Lawyer Keith Davidson returned to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday following a contempt hearing over whether the former president violated a gag order again. Judge Juan M. Merchan heard from both prosecutors and one of Trump’s defense attorneys about four more prospective violations, including comments Trump made about the political makeup of the jury and comments he made to reporters in the courthouse hallway. No immediate decision on the potential sanctions would made and it was unclear when Merchan might rule.
Here’s the latest:
Quick Read
- Defense Cross-Examination of Davidson: The defense begins cross-examination of Keith Davidson in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, probing his previous work and interactions related to confidential settlements.
- Davidson’s Testimony Details: Davidson denies direct interactions with Trump, emphasizing his dealings were primarily with Michael Cohen. He also explains his limited knowledge about the Trump Organization’s record-keeping practices.
- Questioning on Past Negotiations: Defense lawyer Emil Bove questions Davidson on his past practices in brokering hush money deals, including those involving other celebrities, and discusses Davidson’s familiarity with extortion law.
- Highlight on Previous Legal Matters: Davidson discusses his involvement in various negotiations that suppressed embarrassing celebrity stories, referencing his role in legal situations involving Hulk Hogan and other public figures.
- Focus on Cohen’s Role: The defense strategy underscores that Cohen handled the hush money negotiations independently of Trump, suggesting Trump was distant from the direct actions.
- Legal Ramifications and Public Perception: The cross-examination aims to separate Trump from the direct actions taken by Cohen, focusing on Davidson’s interactions and agreements handled without Trump’s direct involvement.
The Associated Press has the story:
Defense is cross-examining lawyer Davidson in Trump’s hush money trial
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) —
Lawyer Keith Davidson returned to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday following a contempt hearing over whether the former president violated a gag order again. Judge Juan M. Merchan heard from both prosecutors and one of Trump’s defense attorneys about four more prospective violations, including comments Trump made about the political makeup of the jury and comments he made to reporters in the courthouse hallway. No immediate decision on the potential sanctions would made and it was unclear when Merchan might rule.
Merchan already sanctioned the former president on Tuesday, fining him $9,000 over nine online posts and threatening him with jail time if he continues violating the gag order.
The trial is in its 10th day and second week of witness testimony.
Prosecutors have said that Trump and others conducted a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by purchasing and burying salacious stories that might hurt his campaign.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments — including $130,000 given to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Cohen — recording them instead as legal expenses.
He 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.
BOVE VISIBLY FRUSTRATED DURING CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DAVIDSON
Defense attorney Emil Bove was visibly frustrated at times while questioning Keith Davidson in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday, raising his voice as the hush money negotiator refused to answer certain questions about his previous work securing settlements for clients to suppress embarrassing information about other celebrities.
Bove twice sought Judge Juan M. Merchan’s help to compel answers from Davidson, who said he either does not remember the deals or isn’t authorized to speak about them.
Merchan refused.
After Davidson invoked attorney-client privilege in response to questions about past deals, one of several times he did so, Bove shot back: “We’re both lawyers. I’m not here to play lawyer games with you.” Bove later suggested Davidson’s memory was intentionally “fuzzy” around some of the more controversial settlements he worked on.
Bove’s style stands in contrast to Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche, who has been more soft-spoken in his questioning and interactions with the judge.
DAVIDSON QUESTIONED ON PRIOR ATTEMPTS TO BROKER HUSH MONEY DEALS
Defense lawyer Emil Bove pressed Keith Davidson Thursday on his understanding of extortion law, grilling him about previous instances in which he solicited money to suppress embarrassing stories, including one involving wrestler Hulk Hogan.
By the time Davidson negotiated hush money payments for McDougal and Daniels, Bove suggested to the witness, “You were pretty well versed in coming right up to the line without committing extortion, right?”
“I had familiarized myself with the law,” Davidson replied.
Davidson was previously investigated by the FBI but not charged after he asked Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, to pay his client $300,000 to head off the release of the wrestling star’s sex tape, portions of which ended up published by Gawker.
Bove noted Davidson also helped a client get paid $10,000 off the release of Lindsay Lohan’s private medical files. He also had a role in brokering a sex tape involving early 2000s MTV personality Tila Tequila.
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DAVIDSON BEGINS
As the defense began its cross-examination of Keith Davidson in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, lawyer Emil Bove elicited testimony from Davidson that he’d never had any interactions with Trump — only Cohen.
The lawyer testified that he never met Trump, nor had he ever been in the same room as him until he began testifying in court on Tuesday.
Davidson said he was unfamiliar with the Trump Organization’s record-keeping practices — a key issue in the trial — though he did receive some emails from Cohen’s company email address.
Any impressions he had of the former president came through others, the lawyer testified.
Bove appeared to be underscoring the defense’s points that Trump was removed from the negotiations — that Cohen was handling the hush-money matters on his own — and that his testimony isn’t relevant to the charges at hand, which allege Trump falsified business records by logging reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal fees.
DAVIDSON SAYS COHEN TOLD HIM TO KEEP DANIELS FROM SPEAKING TO THE PRESS
Before a short midday break, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass wrapped his questioning of Keith Davidson by asking about texts Michael Cohen sent, instructing him to prevent Stormy Daniels from doing interviews.
Cohen texted at one point that the “wise men think the story is dying” so she shouldn’t do any interviews, and any statements from her should come from Davidson.
Shortly after that exchange, which was shown on courtroom monitors, Daniels declined to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.
In another instance, Davidson issued a statement for Daniels again denying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump, drafting it in a Hollywood hotel suite as she was getting ready to appear on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show.
But Daniels then disavowed the statement on the show, noting that the signature on it didn’t match her own.
This enraged Cohen, who threatened to sue Daniels “to hell” and sent other threatening messages, Davidson testified.
“He can be a very aggressive guy,” he said.
DAVIDSON DEFENDS 2018 DENIAL OF HUSH MONEY DEAL
Keith Davidson went to great lengths in testimony Thursday to defend a January 2018 statement he penned on behalf of Stormy Daniels denying a news report that Michael Cohen had paid $130,000 to silence her claims of a sexual encounter with Donald Trump.
For example, the statement’s claim that Daniels never had a “sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump” could technically be true, Davidson contended, if you were to “hone in on the definition of romantic, sexual and affair.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic,” the lawyer testified, drawing a laugh from prosecutors.
Likewise, Davidson said, the denial about hush money payments could be considered factual, since the payments made to Daniels were, legally speaking, “consideration in a civil settlement.”
Trump had denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels.
COHEN GRIPED ABOUT TRUMP NOT REIMBURSING HIM, SAYS LAWYER
Keith Davidson testified Thursday that Michael Cohen ranted to him about Donald Trump in a phone conversation about a month after the 2016 election, complaining the president-elect wasn’t taking him to Washington D.C. and hadn’t paid him back for the payment to Stormy Daniels.
“Jesus Christ, can you believe I’m not going to Washington?” Davidson recalled Cohen saying during the Dec. 9, 2016, call.
Davidson was doing some Christmas shopping at a California store that he said was bizarrely and memorably decorated in an “Alice in Wonderland”-type theme with representations of huge rabbits and a “Cat in the Hat” on the ceiling, amid other holiday decor.
“I’ve saved that guy’s ass so many times, you don’t even know,” Cohen continued, according to Davidson. Using an expletive, he said Trump “isn’t even paying me the $130,000 back.”
Currently:
— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here
— Read the judge’s full order on Donald Trump’s gag order violations
— Trump calls judge ‘crooked’ after facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
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