Trump trial: Hope Hicks faces her ex-boss on 'Access Hollywood' tape, Daniels payment

After a short morning break, court is now back in session with the cross-examination of Stormy Daniels attorney Keith Davidson.

Defense attorney Emil Bove is questioning Davidson on behalf of Donald Trump, who is back at the defense table.

Trump leaned back in his chair, twisting to the right, to watch his lawyer take his turn.

Bove began by asking Davidson about whether he had ever interacted with Trump, suggesting in his questions that Davidson's impression of Trump came from television or what he learned from Michael Cohen.

"I have had no personal interactions with Donald Trump," Davidson said.

Referring to National Enquirer publisher David Pecker's testimony last week that Davidson was one of the publication's major sources though his relationship with editor Dylan Howard, Bove asked Davidson, "Would it surprise you to learn that Mr. Howard considered you to be a major source of information?"

"Yes," Davidson said.

Stormy Daniels' former attorney Keith Davidson read to the jury Daniels' denial statement from Jan. 30, 2018.

"I am denying this affair because it never happened," the statement read.

"I think it's effectively true," Davidson testified, arguing that a "relationship is an ongoing interaction."

At one point, Davidson drafted a statement affirming that Michael Cohen was the source of the Daniels hush money payment. Cohen had texted Davison Chris Cuomo's email address.

"He is a news broadcaster, then with CNN," Davidson testified regarding Cuomo.

"Perfect, send to Cuomo," Cohen texted Davidson about the statement.

"I think he was under some fire and wanted validation or cooperation" that he was the source of the money, Davidson said.

Davidson testified that while he believed Trump would ultimately be the source of the payment, Cohen had made the payment out of his own pocket in October 2016.

Prosecutors subsequently ended their direct examination of Davidson.

Jurors were shown more 2018 text messages between Stormy Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen, including one in which Cohen said, about Stormy Daniels. "I have her tentatively scheduled for Hannity tonight" so she could issue additional denials about her alleged relationship with Trump.

"Did your client actually appear on Hannity that night?" Steinglass asked Davidson.

"No," Davidson said, calling this Cohen's attempt to book Daniels on Hannity as part of one of his "pants-on-fire stages."

"He believed she would further deny the interaction," Davidson said about Cohen's effort to book Daniels' on Hannity.

By January 17, Cohen appeared to change his tone about booking Daniels on television.

"The wise men all believe the story is dying," Cohen texted Davidson.

"Why is she going on Kimmel after the Sotu," Cohen texted Davidson on January 26, 2018, referring to the State of the Union Address.

"Idk I was pissed. She said this is her shot. Meeting her this weekend to prep her and get the statement," Davidson texted back.

"She wanted to talk about her life and reinvigorate her career," Davidson testified about the the Jimmy Kimmel appearance.

Sometime in mid-December 2016, after the election, Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen spoke by phone, and Cohen unloaded on Trump.

In Davidson's recollection, Cohen told him, "Jesus Christ, can you f----- believe I'm not going to Washington? After everything I've done for that f----- guy. I can't believe I'm not going to Washington. I've saved that guy's ass so many times you don't even know."

"That guy's not even paid me the 130,000 back," Davidson said Cohen told him.

Davidson was then asked about his actions in January 2018 when the Wall Street Journal reached out for comment about the Stormy Daniels contract.

"They wanted a comment on any interaction regarding Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump," Davidson said.

"Nothing about the present day regurgitation of these rumors causes us to rethink our prior denial issued in 2011," Davidson wrote in response to the request for comment in 2018. Davidson had sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2011 when the affair was mentioned on a blog.

Davidson said he forwarded the comment to Michael Cohen given their aligned interest at the time.

Jurors were shown the January 10, 2018 denial issued by Stormy Daniels, which Davidson said he wrote.

"An extremely strict reading of this denial would technically be true," Davidson testified. "I don't think anyone ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic."

"OK," Steinglass responded, prompting some laughs from the gallery.

"It wasn't a payoff and it wasn't hush money -- it was consideration in a civil settlement," Davidson said.