Prosecution plays Michael Cohen’s recording of conversation with Donald Trump Right now, the prosecution is playing a recording that Michael Cohen took in conversation with Donald Trump. “I need to open up a company for the transfer...regarding our friend David... I’m going to do that right away, and I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” said Cohen. Summary Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events: The prosecution started off by pointing to Juan Merchan’s gag order. “The order was issued because of the defendant’s persistent and escalating rhetoric aimed at participants in this hearing … He’s already been found by the court to have violated the order nine times and has done it again here,” Christopher Conroy said of Donald Trump. Chris Conroy referred to Donald Trump’s recent comments on Michael Cohen, his one-time consigliere-turned-star prosecution witness. “Michael Cohen is not a political opponent, defendant’s comments about Michael Cohen relate to issues at the heart of the proceeding,” he said, adding, “Defendant is doing everything he can to make this case about his politics – it’s not it’s about his criminal conduct.” Juan Merchan was not buying Todd Blanche’s “Donald Trump is a victim to media” narrative. “Whats happening in this trial is no surprise to anyone,” the judge said. “It wasn’t the press that went to him, he went to the press,” Merchan said, adding, “You’re telling me that the scrutiny is outrageous. Nobody forced your client to go stand where he did that day.” Joshua Steinglass asked Keith Davidson about a series of exchanges on election night, when it appeared that Donald Trump would win. “There was an understanding that our activities may have in some way assisted the campaign of Donald Trump,” Keith Davidson said on the stand. Prosecutors showed his election night texts with Dylan Howard. Davidson wrote “what have we done?” and Howard wrote back “oh my god”. Donald Trump’s lawyers are likely to seize on Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, insisting that he would never characterize the $130,000 payment to Daniels as “hush money” but as “consideration for a settlement agreement” – which sounds legal-related. Recall that the Manhattan DA’s underlying case is that Trump falsified business records because the $130,000 to Daniels was recorded as legal expenses or legal retainers to Michael Cohen. It is likely that Trump’s lawyers will try to argue “consideration” is a legal expense. There was a lot of tension between Donald Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove and Keith Davidson. Davidson was clearly uninterested in talking about past less-than-flattering deals in which he has gotten payments for clients from Charlie Sheen. Bove kept saying Davidson “extracted” money from Sheen. “If you’re not here to play legal games, don’t say extract,” Davidson said. Prosecution played Michael Cohen’s recording of conversation with Donald Trump. “I need to open up a company for the transfer...regarding our friend David [Pecker]... I’m going to do that right away, and I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” said Cohen. Judge Juan Merchan said he refuses to review things, including media articles, in advance that Trump wants to post to his Truth Social platform to warn him if they would violate his gag order. “I’m not going to be in the position of looking at posts and determining in advance whether he should or should not post these on Truth Social,” Merchan said. Keith Davidson took the stand as a witness for the prosecution. Defence lawyer Emil Bove, representing Donald Trump, cross-examined him, asking him a 2011 blogpost on a gossip site called The Dirty, which was the first time he had interacted with Michael Cohen. Bove pointed to connections between Daniels, her handler at the time, Gina Rodriguez, and The Dirty’s publisher, as reason for their ability to get the story taken down. “Isn’t it a fact that the reason Ms Daniels and Ms Rodriguez wanted that blogpost taken down is because they were trying to negotiate a better deal with In Touch magazine?” Bove asked. Davidson said he learned that later. “They were using my efforts to create an exclusive opportunity with a different publication,” he said on cross. Court is now over for the day. It will be back in session tomorrow and will end at about 3:45pm. Donald Trump looked incredibly bored as Emil Bove cross examined the expert witness, slouching in his chair. Emil Bove cross-examined Douglas Daus. He tried to use Daus’s past experience – he was an intelligence analyst in Iraq, looking at data on devices over there – to discredit him. For example, he asked, “In Iraq, you were doing that more or less in a battlefield?” Daus responded, “In a lab.” Prosecution plays Michael Cohen’s recording of conversation with Donald Trump Right now, the prosecution