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Items tagged with: KeithDavidson
#StormyDaniels laid out the specifics of the #HushMoney deal. She said that if she were to violate the agreement, it would cost her a $1M every time she did so.
Daniels said she was not paid on time, & she wasn’t sure why. “He just kept making excuses,” she said. At first she said that the “he” in question was #MichaelCohen. But then she clarified that it was #Trump who delayed the payment — specifically, Trump speaking to Cohen, who was speaking to her then-lawyer #KeithDavidson.
#StormyDaniels is back on the stand, jury has returned, trial resumes.
Prosecutors question Daniels regarding the delayed payments from #Trump.
Jurors are re-shown an email from #KeithDavidson to #MichaelCohen:
“Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement Agreement cancelled."
Daniels confirms she signed another days later as Stephanie Clifford.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#StormyDaniels, referring to a #WSJ article that mentioned her while discussing another #HushMoney deal, says she did not comment for the article, honoring the terms of the deal she had reached through her lawyer, #KeithDavidson.
She’s keeping her answers short & to the point.
She testified that her lawyer, #KeithDavidson, received $130k. After he & her manager took fees, she ended up w/about $96k, she says.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
The question of whether #StormyDaniels was threatened has come up before. #KeithDavidson, cast some doubt on the story as he read his texts w/ #MichaelCohen.
#Necheles has hardly asked about the actual case — whether there was a #conspiracy to cover up a #HushMoney payment made before an election, & if business records were falsified in the process. Instead she has focused on whether Daniels embellished her story about being threatened in Vegas by someone connected to #Trump.
#Bove briefly questioned #KeithDavidson again in a recross-examination. He ended it by emphasizing that Davidson had never been in a room w/ #Trump until this week.
"You never spoke to or never were in same room until Tuesday?," Bove asks Davidson.
Davidson said that was correct.
Douglas Daus a senior forensic analyst & audio visual specialist is called as a fact witness.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Prosecutors play a portion of a conversation w/ #KeithDavidson that #MichaelCohen secretly taped.
“Nobody’s thinking about Michael,” Cohen says, referring to himself in the 3rd person.
In the recording Cohen said #Trump hated “the fact that we did it.” Davidson clarifies this in response to the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels — a key piece of evidence, that would seem to corroborate Trump’s knowledge of & involvement in the deal.
#criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove ends his cross-examination of #KeithDavidson.
Re-direct from prosecutor #Steinglass, who reads through a transcript of Davidson's recorded discussion w/ #MichaelCohen.
Davidson is asked to clarify that Michael #Avenatti, who by then was #StormyDaniels’ attorney, was denying a number of developments.
The discussions between Davidson & Cohen, he testified, were about Avenatti efforts, not coaching Stormy's words.
#Trump #criminal #law #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove noted #KeithDavidson's use the word “leverage” on the tape, suggesting that he was seeking leverage over #Trump. Davidson denied that & said that Bove is “grossly mistaken about the dates” of when this conversation took place.
The recording was not introduced as evidence in the case so the jury & the observers aren’t hearing it. Davidson is listening on a headset, defense is using it to refresh his recollection about the conversation so Bove can question him about it.
#KeithDavidson said he thought #MichaelCohen was recording him because they were “structured conversations” & seemed “self-serving." + Cohen spoke on those calls differently than usual.
After that, defense played a taped, private conversation between #StormyDaniels' lawyer & Cohen in which Davidson talked about people having “settler’s remorse,” a reference to Daniels.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
FYI #Necheles, defended #TrumpOrganization in a #criminal #tax #law #case 2 yrs ago.
#Bove questioned #KeithDavidson if Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler, offered to indemnify #StormyDaniels from liability she incurred relating to the #HushMoney deal.
Davidson said that Flynt offered, but Daniels did not accept.
Bove then questioned Davidson if #MichaelCohen secretly taped people. Davidson acknowledged he believed Cohen taped him at certain times.
#KeithDavidson’s testimony exhumes a decade’s worth of #CelebritySleaze.
Payments from…Charlie Sheen to keep women silent. Rumors…Lindsay Lohan was in rehab. A lawsuit by Hulk Hogan…against the gossip website Gawker for publishing a tape of him having sex.
Testimony…at the #TrumpTrial…dove deeply into the #celebrity-obsessed #media environment…that helped fuel #Trump’s rise to political prominence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/nyregion/trump-trial-celebrity-hush-money.html?smid=url-share
#Bove insisted that #KeithDavidson was familiar w/ #extortion law after the brush w/ federal agents.
Bove also suggested that Davidson violated California's #ethics code for #lawyers by compensating non-lawyers w/ legal fees.
Lunch break
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#KeithDavidson responded specifically to #Bove’s "lawyer games" comment. He said if Bove didn't want to play such games then he should not use the word "extract" to describe the way Davidson & his clients would get monetary settlements from celebrities.
