Trump trial: Trump hit with contempt, witnesses detail Stormy Daniels deal
Stormy Daniels' former attorney testified on Day 9 of Trump's hush money trial.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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Davidson says he called Trump 'David Dennison' in contract
Stormy Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson testified that he used the pseudonym "David Dennison" to reference Donald Trump in the contract that paid Daniels for her silence regarding an alleged rendezvous with Trump.
"Who came up with those pseudonyms?" prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked Davidson.
"I did," replied Davidson, who said that the real David Dennison was on his "high school hockey team."
"How does he feel about you now?" Steinglass asked about the real David Dennison.
"He is very upset," Davidson said, prompting some smiles from the jury and laughter from the gallery.
Davidson walks through genesis of 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.
Davidson also testified that the post about the alleged Daniels-Trump affair was active again, adding to Trump's problems.
"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.
Davidson tells jury of 2011 call with 'jerk' Michael 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.
"He was upset that the story on the had published and he believed that stormy Daniels was behind the story,"
"What did you tell him?" Steinglass asked.
"Finally, after he finished, I explained that I was calling because my client Stormy Daniels did not want the story published and I wanted to see if he had done anything to contact the to take the story down."
Davidson said he subsequently sent a cease-and-desist letter and successfully got the post taken down.
Davidson says Cohen was 'pleased' with McDougal deal
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.
Banker details Michael Cohen's $130K payment to Stormy Daniels
Michael Cohen's former banker, Gary Farro, returned to the stand, where he was asked by prosecutor Becky Mangold about Cohen's frantic effort to create a bank account for a new company he created called Essential Consultants LLC on October 26, 2016.
Referring to Stormy Daniels, Farro told jurors that Cohen did not disclose the account would be used to send money to an adult film actress, adding that his bank, First Republic, avoided financing the adult-entertainment sector.
Farro said that Cohen added $131,000 to an account for Essential Consultants LLC using a home equity line of credit.
Farro then began walking jurors through a wire transfer authorization form that was filled out on October 27, 2016, using information provided by Michael Cohen.
The form -- which was signed by Cohen -- listed that $130,000 was being wired to Keith Davidson's attorney-client trust account. The money would be held in the account for Davidson's client.
According to the form, the purpose of the wire was a "retainer" payment.
Cohen completed the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels on October 27, 2016, which was 12 days before the presidential election.