is playing a recording that Michael Cohen took in conversation with Donald Trump. “I need to open up a company for the transfer...regarding our friend David... I’m going to do that right away, and I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” said Cohen. Douglas Daus has also been shown a photo of Michael Cohen behind the lectern in the White House press conference room. He said that the person in the photo was Cohen. Daus said he had not met Cohen before. “How do you know that’s him?” the prosecution asked. “Uh, I watch a lot of news,” Daus said. The showing of this photo helped Daus explain what metadata might tell one about an image. Right now, Douglas Daus’s testimony is basically just describing the type of data extracted from Michael Cohen’s phones, such as contacts and text messages. An example shown on screen includes a text Cohen sent to Hope Hicks that read “call me”. There was a brief redirect from the prosecution to Keith Davidson that briefly touched on a conversation between him and Michael Cohen in which Cohen moans about how his staunch loyalty to Donald Trump during all of the hush money, Stormy Daniels shenanigans goes unreturned by his then-boss. “Who else would do that for somebody? Who else? I did. Because I care about the guy. And I wasn’t going to play pennywise pound foolish, and I’m sitting there and I’m saying to myself, what about me?” Cohen told Davidson in a conversation that Davidson recorded, the court heard. Davidson then told Cohen in that it was a “tough” situation, because even if he wanted to “strike out” somehow, Trump “controls the privilege”. Davidson said to Cohen: “Even if you want to go write a book, you probably couldn’t.” “Uhm, nah I could ,” Cohen said, the nonchalant defiance in his voice prompting some chuckles in court. Now Davidson is excused and we’re on to the next witness, Douglas Daus, who works in the office of district attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting the case against Trump. Daus works in the digital evidence department of the DA’s office in Manhattan. Emil Bove, for Trump, pointed to connections between Daniels, her handler at the time, Gina Rodriguez, and The Dirty’s publisher, as reason for their ability to get the story taken down. “Isn’t it a fact that the reason Ms Daniels and Ms Rodriguez wanted that blogpost taken down is because they were trying to negotiate a better deal with In Touch magazine?” Bove asked. Davidson said he learned that later. “They were using my efforts to create an exclusive opportunity with a different publication,” he said on cross. Bove also brought up how the late pornographer Larry Flynt had offered to indemnify Daniels if she were to come forward about Trump – that is, pay her legal bills that could stem from flouting a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed as part of a hush-money deal. Cross-examination is over and redirect is about to begin. Keith Davidson, previously an attorney for Stormy Daniels, the porn star and producer at the center of the whole hush-money scheme, is back on the stand as a witness for the prosecution. Defence lawyer Emil Bove, representing Donald Trump, continues the cross-examination that he began before the lunch break. Bove is now asking Davidson about a 2011 blogpost on a gossip site called The Dirty, which was the first time he had interacted with the man who became Donald Trump’s lawyer, fixer and then foe, Michael Cohen. The Dirty posted a claim that Stormy Daniels and Trump had a sexual encounter in the past (before Trump was running for president). Cohen was irate, thinking that Daniels was behind the post. Davidson explained that wasn’t the case and sent a successful cease-and-desist demand to the site, prompting the post’s removal. Judge Juan Merchan has said he refuses to review things, including media articles, in advance that Trump wants to post to his Truth Social platform to warn him if they would violate his gag order. “I’m not going to be in the position of looking at posts and determining in advance whether he should or should not post these on Truth Social,” Merchan said. “There is no ambiguity.” The judge suggested: “I think the best advice you can give your client is when in doubt, steer clear.” In court for the Guardian, Victoria Bekiempis noted that, not surprisingly, the kinds of articles that Trump wants to post have described the criminal case against him as a “political hit”. After that exchange, between Necheles and Merchan, the jury was brought back in. Susan Necheles, Trump’s defense lawyer, is asking the judge whether he would review articles or posts in advance that the defendant would like to post on his social media platform but may not be sure they would comply with the court’s gag order. Under the order, Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, public statements about trial witnesses