former presidential prosecutor Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York A fifth witness was called to the stand as the trial continued on Tuesday. Keith Davidson is the lawyer who represented Daniels and model Karen McDougal when they sought a deal in 2016 for an article alleging sexual encounters with Trump.
David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, said he paid McDougal $150,000 through Davidson in August 2016, but never received the repayment he expected from Trump. I testified before. When Mr. Davidson brought Mr. Daniels' story to the Enquirer in October of that year, Mr. Pecker said he introduced him to Mr. Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen. Mr. Pecker said he told Mr. Cohen that he would not pay to buy the rights to another article about Mr. Trump, but that he advised Mr. Cohen to buy it himself.
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 via wire transfer. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen “conspired” to conceal Mr. Trump's repayments to Mr. Cohen in order to hide why Mr. Trump paid Mr. Cohen. President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case and has denied all allegations, including extramarital sexual contact.
Mr. Davidson took the stand after Mr. Cohen's former banker, Gary Faro, told jurors about his “urgent” efforts to open a new bank account to use for money transfers. He was followed by two other witnesses who examined other evidence.
Keith Davidson's testimony
During questioning by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, with Trump watching from the defense bench, Davidson recounted a series of conversations he had with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in 2016. He said they were “professional acquaintances and friends” and that they would continue to be “professional acquaintances and friends.” We talk several times a week.
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Davidson said he had represented McDougall since June 2016 regarding his “personal interactions with Donald Trump.” Prosecutors exhibited texts and emails that Davidson produced pursuant to his subpoena.
Shortly after agreeing to represent McDougall, Davidson texted Howard that he had a “blockbuster” article about Trump. Howard replied, “You'll benefit more than anyone else. You can see why…”
“I don't know if I understood it clearly at the time, but I knew that Mr. Dylan's boss at the time, David Pecker, and Mr. Trump were longtime friends and had a business relationship. '' Davidson said on stage. “And AMI has clearly announced that it supports Mr. Trump's candidacy.”
She said she met Howard shortly afterward and continued to keep in touch over the next few weeks. He also spoke with ABC about McDougal's story, testifying that it was “two entities trying to deceive each other.”
Prosecutors presented a text from Davidson in July 2016 that read, “Don't forget Cohen. Every minute counts. This girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia.” He said on stage that the text was “regrettable” and that the wording was “not something I used or thought of.”
Jane Rosenberg
Other texts showed Davidson negotiating through Howard and seeking a contract with AMI. She said she thought the outlet was a better fit because the company doesn't require McDougall to tell her story.
Mr. Davidson said he understood that the AMI agreement would also benefit Mr. Trump for the same reason that Mr. McDougall remained silent.
“Please give me an ambassadorship. I'm thinking of the Isle of Man,” he texted Howard, referring to the self-governing British Crown Dependency.
Asked by prosecutors to explain what that language meant, Davidson said, “What it means is that if Karen does this deal with AMI, it will help Donald Trump's candidacy.”
He added that he did not know specifically that AMI had reached an agreement with Trump, but that he understood it was in support of Trump's candidacy.
“We need to make this happen,” Howard later texted Davidson.
Ms. McDougall ultimately received $150,000 in exchange for the rights to her article, but the Enquirer did not publish it.
President Trump's insult order
Judge Juan Melchan started the day by giving President Trump some good news and some bad news. Approved President Trump's request to adjourn the court on May 17 so he could attend his son's high school graduation.
But then the judge handed down the sentence prosecutors had been seeking for more than a week.found by merchant Trump charged with contempt of court He was charged with violating a gag order that restricts what he can say about people involved in the case.
Marchan said Trump has violated the order nine times in recent weeks with posts on the Truth social platform and his campaign website. He fined Trump $9,000 and ordered him to delete the post. In his written decision, he noted that New York state law does not allow fines of more than $1,000 for a single violation, and that defendants who can afford the fines can use that amount to pay off future violations. He said it may not be dissuaded.
Marchand concluded his written judgment with a warning to Trump. “The defendant is hereby cautioned that the court will not tolerate continued willful violation of legal orders and will impose a term of imprisonment if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances.”
After the contempt judgment, Faro took the stand again.
On October 26, 2016, and October 27, 2016, when Cohen opened a new bank account and funded it with $131,000 from his personal home equity line of credit, he provided prosecutors with a series of electronic I hurriedly explained this via email and phone.
The next day, Cohen authorized the transfer of $130,000 to an account associated with Daniels' attorney, Davidson. Mr. Cohen described the account and transactions as related to real estate consulting, Mr. Faro testified, reiterating that the request was “urgent.”
Faro said the deal would have been delayed if Cohen had suggested the transfer involved a political candidate or an adult film star. He said transactions involving political candidates would be subject to “additional scrutiny” to ensure they were legal.
But he offered a different explanation for why the bank scrutinized the payments to Daniels. He said the bank is cautious about promoting the adult film industry.
“We might have thought something like that would be a reputational risk,” Faro said.
