Stormy Daniels' former lawyer testifies in Trump's hush money trial

Donald Trump’s attorneys on Thursday sought to paint one of the witnesses at the heart of the hush money deal with Stormy Daniels as someone with a long history of extracting money from celebrities while going “up to the line without committing extortion.”

Trump attorney Emil Bove raised a host of celebrities Keith Davidson has dealt with — Hulk Hogan, Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen and Tila Tequila — seeking both to undercut Davidson’s credibility as a witness and to argue that the deals he cut involving the former president followed a long-running pattern.

Before the testimony began, Judge Juan Merchan held a second hearing on Trump’s alleged violations of his gag order where prosecutors raised four more statements Trump had made that they say violated the judge’s gag order barring discussion of witnesses and the jury. Trump has already been fined $9,000 for nine violations earlier this week.

Here are the top takeaways from Day 10 of the Trump hush money trial:

Trump lawyer drags Davidson through the celebrity mud: After prosecutors finished walking Davidson meticulously through the deals he cut before the 2016 election for both Daniels and Karen McDougal, Trump’s attorney dragged Davidson through the proverbial celebrity mud, ticking through a host of deals he was involved with related to other high-profile figures.

Bove pressed Davidson on whether he had studied extortion law when he sought money from AMI and Cohen for the McDougal and Daniels deals. Bove asked Davidson whether he went “right up to the line without committing extortion” with the Trump deals.

“I don’t understand your question,” Davidson responded.

Another gag order hearing over Trump comments: Merchan held a second hearing Thursday morning over more gag order violations prosecutors want Trump held in contempt for. Merchan did not rule on the latest allegations after Thursday’s hearing. Prosecutor Chris Conroy pointed to four of Trump’s comments since last Monday — two were about Cohen, the others were about the jury and former AMI chief David Pecker.

The district attorney’s office wants Trump fined $1,000 for each violation but is not yet asking Merchan to jail him, noting the inconvenient slowing effect it’d have on the trial.

Witnesses don’t have nice things to say about Michael Cohen: Davidson described how Cohen was difficult to deal with, frequently acting in a “pants on fire” manner. Davidson testified that he had “lost trust” with Cohen to pay the money he’d agreed to in the Daniels deal — and at one point he said the deal was off after Cohen failed to meet a deadline. He also described Cohen as despondent during a December 2016 phone call after learning that he would not be getting a job in the White House.

“He said something to the effect of, ‘Jesus Christ can you f**king believe I’m not going to Washington after everything I’ve done for that f**king guy. I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington. I’ve saved that guy’s a** so many times you don’t even know,’” Davidson testified Cohen told him.

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Thursday that he is not allowed to testify in his defense at a criminal trial in Manhattan over his alleged falsification of business records.

After leaving the courtroom for the day, Trump told reporters, “I’m not allowed to testify. I’m under a gag order. I guess, right?” He added, “I’m not allowed to testify, because this judge, who’s totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order.”

He continued by complaining that he’s “not allowed to talk” even when others attack him, then said again, “So I’m not allowed to testify because of an unconstitutional gag order.”

Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. He is allowed to testify at the trial; the decision is entirely up to him. Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order, which narrowly restricts his out-of-court speech, does not in any way stop him from testifying. The gag order also does not broadly prevent Trump from talking; he is permitted to speak to the media, speak at campaign events, attack President Joe Biden and other political opponents, and even attack Merchan and the Manhattan district attorney behind the case.

Rather, the gag order forbids Trump from three specific categories of speech:

1. Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about known or foreseeable witnesses, specifically about their participation in the case.
2. Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about prosecutors (other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg), members of the district attorney’s staff and the court staff, or family members of any of these people including Bragg, if those statements are made with the intent to interfere with the case.
3. Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about jurors or prospective jurors.

The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has kept a low profile throughout Donald Trump's criminal case but was spotted in court today ahead of the testimony of Manhattan DA office's employee Douglas Daus.

Bragg likes to show up to support employees like Daus who are not used to testifying in a big case like this, a person familiar with his management style said.

The Trump team has refused to stipulate to much of the evidence, which makes it necessary for employees like Daus to take the stand.

Keith Davidson, a key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements, was back on the stand on Thursday in the criminal trial against Donald Trump.

The lawyer helped negotiate the deals to silence Daniels and McDougal over their alleged encounters with Trump. Davidson said in an interview with CNN in 2018 that he’d spoken with Michael Cohen on several occasions about the two women.

On cross-examination, the defense painted Davidson as a shady lawyer who goes “right up to the line without committing extortion" on multiple cases involving not only Trump but other celebrities.

The next witness was Douglas Daus, who works for the Manhattan District Attorney's office in the High Technology Analysis Unit. He will continue his testimony on Friday.