concerning their roles in the investigation and at trial, prosecutors, and members of the court staff or the district attorney’s staff. Judge Juan Merchan and the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, are not covered by the gag order, which was expanded at the beginning of April. “These articles are all articles which President Trump would like to post on his Truth [his social media platform that he set up after being tossed from Twitter, Truth Social, which is what he uses even though Elon Musk lifted his Twitter/X ban]. But they all discuss this case, they discuss witnesses who have testified they discuss what the aspects of this case are,” Necheles said. Court resumes Donald Trump has walked back into the courtroom and sat down with his team, and now court has started. Defense lawyer Susan Necheles, is asking the judge, Juan Merchan, for some clarification on the gag order. There are articles from legal scholars, Necheles said, that Trump would like to post on his social media platform – but he doesn’t know if he can post articles if doing so would go astray of the court’s ruling. This discussion is taking place before the jury has been called back in. There are some choice pictures from the court artists from this morning. Apart from photographs of the defendant at the top of proceedings each morning, there are no cameras allowed in the court room and no public audio feed. So the professional sketch artists are having a field day. Here’s a selection of the latest. Witness: Huddle: Interim Summary The court is now on lunch break. Here is a look at where things stand: The prosecution started off by pointing to Juan Merchan’s gag order. “The order was issued because of the defendant’s persistent and escalating rhetoric aimed at participants in this hearing … He’s already been found by the court to have violated the order nine times and has done it again here,” Christopher Conroy said of Donald Trump. Chris Conroy referred to Donald Trump’s recent comments on Michael Cohen, his one-time consigliere-turned-star prosecution witness. “Michael Cohen is not a political opponent, defendant’s comments about Michael Cohen relate to issues at the heart of the proceeding,” he said, adding, “Defendant is doing everything he can to make this case about his politics – it’s not it’s about his criminal conduct.” Juan Merchan was not buying Todd Blanche’s “Donald Trump is a victim to media” narrative. “Whats happening in this trial is no surprise to anyone,” the judge said. “It wasn’t the press that went to him, he went to the press,” Merchan said, adding, “You’re telling me that the scrutiny is outrageous. Nobody forced your client to go stand where he did that day.” Joshua Steinglass asked Keith Davidson about a series of exchanges on election night, when it appeared that Donald Trump would win. “There was an understanding that our activities may have in some way assisted the campaign of Donald Trump,” Keith Davidson said on the stand. Prosecutors showed his election night texts with Dylan Howard. Davidson wrote “what have we done?” and Howard wrote back “oh my god”. Donald Trump’s lawyers are likely to seize on Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, insisting that he would never characterize the $130,000 payment to Daniels as “hush money” but as “consideration for a settlement agreement” – which sounds legal-related. Recall that the Manhattan DA’s underlying case is that Trump falsified business records because the $130,000 to Daniels was recorded as legal expenses or legal retainers to Michael Cohen. It is likely that Trump’s lawyers will try to argue “consideration” is a legal expense. There was a lot of tension between Donald Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove and Keith Davidson. Davidson was clearly uninterested in talking about past less-than-flattering deals in which he has gotten payments for clients from Charlie Sheen. Bove kept saying Davidson “extracted” money from Sheen. “If you’re not here to play legal games, don’t say extract,” Davidson said. Emil Bove is walking through Keith Davidson’s original retaining of Karen McDougal and how he was already pumping her up to the National Enquirer as he tried to sign her as a client. Tensions are high between Trump lawyer and Stormy Daniels" lawyer during cross examination There is a lot of tension between Emil Bove and Keith Davidson right now. Davidson clearly is uninterested in talking about past less-than-flattering deals in which he has gotten payments for clients from Charlie Sheen. Bove keeps saying Davidson “extracted” money from Sheen. “If you’re not here to play legal games, don’t say extract,” Davidson said. Emil Bove is going through past unsavory deals that Keith Davidson has been linked to. Those include the leaking of Lindsay Lohan’s rehab file, a Tila Tequila sex tape, and payments from