NEW YORK — A lawyer who negotiated two secret deals at the center of Donald Trump’s criminal trial recalled Thursday his “dark humor” reaction to Trump’s 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden efforts may have contributed to the victory.
“What did we do?” attorney Keith Davidson sent a text message to the then-editor of the National Enquirer, who buried stories of extramarital sexual encounters to prevent them from surfacing in the final days of the hotly contested presidential race. “Oh my God,” was Dylan Howard’s response.
“There was an understanding that our efforts may have in some way – get this – our activities may have in some way helped Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” Davidson told jurors.
Davidson’s testimony was designed to directly link the hush money payments to Trump’s presidential ambitions and to bolster prosecutors’ argument that the case is about interference in the 2016 election and not simply about sex and money. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sought to make that connection not only to secure a conviction but also to persuade the public of the importance of the case, which could be the only one of the four cases against Trump to come to trial this year.
“This is a kind of dark humor. It was election night when the results were released,” Davidson explained. “There was something of a surprise among broadcasters and others that Mr. Trump was leading in the polls, and there was a growing sense that people were about to turn on the election.”
Davidson is seen as a vital element of the prosecution’s case that Trump and his allies plotted to bury unflattering stories in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He represented porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal in negotiations that resulted in the purchase of the rights to her claims of sexual encounters with Trump and then suppression in exchange for money, a tabloid industry practice known as “catch and kill.” ”
He is one of several key players who testified before Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness and Trump’s former personal lawyer and mediator, who Davidson described as determined to protect Trump at all costs.
Trump’s lawyers sought to mitigate the potential harm of Davidson’s testimony by having him acknowledge that he never had any interactions with Trump — only with Cohen. In fact, Davidson said, he had never been in the same room as Trump until his testimony.
He also said he was unfamiliar with the Trump Organization’s record-keeping practices and that any impressions he had of Trump himself came from other people.
“I have had no personal interactions with Donald Trump. It came from my clients, Mr. Cohen or some other source, but certainly not him,” Davidson said.
Trump lawyer Emil Bove’s line of questioning seemed intended to emphasize the defense’s points that Trump was removed from the negotiations – that Cohen was handling the hush money issues on his own – and that his testimony is not relevant to the charges, which allege that Trump falsified business records by recording reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal fees.
On Thursday, jurors were shown a confidential settlement agreement requiring Daniels to keep silent about her allegations that she had a tryst with the married Trump a decade earlier. The agreement, dated less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, called for her to receive $130,000 in exchange for her silence.
The money was paid by Cohen, and the agreement referred to Trump and Daniels with pseudonyms: David Dennison and Peggy Peterson.
“It is understood and agreed that the true name and identity of the person referred to as ‘DAVID DENNISON’ in the Settlement Agreement is Donald Trump,” the document stated, with Trump’s name handwritten.
While testifying Thursday, Davidson also recalled Cohen talking to him about Trump in a phone conversation about a month after the 2016 election, complaining that he had been passed over for a position in the new administration and that Trump had not. reimbursed for Daniels’ payment. .
He also said that Cohen told him that he and Trump were “very upset” when The Wall Street Journal published an article that exposed a separate $150,000 National Enquirer settlement with McDougal, who said she and Trump had an affair, few days before the election. .
“He wanted to know who the source of the matter was, why someone would be the source of this type of matter. He was upset by the moment,” Davidson said of Cohen. “He stated that his boss was very upset and threatened to sue Karen McDougal.”
Trump has denied relationships with any of the women and any wrongdoing in the case.
Before testimony began, prosecutors sought $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they said violated a judge’s gag order prohibiting him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. . That penalty would be in addition to the $9,000 fine Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed Tuesday related to nine separate violations he found.
“The defendant is talking about the witnesses and the jury in this case, one right here outside this door,” said prosecutor Christopher Conroy. “This is the most critical moment, the moment when the process has to be protected.”
“His statements are corrosive to this process and the fair administration of justice,” Conroy added.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche countered that Trump’s candidacy and the enormous media attention he receives have made it impossible for him not to be questioned or comment on the trial.
“He can’t just say ‘no comment’ over and over again. He’s running for president,” Blanche said.
Merchan did not immediately comment on the request for new sanctions, although he indicated he was not particularly concerned about one of the four statements flagged by prosecutors.
Yet the mere prospect of more punishment has underscored the challenges that Trump, the presidential candidate, faces adjusting to the role of a criminal defendant subject to a strict judicial protocol that he does not control. It also remains to be seen whether any rebuke from the court will lead Trump to adjust his behavior, given the campaign benefit he believes he will gain from painting the case as politically motivated.
The trial, now in its second week of testimony, has exposed the underbelly of tabloid journalism practices and the protections, at a price, afforded to Trump during his successful 2016 run for president.
After the $130,000 payment was made to Daniels, Trump’s company reimbursed Cohen and recorded the payments to him as legal expenses, prosecutors said in charging the former president with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — a charge punishable by up to four years in prison.
