Back again at the trial of Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors say that Trump tried to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep news of their extramarital affair from going public and hurting his chances in the 2016 election. 
As ADA Matthew Colangelo told the jury in openings: "Donald Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election, then he covered up the criminal conspiracy by lying in his business records, over and over and over again."
On Tuesday, Trump was found to be in contempt of court for violating Justice Juan Merchan's gag order by publicly attacking expected witnesses in this case, namely, Daniels and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
He was fined $9,000, for nine separate violations of the gag order. Under NY criminal law, that's the maximum financial penalty, $1,000 for each violation. Justice Merchan could also order Trump to be jailed for up to 30 days.
And we're kicking things off today with another hearing on more allegations from the DA that Trump violated the gag order on other occasions as well.
ADA Chris Conroy today tells Justice Merchan about additional attacks on Cohen. Conroy also says that Trump’s positive remarks on former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker were intended to impact his testimony.
“The defendant claims this case is about his politics, it’s not, it’s about his criminal conduct,” Conroy says.
Trump counsel Todd Blanche tells the judge that Michael Cohen has been “almost daring President Trump to respond to everything he’s been saying.”
“Everybody can say whatever they want, except President Trump,” Blanche says.
The judge seems skeptical, he points out Trump’s comments about the jury in this case. Speaking to the press, Trump called the jury “99 percent Democrat” and said the selection process was rushed.
“The implication being that this is not a fair jury,” the judge says.
“The implication being that this is not a fair jury,” the judge says.
No decision for now on the additional contempt claims. Keith Davidson, former attorney to Daniels and model Karen McDougal, retakes the stand.
Davidson on Tuesday testified about how he represented both women as they were shopping their stories of affairs with Trump around, in the final months of Trump’s first presidential campaign.
Davidson is asked about the contract between Trump and Daniels that provided for the $130,000 payment in exchange for keeping her story under wraps. The document was signed in late October 2016 by Davidson, Daniels and Cohen, but apparently not by Trump.
Davidson is asked about when the McDougal deal became public in a WSJ article just days before the 2016 election. Davidson says he talked to Michael Cohen about it.
“He said his boss was upset and he threatened to sue McDougal.”
“He said his boss was upset and he threatened to sue McDougal.”
In January 2018, news of the Daniels affair began surface. Davidson says the WSJ reached out to him for comment. Both he and Daniels issued denials. Davidson is cagey here.
He disputes that “hush money” was paid to Daniels. He says it was “a consideration.”
He disputes that “hush money” was paid to Daniels. He says it was “a consideration.”
Daniels ended up going on Jimmy Kimmel, where she did not confirm or deny the story. Davidson says Michael Cohen was enraged.
“He would often make legal threats saying he would bankrupt her, rain legal hell down upon her,
‘don’t fuck with us,’ things like that,” Davidson says.
‘don’t fuck with us,’ things like that,” Davidson says.
That's it for Davidson's direct.
I meant to post this earlier, but Davidson on direct was telling this sort of tangential story about how a very despondent Michael Cohen called him in Dec. 2016, after learning that apparently he would have no formal role in the Trump administration.
“He said something to the effect of ‘Jesus Christ, can you fucking believe I’m not going to Washington, after everything I’ve done for that fucking guy, I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington, I’ve saved that guy's ass so many times,’” Davidson says.
Trump counsel Emil Bove is up for cross of Davidson.
Bove asks Davidson about his Dec. 2016 call with Cohen, who was VERY upset about not getting in the Trump administration.
“I thought he was going to kill himself,” Davidson says.
“I thought he was going to kill himself,” Davidson says.
Apparently, Cohen had eyes on being Trump’s chief of staff, or the U.S. Attorney General.
Bove starts talking about extortion. Davidson later confirms that he was once under investigation for potentially extorting Hulk Hogan, in connection with negotiations over sex tapes.
Things start to get testy between Davidson and Bove, who says that Davidson isn’t answering his questions.
“We’re both lawyers, I’m not going to play lawyer games with you,” Bove says.
“You're getting truthful answers, SIR,” Davidson says.
“We’re both lawyers, I’m not going to play lawyer games with you,” Bove says.
“You're getting truthful answers, SIR,” Davidson says.
Bove is leaning hard on the Hulk Hogan sex tape matter. Davidson confirms he was investigated by the FBI, and local authorities in Florida, but was not ultimately charged with anything.
We’re breaking for lunch.
Keith Davidson is still on the stand and is being asked about conversations he had with Michael Cohen in 2018, which apparently were recorded by Trump's former personal attorney.
As we've previously heard, Cohen recorded conversations with Trump as well, including talks about the Stormy Daniels money.
The recordings are not being played for the jury. Instead, Bove is playing them for Davidson alone through headphones, just as a way to refresh his recollection about what was said. As a result, there are long stretches of silence in the courtroom.
Bove wraps up his cross and the court takes a short break before the government's redirect of Davidson. Looks like we might get to another witness today.
Speaking of which, one somewhat unusual thing about this trial is that prosecutors are being very tight-lipped about identifying what witnesses they intend to call next. They say it's out of necessity due to Trump's alleged witness intimidation.
Assistant District Attorney ADA Josh Steinglass asks Davidson about what happened after Daniels switched lawyers to (now-imprisoned) Micheal Avenatti. In June 2018, Avenatti sued Davidson on Daniels’ behalf, claiming he was a "puppet" for Trump and Cohen.
Davidson hit back with defamation claims days later, claiming Daniels and Avenatti made "countless reckless and false statements" against him.
Prior to that, in the spring of 2018, Davidson and Cohen appeared to have been speaking frequently. Davidson thought Avenatti had turned Daniels against him.
“Avenatti is lying his ass off as you know. And Stormy is lying,” Davidson told Cohen.
“Avenatti is lying his ass off as you know. And Stormy is lying,” Davidson told Cohen.
In another call, Cohen ponders his future and wonders if he should break with Trump.
“I mean would you write a book, would you break away from the entire Trump doctrine...would you go completely rouge, join with Bannon,” Cohen asks Davidson on the call. “It's not just me that’s being affected. It’s my entire family...No one is thinking about Michael."
And that's it for Davidson.
Next on the stand is Doug Daus, a tech guy for the DA’s office.
Next on the stand is Doug Daus, a tech guy for the DA’s office.
Daus is speaking about some phones that belonged to Michael Cohen. The DA's office did a full extraction of the devices (standard practice).
This is tedious and likely unnecessary. Like that former First Republic bank guy the other day, Daus is a custodial witness, he's just here to say "yes, all this info is really from Cohen's phones."
Usually, both sides will stipulate to something like this.
Usually, both sides will stipulate to something like this.
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