Former porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson took the stand in Manhattan today, testifying in the criminal trial over Donald Trump’s alleged “hush money” payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, and denies having sex with the adult film actress.
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Day 10 of Trump’s “hush money” criminal trial is in the books. Here’s what happened.
— Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson testified that Michael Cohen whined in a post 2016 election phone call that Donald Trump still owed him a $130,000 reimbursement for paying the porn star Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter, and griped that he was stiffed on a spot in Trump’s White House.
— Trump’s lawyers unearthed Davidson’s unsavory past dealings during a tense cross-examination, pointing out that he represented clients who were paid hush money by actor Charlie Sheen, and asking him whether he got another client paid for leaking Lindsay Lohan’s medical files to TMZ.
— Davidson cheekily testified that the $130,000 that Daniels received from Cohen to buy her silence about the alleged one-night stand “wasn’t a payoff, and it wasn’t hush money.” The lawyer cheekily testified that he prefers to describe the arrangement as a “consideration in a civil settlement.”
— Trump was warned about speaking about jurors at the trial in a morning hearing on whether he had violated the court’s limited “gag order” that’s meant to stop him from bashing jurors and witnesses. Prosecutors asked to fine him $4,000 on top of $9,000 he’s already been fined.
— Jurors heard a potentially damning piece of evidence right at the buzzer Thursday afternoon: Cohen telling Trump on a recording “I need to open up a company” regarding a “transfer” involving “our friend David.” Prosecutors did not explain the recording, but it could be a reference to David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, which arranged a $150,000 payoff that silenced another of Trump’s alleged lovers, the Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.
The trial will start up again Friday morning with Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst at the Manhattan DA’s office, still on the stand.
Trump visits NYC firehouse after trial, hands out pizza and signs log book