Here’s what happened in court today:

Prosecution:

• Davidson testified that he “lost trust” in Cohen due to the “delays in funding” after the deal with Daniels. When the amount came through, Davidson texted Dylan Howard, the National Enquirer editor who was helping broker the deal, that — “was never really sure.”
• Jurors also saw the confidential agreement between Daniels and the former president — under the pseudonyms David Dennison and Peggy Peterson. Notably, a side agreement includes Trump’s real name and not Dennison’s, written in Davidson’s handwriting. The side letter agreement "decodes" the agreement that uses the pseudonyms, Davidson said.
• Davidson says he never saw a copy of the agreement where there was a signature on the line for "David Dennison." Only Cohen signed the agreement on Trump's behalf. Davidson said he was paid $10,000 for his role.
• Davidson texted Howard “What have we done” on election night. "Oh my god," Howard responded. Davidson testified that “there was an understanding that our efforts may have in some way — strike that — our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.” 
• Prosecutors also brought back up a Wall Street Journal story about McDougal published on November 4, 2016, just four days before the election. Davidson at the time represented McDougal who was engaged in a deal with AMI over her allegations of a relationship with Trump. Davidson said he spoke to Cohen "more than once" describing him as “very upset that the article had been published.”

Defense cross-examination:

• Davidson said he had never had any personal interactions with Trump and that they had never been in the same room.
• Trump attorney Emil Bove pressed Davidson on whether he thought about legal exposure to extortion charges. Davidson has agreed that he knew in 2016 that he "had to be careful" not to violate the law prohibiting extortion. But he did not agree when asked in 2016 if he had familiarized himself with the law of extortion.
• Davidson said he doesn’t recall when asked about various celebrities and stories related to them and his alleged involvement. "Your memory seems a little fuzzy around some of these issues,” Bove jabbed at Davidson. Bove also asked about the time Davidson was investigated as part of a 2012 extortion probe tied to Hulk Hogan.
• Davidson said he learned later that Daniels’ agent wanted a 2011 post taken down from a gossip website because they wanted a more lucrative deal. Davidson confirmed he used the word "leverage" in a 2018 recorded conversation with Cohen, but answered, “no,” when asked if it was Daniels’ goal to use leverage against Trump. He also testified that Daniels wanted the money “more than you could ever imagine.”
• On redirect: The jury heard part of the call with Cohen on prosecutors’ redirect on this line of questioning. Davidson said when he referenced "if he loses the election we lose all leverage" that he was referring to what the boyfriend of Daniels’ publicist Gina Rodriquez said, not what Daniels said.
• Karen McDougal: Davidson confirmed that McDougal had an interest in rejuvenating her career around the time he helped her reach the hush money deal. McDougal called the agreement a “dream deal,” Davidson confirmed, adding she never wanted her story to be public. Davidson also said when Trump was ascending in the polls a "former friend" of McDougal attempted to publicize her interactions with Trump in the press. 

Douglas Daus

• Daus says he was assigned to analyze two iPhones that belonged to Cohen in the investigation related to Trump. They were obtained via a search warrant. 
• Text messages were entered into evidence, including some messages between Cohen and Hope Hicks.
• Daus confirms Cohen had nearly 40,000 contacts on one of his phones including David Pecker, Hicks and Melania Trump, among others. There were 10 pages of contacts for Donald Trump, Daus said.
• Prosecutors played a recording from September 2016. It starts with Trump on a phone call. When he hangs up, Cohen can be heard saying: "Great call by the way. Big time.” Cohen says he needs to open up a company, and that he's spoken with the Trump Organization's chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up.
• During cross-examination, Bove asked Daus about the importance of data integrity. Daus explained that the data has a "digital fingerprint."

Gag order hearing: Judge Juan Merchan held another gag order hearing this morning to consider the prosecution’s four additional allegations against Trump. Earlier in the week, the judge levied a $9,000 fine against Trump for multiple violations of the judge’s gag order barring public discussion of witnesses in the case or the jury.

Photography is not allowed in the courtroom during the proceedings, so sketch artists are providing a glimpse of what is going on inside as Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway.

These sketches show testimony from attorney Keith Davidson, a key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements. They also show testimony from digital evidence analyst Douglas Daus.

Daus is expected to resume his testimony tomorrow morning when the trial resumes.

Keith Davidson, a key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements, was on the stand in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial for nearly 6 hours over two days, according to CNN's courtroom team calculations.

The prosecution questioned Davidson for a little over 4 hours on Tuesday and Thursday. The defense questioned him for almost 2 hours on Thursday. 

Prosecutors questioned him for little over 10 minutes in their redirect with the defense questioning him for nearly 10 minutes in re-cross examination.

Donald Trump is chatting with his attorney Todd Blanche as Judge Juan Merchan leaves the bench.

As he turns to leave, the former president taps the back of a chair again.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who arrived in the courtroom in the afternoon, exited through the side door.

Trump attorney Emil Bove will resume his cross-examination of Douglas Daus tomorrow.

Court is wrapping up for the day and the jury is being dismissed.

Judge Juan Merchan says that a juror has an appointment tomorrow afternoon so they will break at 3:45 p.m. ET.