Charlie Sheen. Emil Bove asked Keith Davidson if he was “pretty well versed in getting right up to the line without committing extortion, right?” Bove raises that Davidson was previously investigated by federal authorities for extorting Hulk Hogan. Davidson confirms that he was. By 2016, Bove says, Davidson must have been familiar with extortion defenses. Emil Bove, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, is cross-examining Keith Davidson. Davidson is offering more details about his conversation with Michael Cohen’s state of mind in December 2016. “I thought he was gonna kill himself,” Davidson says. Davidson says Cohen believed he would be chief of staff or the US attorney general but was dismayed Trump was not taking him to Washington. Prosecutors just had a bit of a stumble with Keith Davidson, as they questioned him about why he told CNN in 2018 that he believed Michael Cohen paid for the deal with Stormy Daniels. Davidson had previously testified that he believed Trump would ultimately pay, but as election day neared and the deal was not going through, Cohen said “Fuck it, I’ll do it myself.” After the election, Cohen spoke to Davidson and bemoaned that he had not been paid back. This is an obstacle for prosecutors because Davidson is not linking Trump to the payments. Keith Davidson’s direct testimony ends for now with one last query from Joshua Steinglass. “Mr Davidson, do you have any stake in the outcome of this trial?” “No, not at all,” Davidson said. Joshua Steinglass is now walking Keith Davidson through texts with Michael Cohen on 31 January 2018 where Trump’s then consigliere was frenetic. “She just denied the letter,” Cohen said. “Claiming it’s not her signature.” “You said she did it in front of you,” Cohen also texted. “She did. Impossible – she posted it on her own Twitter page,” Davidson said. Cohen then pointed to Stormy Daniels’ appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. “They showed her signature and she claimed it was not hers on Kimmel.” Steinglass asked Davidson: “How did you respond?” “WTF.” “I hate to ask, but what does that mean?“ Steinglass asked of the acronym. “Sort of a signal of exasperation, ‘what the fuck,’” Davidson said. Trump lawyers likely to use Stormy Daniels" lawyer"s hush money testimony to their advantage Donald Trump’s lawyers are likely to seize on Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, insisting that he would never characterize the $130,000 payment to Daniels as “hush money” but as “consideration for a settlement agreement” – which sounds legal-related. Recall that the Manhattan DA’s underlying case is that Trump falsified business records because the $130,000 to Daniels was recorded as legal expenses or legal retainers to Michael Cohen. It is likely that Trump’s lawyers will try to argue “consideration” is a legal expense. The statement read, “Over the past few weeks, I have been asked countless times to comment on reports of an alleged sexual relationship I had with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago.” “I’m not denying this affair because I was paid ‘hush money,’” the statement read, adding, “I’m denying this affair because it never happened.” “I will have no further comment on this matter. Please feel free to check me out on Instagram at @thestormydaniels.” Again, asked about whether this statement was accurate, Davidson focused on linguistic intricacies. “I think it’s technically true.” How was this technically true, Joshua Steinglass pressed. “It’s out,” Michael Cohen texted Keith Davidson on 30 January 2018. “Apparently there was a news article that had been published. I was receiving hundreds of phone calls at my office,” Davidson said of an account of Stormy Daniels’ and Donald Trump’s affair. That night, Daniels was supposed to go on Jimmy Kimmel. He described the drafting of a Daniels’ denial before that appearance. He was in the Marilyn Monroe suite at the Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood. “There were makeup artists,” he recalled. Stormy Daniels" lawyer says denial of hush money "technically correct" Keith Davidson insisted that her denial was “technically correct.” “I think you’d have to hone in on the definition of romantic, sexual, and affair,” Davidson said. “Well, I don’t think that anyone had ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr Trump was romantic.” “OK...” Steinglass said with a laugh. “How about sexual?” “Well that would be a sexual and/or romantic [affair],” Davidson said. Steinglass asked about Daniels’ statement that “rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false.” “How is that technically true,” Steinglass said, later asking, “Would you use the phrase hush money?” “I would never use that word.” “And what would be the word that you would use to describe it?” “Consideration” in a civil settlement, Davidson said.