Bove then asked about the Hulk Hogan sex tape & media outlet Gawker. Bove said Davidson used connections at the website TheDirty, to get stills of the video.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove asked #KeithDavidson if it's fair to say his memory "seems a little fuzzy around some of these issues?"
Davidson replied that he has had over 1500 clients in his career.
Bove told Davidson that he (Bove) was "not here to play lawyer games" & Davidson told Bove that he was "getting truthful answers, sir"
Very hostile & confrontational cross.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Lots of "I don't recalls" from #KeithDavidson during this cross-examination. #Bove is trying to make him appear dishonest & unethical.
Presumably, Bove is going to suggest that the money to #StormyDaniels may not have been paid to cover up an affair, but because #Trump was being shaken down.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove’s cross-examination so far hasn't even been about #Trump, but it is an effort by his legal team to discredit #KeithDavidson & persuade the jury that his previous testimony shouldn't be trusted.
2 more celebs have been named - Tila Tequila, a reality TV star, & Charlie Sheen.
Bove is accusing Davidson of essentially extorting Sheen.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove is trying to paint #KeithDavidson as a serial extorter, asking for money in various situations & being mindful not to cross the line into actual extortion.
Bove is digging up unsavory episodes from Davidson's past to cast him as shady — for example, Bove says, a fmr of client of his leaked information that the Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan was in rehab.
#Trump #criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
Defense wants to portray #MichaelCohen as having a vendetta against #Trump grounded in personal disappointment w/nothing to do any alleged illegal conduct by Trump.
#Bove recalls to #KeithDavidson he said Cohen could be “aggressive,” then said, “And you can be aggressive too, can’t you?”
Davidson: “I suppose”
Bove: “What does the word ‘extortion’ mean to you?”
Defense wants to make Davidson look like a scumbag who extorted the Trump campaign. Davidson is pissed.
#Bove returns to the topic of how #MichaelCohen wanted a job in #Trump's WH & acted despondent, on a call w/ #KeithDavidson, when he did not receive it.
Davidson, asked about that call, says:
“I thought he was going to kill himself."
Bove then introduces the idea that Cohen had hoped for a high-ranking position, even as high as U.S. attorney general.
Objection (obviously)
Sidebar
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Bove tried to create distance between the #HushMoney deals & #Trump.
Prosecution tried to atttibute the deals to Trump, the boss overseeing #MichaelCohen.
Defense is trying to tweak the whole story to frame everything as something orchestrated by #KeithDavidson, Cohen, #StormyDaniels & Daniels’ manager Gina Rodriguez.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#Steinglass finished questioning #KeithDavidson in an abrupt conclusion. Before he finished, Steinglass asked Davidson if he had any stake in the outcome of the trial. Davidson said that he did not.
#Trump's lawyer Emil #Bove on #CrossExamination of Davidson, fmr #StormyDaniels & #KarenMcDougal lawyer.
Bove begins by establishing that Davidson has not met Trump.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#KeithDavidson explained an interaction w/ #MichaelCohen re a statement to fmr #CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
In Feb 2018, the #StormyDaniels story was getting attention in the news.
Davidson testified that Cohen asked him to provide a statement stating that Cohen was the source of the funds.
#Steinglass asks why he drafted it despite knowing that #Trump was or would be the ultimate source of the funds.
Davidson says that at the time of the transaction, Cohen had put up the money.
#Steinglass presented texts between #MichaelCohen & #KeithDavidson about a statement prepared before #StormyDaniels' #JimmyKimmel appearance in Jan 2018.
The statement said that she was denying an affair w/ #Trump. Asked how truthful that was, Davidson testified that it's technically true because no one had alleged a #relationship between the 2 of them. He said a relationship is an ongoing interaction.
[#situationship?]
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#KeithDavidson was asked about texts w/ #MichaelCohen referencing the State of the Union address that #Trump was going to deliver - so this was happening as Trump was running the country.
Davidson testified about how handling both #StormyDaniels & #MichaelCohen made his life very complicated.
Prosecutor #Steinglass grilled Davidson on how Daniels's denials were not believable, important to counter arguments by defense.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
mid-January 2018, #MichaelCohen texted #KeithDavidson that he had tentatively scheduled #StormyDaniels to appear on #Hannity (she never did)
#Steinglass asked why Cohen was pushing for her to appear on the program. Davidson answered that Cohen believed Daniels would further deny the sexual encounter w/ #Trump.
Cohen had a relationship w/ Sean Hannity, a Trump supporter. In 2018 before Cohen’s guilty plea, it was revealed that Hannity was a #legal client of Cohen’s.
#Trump claimed on social media that this stmnt was “JUST FOUND” (it wasn’t)
He was penalized $1k for that as a violation of the #GagOrder.
#KeithDavidson reads #StormyDaniels's denial aloud.
#Steinglass: “How would you characterize the truthfulness of this statement?”
“Did you intend for this statement to be cleverly misleading?”
