Trump trial: Trump hit with contempt, witnesses detail Stormy Daniels deal

Stormy Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson testified that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard reached out to him in June 2016 to let him know that Stormy Daniels' agent Gina Rodriguez was attempting to shop around the Daniels' story.

"Gina is trying to hawk Stormy again," Howard texted Davidson in messages shown to the jury.

"Lol - she's trying to sell the story to you?" Davidson replied.

"Yep," wrote Howard.

Davidson testified that the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape, in which Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women, reinvigorated interest in Daniels' story.

"As far as I am aware, it had a tremendous influence," Davidson said. Before the 'Access Hollywood' tape, there was very little if any interest. It wasn't until 'Access Hollywood' that interest reached a crescendo."

"Trump is f-----," Davidson write in an Oct. 8, 2016, text message to Howard that was displayed for the jury.

"The Dirty post was bad, but it could get a lot worse," Davidson said.

According to Davidson, Howard and Rodriguez worked out a deal for AMI to buy Stormy Daniels' story for $120,000, but AMI backed out at the last moment. Howard suggested that Rodriguez reach out to Cohen to broker the deal, but she refused. Rodriguez instead asked Davidson to contact Cohen directly.

"Michael Cohen stepped into AMI's shoes" after "AMI washed their hands of the deal," Davidson said.

Davidson said he padded the Stormy Daniels' deal so he could get paid at the request of Gina Rodriguez.

"It is going to be the easiest deal you've ever done in your entire life," Davidson said to describe Rodriguez's request. Her only ask, according to Davidson, was that he would need to "talk to that a------ Cohen."

"It was the original [$120,000], plus $10,000," Davidson said about the $130,000 payment made by Cohen.

Following Keith Davison's testimony about the deal between Karen McDougal and AMI, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass turned to the topic of Davidson's representation of Stormy Daniels.

Davidson recounted a conversation he had in 2011 with Cohen after a blog first posted a story about the Trump and Stormy Daniels affair allegations.

First, he said he got a call from Daniels's talent manager, Gina Rodriguez:

"The blog post had published and apparently I was informed that Gina had received a phone call from Michael Cohen," Davidson testified. "Gina called me up to tell me that some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive and threatened to sue."

"And I would like you, Keith, to call this jerk back," Davidson recounted Gina told him.

"I hate to ask it this way, but who was that jerk?" prosecutor Steinglass asked Davidson.

"Michael Cohen," Davidson said.

Davidson said he did call Cohen back, and proceeded to tell the jury about that call.

"It was to the Trump Organization. I called and was transferred to Michael Cohen," Davidson said. "I introduced myself and before I could barely get my name out, I was just met with a hostile barrage of insults and insinuations and allegations that went on for quite a while."

In the courtroom, both Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche appeared to laugh as Davidson continued with this description of Cohen.

"What did you tell him?" Steinglass asked.

As Karen McDougal's attorney Keith Davidson continued his testimony, jurors were shown the final contract between McDougal and AMI that prohibited her from talking about past relationships with a "then-married man."

"Karen had ... granted her limited life rights related to the subject matter -- any affairs with any then-married man -- to AMI," Davidson testified, telling jurors that Donald Trump was the "then-married man" referenced in the contract.

Asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass the reasons he believed AMI would spend $150,000 on a story they didn't plan to publish, Davidson said, "I think there were two. I think one explanation that was given was that they were trying to build Karen into a brand," and didn't want to compromise her reputation, he said.

"The second was more of an unspoken understanding that there was a close affiliation between (publisher) David Pecker and Donald Trump, and that AMI would not run this story ... because it would tend to hurt Donald Trump."

"You mean, hurt Donald Trump's campaign?" Steinglass asked.

"Yes," Davidson said.

Davidson previously testified that when the deal was finalized, he called Michael Cohen.

"I called him and let him know as a professional courtesy that the deal involving his client closed," Davidson said.

"What client is that?" Steinglass asked.

"Donald Trump," Davidson said.

Steinglass asked Davidson how Cohen received the news.

"He was pleased," Davidson said.

An appellate court has denied former President Trump's bid to have Judge Juan Merchan recused from his hush money trial.

Trump's application sought a stay of the proceedings and Merchan's recusal.

Both were denied without explanation by the appellate judge.