Politics
Trump trial resumes with testimony from Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels' ex-lawyer
A lawyer who represented two women seeking payments in 2016 for their silence about alleged sexual encounters with Donald Trump continues his testimony Thursday in the former president's criminal trial.
Keith Davidson spoke in court about his interactions with Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer. Davidson negotiated a deal with Cohen in 2016 in which Cohen paid $130,000 in exchange for adult film star Stormy Daniels' silence about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump.
Earlier in the week, he told the court how he represented Daniels and model Karen McDougal, another woman who said she had sex with Trump and sought a deal for the rights to her story.
McDougal received $150,000 from the parent company of the National Enquirer tabloid on his behalf in what prosecutors say was a scheme to support Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Cohen is expected to be called later in the trial as a key witness against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump denies committing the crimes and says he did not have sex with Daniels or McDougal.
In court Tuesday, prosecutors showed a series of text messages and emails in which Davidson publicized McDougal's allegations to the tabloid, calling them a success story about Trump. He then negotiated directly with Cohen to sell the rights to Daniels' concessions. Davidson testified that he understood that removing these articles would benefit Trump's candidacy.
Before returning to the stand, Judge Juan Merchan held a hearing to determine whether Trump should be held in contempt of court and fined for four other alleged violations of Merchan's pretrial silence order. The order limits what Trump can say about people involved in the case, including likely witnesses and jurors. Prosecutors urged the judge to re-impose fines of $1,000 per offense, but said they were not seeking prison time. Mercan did not immediately issue a ruling.
Testimony of Keith Davidson Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 2, 2024. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Under questioning by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, Davidson detailed the settlement agreement between Daniels and Trump that Davidson ultimately reached with Cohen days before the 2016 election. He added that the agreement included a $1 million penalty. for any violation, a provision that he deemed “inapplicable”. Trump never signed the documents, which used pseudonyms for him and Daniels.
Davidson recalled the hours and days following Election Day on November 8, 2016, when Trump won the presidency. Steinglass showed a text exchange between Davidson and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in the early morning hours of November 9. Davidson said: “What have we done? Howard replied, “Oh my God.”
“It was a kind of dark humor,” Davidson said on the stand, later explaining: “There was an understanding… that our activities, in one way or another, might have helped Donald's presidential campaign Trump.”
He said Cohen would call him “quite frequently” in the weeks following the election. He remembers a conversation that happened on a Saturday morning in mid-December.
“It was a long call, and he had told me that he was depressed and discouraged and had said that I – and he used very colorful language about this stage of his life,” Davidson said.
Steinglass said Davidson could cite the “colorful language” used by Cohen.
“He said something like, 'Jesus Christ, can you believe I'm not going to Washington, after everything I've done for that damn guy?'” Davidson recalled. “'I can't believe I'm not going to Washington. I've saved this guy's ass so many times you don't even know it.'”
He said Cohen told him he “never even got paid” and that Trump “wasn't even going to pay me back the $130,000.”
Stormy Daniels deal emerges This image released by ABC shows adult film star Stormy Daniels, left, laughing with host Jimmy Kimmel during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tuesday January 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. P.A.
Fast forward to 2018, Davidson recounted how Daniels' payment first came to light. He said a Wall Street Journal reporter sent him an email on Jan. 10, 2018, seeking comment on an article about Daniels and Trump.
Davidson said he denied the allegation of a sexual relationship between Trump and Daniels and forwarded the email to Cohen. “I think I had a contractual obligation to let them know that something was about to be published,” he told the court. Cohen told him to write a “firm” response denying “everything.”
The same day, Davidson prepared a statement under Daniels' name, which she would later renounce. The statement said allegations of “a sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many years ago” were “absolutely false.”
On January 12, the Wall Street Journal first published an article revealing the “financial hush” agreement, under the headline: “Trump lawyer arranged payment of $130,000 for silence of a adult film star.” The story included Daniels' alleged denial, which Cohen also spread to other media outlets.
On the stand, Davidson said an “extremely strict interpretation of this denial would be technically true.”
“I don't think anyone has ever claimed that any interaction between [her] and Mr. Trump was “romantic,” he explained. Daniels later alleges that Cohen used “intimidation and coercion tactics” to get her to sign the statement.
A week later, on January 17, Davidson said Cohen told him he had arranged for Daniels to appear on Sean Hannity's Fox News program. Cohen later reconsidered his decision, telling Davidson in a text that “the wise guys all think the story is dying and don't think it's smart for her to do interviews.” Davidson replied: “100%.”
“It was sort of in one of the [Cohen’s] scenes on fire, and he was running around planning things and then when he put it up on the flagpole and consulted with someone or a group, whoever the “wise guys” were, they didn't really think that “It was a good idea for her to appear on 'Hannity,'” Davidson testified. Daniels never appeared on the show.
Following Trump's State of the Union address on Jan. 30, Daniels appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC. but refused to confirm or deny that she had sex with Trump. Earlier in the day, Davidson prepared a second statement under Daniels' name denying the encounter. In his interview with Kimmel, Daniels implied that the signature under the statement was not his, a claim Davidson disputed on the stand.
“Impossible,” Davidson texted Cohen, saying she signed it in front of him.
At this point, Davidson said he was “trying to thread the needle” and avoid sparking allegations that Daniels broke his contract with Trump. “We try to appease her while trying to accommodate Stormy’s desires,” he testified.
Davidson said Cohen threatened to sue Daniels “multiple times.”
“He can be a very aggressive guy. Aggressive in his efforts to protect his client, and he often makes legal threats, says he will bankrupt her and rain legal hell on her, and, 'Don't fuck' with us, you don’t know who you’re fucking with,” he said. “He wanted to deny his story to protect his client.”
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