Davidson: “I don’t understand the question” & added he would “never” use the term “#HushMoney”. He prefers the term “consideration.”
#KeithDavidson testimony re the #HushMoney deal:
Prosecutor #Steinglass: Did you send a denial to Stormy to sign?
Davidson: "I don't recall."
Prosecution presents a Jan 2018 statement from #StormyDaniels, in which she denied reports of a relationship w/ Trump, a denial she would later rescind. Later, she would say that while she did not have an affair w/ #Trump, she did have sex w/him.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
👀👀
#KeithDavidson is asked about a text he sent #DylanHoward (#NationalEnquirer) on election night as the election was about to get called for #Trump.
“What have we done?” Davidson texted.
Howard responded: “Oh my god.”
Davidson describes his text as “gallows humor,” but explains that “there was an understanding” that their “activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
More on #MichaelCohen signing “on behalf of” #Trump:
#KeithDavidson said Cohen signed the documents instead of “David Dennison”, which was the alias they used for Trump.
Prosecutor #Steinglass showed the doc in court & the signatures from Cohen, #StormyDaniels, & Davidson, but there wasn’t one from Trump.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #TrumpTrial
#KeithDavidson is asked to go over the specifics of the #HushMoney contract w/ #StormyDaniels & #MichaelCohen, which was signed “on behalf of” #Trump.
Davidson confirmed that Daniels' contract had a $1M liquidated damages provision, meaning that Daniels would be obligated to pay $1M if she breached the contract.
Davidson added that Cohen was the person who insisted the provision contain an amount so high.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#KeithDavidson starts off by reminding the jury how bad things had gotten between him & #MichaelCohen. #DylanHoward, the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, had to step in because Davidson believed Cohen was “not telling me the truth” about the delay in receiving a #HushMoney payment for #StormyDaniels’s story.
Prosecution next shows Davidson text to Howard saying he has received the #HushMoney payment: “funds received.”
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Justice #Merchan signals he continues to have little patience for #Trump’s comments about the #jury, saying they were mostly #Democrats.
Pretty sure he’ll be penalized for at least those comments.
The #GagOrder violations hearing is over.
Hopefully Merchan will give a ruling soon on it.
Short break.
#KeithDavidson, #StormyDaniels's lawyer, is back on the stand for more questioning from prosecutors.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics #TrumpTrial
#TrumpTrial 🧵 Thurs, May 2
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #KarenMcDougal
#KeithDavidson stressed that #KarenMcDougal did not want to go public in telling her story, & he said that the competing deal w/ABC would have forced her to tell it.
Her goals were to rejuvenate her career, make money, & avoid becoming “the scarlet letter,”.
“Was AMI attractive because she would not actually have to tell her story?” Steinglass asked.
Davidson said, “That was one of her stated goals.”
#Trump #TrumpTrial #criminal #law
In texts between #DylanHoward, the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, & #KeithDavidson, Davidson tells Howard, that #KarenMcDougal’s story “should be told” & Howard responds “I agree.” The NE, as the jurors know, had no intention of telling the story — instead it sought to bury it. So not only does this evidence remind us of David Pecker’s testimony last week, it also helps prosecutors double down on the idea that The NE was involved in a secret plot to help #Trump.
Prosecutors are walking #KeithDavidson through his text messages w/ #DylanHoward, who was editor of The #NationalEnquirer, in which Davidson tells Howard: “I have blockbuster #Trump story.” In his reply, Howard asked, "did he cheat" on Melania.
Joshua Steinglass asks #KeithDavidson if he knows 2 key witnesses: #DavidPecker, who the jurors already have heard from, & #MichaelCohen, who they’ve heard a lot about. Steinglass is tying Davidson into the case, helping the courtroom understand where he’s situated. Davidson just said that he represented #StormyDaniels as her lawyer — Daniels, whose name has been dangled in front of jurors several times, is of course another key player & potential witness.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law #criminal
Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks #KeithDavidson if he was given immunity from prosecution in this case. Davidson says, despite not having wanted to be here, that he did not seek immunity. This is a way for prosecutors to show that he is not simply cooperating to avoid prosecution himself.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law #criminal
Prosecutors call #KeithDavidson, who negotiated 2 deals before the 2016 election that paid women from Trump’s past in exchange for their silence about sexual or romantic relationships w/him. He was a lawyer to #StormyDaniels during the #HushMoney transaction. He also represented #KarenMcDougal, a former Playboy model who was paid $150k by The #NationalEnquirer’s parent company for the rights to her story about a 10-month affair w/ #Trump starting in 2006.
During his testimony, #KeithDavidson had to explain another text he sent to #DylanHoward where, in reference to the deal The #NationalEnquirer was making w/the fmr #KarenMcDougal, Davidson wrote:
“Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Man.”
Davidson said the text was a joke that referenced #Trump's campaign. Pressed further by the prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, he added that he understood that getting McDougal a deal would help Trump’s candidacy.