A lawyer who previously represented former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actor Stormy Daniels was the next witness called to the stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Keith Davidson took the stand shortly after noon Tuesday and is known for representing people trying to sell celebrity sex tapes or other embarrassing information.
Here’s the latest:
Quick Read
- Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, Keith Davidson, was called to the stand. Davidson previously represented Daniels and Karen McDougal in hush money negotiations.
- Davidson’s testimony is pivotal as he dealt with arrangements involving payments to Daniels and McDougal, who both have claimed past affairs with Trump.
- The trial also featured testimony from Phillip Thompson, an executive who authenticated a transcript and video of a deposition Trump gave in a defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll.
- In addition, C-SPAN video clips were played in court, showing Trump denying allegations from several women and praising Michael Cohen as a good lawyer and friend.
- The case continues to uncover the details of alleged attempts to suppress damaging stories during the 2016 presidential campaign through financial settlements.
The Associated Press has the story:
Stormy Daniels’ Ex-lawyer, others called to stand in Trump hush money trial
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) —
Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumed Tuesday with Judge Juan M. Merchan first ruling on prosecutors’ prior request to hold the former president in contempt of court over alleged violations of a gag order that bars him from speaking publicly about witnesses and jurors in the case.
Merchan ruled that Trump violated the gag order nine times and fined him $9,000. He will hold another hearing Thursday on four more alleged violations brought forth by prosecutors.
Gary Farro — the prosecution’s third witness and a banker who helped Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen open accounts — returned to the witness stand shortly thereafter to resume his testimony from last week.
Cohen used one such account to buy the silence of porn performer Stormy Daniels. She alleged a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, which he denies.
The first week of testimony was the scene-setter for jurors: Manhattan prosecutors portrayed what they say was an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying negative stories.
For his part, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee has been campaigning in his off-hours, but is required to be in court when it is in session, four days a week.
The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to Cohen. Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments and falsely recorded them as legal expenses.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.
STORMY DANIELS’ FORMER LAWYER CALLED TO THE STAND
A lawyer who previously represented former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actor Stormy Daniels was the next witness called to the stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Keith Davidson took the stand shortly after noon Tuesday and is known for representing people trying to sell celebrity sex tapes or other embarrassing information.
He represented McDougal and Daniels in hush money negotiations with the National Enquirer and Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016.
McDougal claimed she had had a yearlong affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. Daniels claimed she had a one-time sexual encounter with him in 2006. Trump has denied both allegations.
EXECUTIVE CALLED TO THE STAND TO VERIFY TRANSCRIPT, VIDEO OF TRUMP DEPOSITION
An executive at a company that provides stenographers and videographers for depositions — sworn, out-of-court statements under oath — was the next witness called to the stand in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday.
Phillip Thompson was called to authenticate a transcript and video of a deposition the former president gave in one of writer E. Jean Carroll’s federal defamation lawsuits against him.
The portions included Carroll’s lawyer asking Trump about his Truth Social platform, the dates of his marriage to wife Melania Trump and whether he was aware of the “Access Hollywood” tape.
The former longtime Elle magazine advice columnist had alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and then defamed her after she came forward publicly in 2019. He has said nothing happened between the two of them and called her a “wack job” who engineered a “hoax” to sell a book.
After two federal trials last year and this winter, juries awarded Carroll over $88 million. Trump is appealing.
VIDEOS OF TRUMP DENYING ALLEGATIONS AND PRAISING COHEN PLAYED IN COURT
Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money case played C-SPAN clips of the then-presidential candidate on the campaign trail in the final weeks leading up to the 2016 election. In the videos, Trump forcefully denied allegations made by several women after his infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape was made public.
“The stories are total fiction. They’re 100% made up, they never happened, they never would happen,” Trump said in video from an Oct. 14, 2016 rally in North Carolina.
Another clip played for the jury, from January 2017, showed Trump praising Michael Cohen as as good lawyer and friend.
Trump did not appear to react in court to the clips, which were played on monitors throughout the courtroom, including directly in front of him on the defense table.
After confirming the veracity of the clips, Browning was dismissed from the witness stand. Trump’s attorneys declined to question him.
