements are corrosive to this proceeding, and to the fair administration of justice,” he added.
However, the prosecutor said, “Because we prefer to minimize disruptions to this proceeding, we are not yet seeking jail.”
Trump attorney Todd Blanche defended Trump’s online commentary, saying that he should be able to respond to criticism made by his critics and political rivals.
“Part of the campaign takes place outside this courtroom. Part of the campaign takes place in interviews,” Blanche told the judge.
He complained that President Joe Biden made a joke at the White House correspondents’ dinner over the weekend which appeared to refer to likely witness Stormy Daniels, saying Trump was experiencing “stormy weather.”
The judge told him Biden is not bound by the gag order, but Trump was free to respond, as long as he didn’t mention Daniels.
Prosecutors had also cited a comment Trump made about witness David Pecker while he was on the stand, telling reporters he’s a “nice guy,” which they said was sending the former National Enquirer publisher a message about how to testify. Blanche maintained the remark was “neutral.” The judge said he was “not terribly concerned about that one.”
Trump has claimed the gag order is “unconstitutional” because he’s the presumptive Republican nominee for president and should be able to speak his mind.
“Everybody can say whatever they want, except for President Trump,” Blanche said, a frequent complaint Trump and his lawyers have made during the trial. Merchan responded that other people are not the defendants in this case.
Pressed on the juror remarks, Blanche said it was “absolutely positively not” a violation of the order because he didn’t single any juror out. “The implication is that this is not a fair jury,” the judge said.
The narrowly tailored gag order bars Trump from “making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding” and “public statements about any prospective juror or any juror.”
Merchan did not immediately rule on the prosecutors’ motion or Blanche’s request that Cohen be excluded from the gag order because of his repeated commentary about Trump. It’s unclear when he will issue a decision.
Trump’s attorneys appeared to be trying to mindful of the judge’s concerns. After the lunch break, Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles presented the judge with what she described as a number of articles from legal commentators talking about the case and mentioning witnesses that she said Trump hoped to post about on social media. She asked the judge to review the articles to see if they would be alright to post. Merchan said he would not.
“I’m not going to be in the position of looking at posts and determining in advance whether you should or should not post,” he said, adding, “When in doubt, steer clear.”
During the break, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to deny reports from various news outlets including NBC News that he has appeared at times to be sleeping during the trial. “Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt, especially not today. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!” the post said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com