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.


What to know about the hush money case

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Michael Cohen's banker to return to the stand

After a week of testimony from longtime National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial is scheduled to resume this morning with the direct examination of Gary Farro, the one-time banker for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Farro, a former managing director at First Republic Bank, began his testimony on Friday by outlining some of the documents used to allegedly create the shell companies formed by Cohen that are related to two hush-money payments at the center of the case.

Prosecutors have called Farro to authenticate records they hope will prove that Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of Cohen's hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

"Read the documents, the emails, the text messages, the bank statements, the handwritten notes, all of it," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked jurors last week. "It inescapably leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree."


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.