National Issues
Trump trial: Texts revealed how Stormy Daniels’s payment was made
Prosecutors may have previously shown the most damaging text conversations between Mr. Davidson and Mr. Howard earlier in the trial, notwithstanding the massive volumes of messages that were shown today.
He was on the witness reading aloud vulgar text messages that led to that arrangement on Tuesday in the first criminal prosecution of a former US president.
Donald Trump is accused by prosecutors of 34 felonies of fabricating business records in order to conceal proof of his hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
In his testimony, Mr. Davidson discussed his involvement in arranging the payment that kept Ms. Daniels quiet about her claimed sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.
In his plea of not guilty, Mr. Trump has stated that he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels.
The text exchanges that were presented in court on Tuesday demonstrated that the negotiations for Ms. Daniels’ settlement intensified following the Access Hollywood tape’s emergence in October 2016.
In the infamous 2006 video, Mr. Trump was heard bragging on a hot mic about how his celebrity allowed him to access women’s genitalia without their consent.
Prosecutors contend that in the wake of the tape’s emergence, Mr. Trump was frantic to suppress Ms. Daniel’s account, fearing that a further accusation of having a sex encounter with an adult film star would sink his chances of winning the presidency. They have presented the issue as one of meddling in elections.
Or, as Mr Davidson put it in a text message to National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard after the tape was released, Ms Daniels “talking…is the final nail in the coffin….but he really is f— already.”
“Trump is f—,” Mr Howard texted back. “Wave the white flag. It’s over people!” Despite having met Ms. Daniels in 2011, Mr. Davidson said that he did not collaborate with her on the hush money payout until the last days of the 2016 election.
Mr. Davidson claimed that Gina Rodriguez, who was already in talks to buy the rights to Ms. Daniels’ tale from AMI, the National Enquirer’s publisher, drew him in.
Eventually, the publisher’s arrangement fell through. Mr. Davidson testified that the publisher gave the agreement to Cohen after AMI “washed their hands” of it. “Essentially,” he stated, Cohen took their place.
Given that Mr. Davidson had mentioned Cohen would be difficult to work with, Ms. Rodriguez had no desire to interact with him. Thus, he took on the position of Ms. Daniels’ principal negotiator.
Mr. Howard texted the two attorneys to establish a connection. Mr. Howard wrote to Cohen and Mr. Davidson, “Connecting you both in regard to that business opportunity.” “I spoke with the customer this morning, and they verified that they will take advantage of the opportunity. Regards. Dylan.”
A confirmation email from Mr. Davidson to Cohen dated October 11, 2016, which the prosecution presented, stated that the “settlement sum is $130,000.”
The email included legal agreements as an attachment. According to Mr. Davidson’s testimony, he struggled to get Cohen to deliver the money and even threatened to back out of the agreement.
Finally, Cohen sent the money in late October.
Prosecutors had earlier in the day displayed the documentation of Cohen’s $130,000 wire payment to an account under Mr. Davidson’s control. The prosecution claims that although Mr. Trump paid back Mr. Cohen for the hush money payment, he had violated the law by misrepresenting the reimbursements as legal costs paid for by the retainer.
They claim that by withholding damaging facts from the public, he took this action to affect the result of the 2016 election.
Their goal was to support that claim with Mr. Davidson’s evidence and the rush of texts that were sent prior to the 2016 election. Mr. Davidson negotiated payouts for other clients in addition to this one. He also arranged a “catch-and-kill” plan for Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump, with the National Enquirier in the summer of 2016.
Numerous text messages spanning many pages detail the exact method by which AMI acquired the exclusive rights to Ms. McDougal’s story—a procedure referred to as “catch and kill.”
Davidson texted Mr. Howard in June 2016 with the subject line “I have a blockbuster Trump story.” Mr. Howard, noticing something, answered, “Talk first thing. I’ll get you more for it than anybody else could. You understand why.
Cohen, Mr. Trump, and David Pecker, the owner of the National Enquierer, had agreed to use the tabloid to support Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, according to Pecker’s testimony earlier in the trial.
Tales of negativity identical to those of Ms. McDougal and Ms. Daniels. Prosecutors may have previously shown the most damaging text conversations between Mr. Davidson and Mr. Howard earlier in the trial, notwithstanding the massive volumes of messages that were shown today.
“What have we done?” was the frantic text that Mr. Davidson sent to his tabloid friend at three in the morning on the night that Mr. Trump stunned the world by winning the presidency.
