Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, testified for about an hour after the lunch break about his efforts to negotiate settlement deals on behalf of his clients.
Continuing his earlier testimony, he said American Media Inc. (AMI), which publishes the National Enquirer, agreed to pay $150,000 to McDougal for her story about an alleged affair with Trump. Davidson received 45% of that payment.
He said AMI decided not to actually run the story for two reasons: because they wanted to build McDougal into a “brand” and because there was an “unspoken understanding” that the story would hurt Trump.
Separately, Davidson and Howard messaged regarding the adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ story about having an affair with Trump in 2006. Although the allegation was old, her story took on new importance after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump made vulgar comments about his treatment of women.
“Yeah but her talking and taking (redacted) is the final nail in the coffin,” Howard messaged Davidson.
Still, AMI decided not to go through with paying for Daniels’ story. Instead, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen stepped in and agreed to pay $130,000 to Daniels, her former manager and Davidson as part of a settlement for her silence, Davidson testified.
The settlement said that the payment would be made by October 14, 2016, but Cohen did not send the money, Davidson testified. Cohen gave him a series of excuses, but Davidson said he did not believe them and threatened to cancel the settlement.
“I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, ‘G–damn it. I’ll just do it myself,’” Davidson testified.
On October 17, Davidson wrote in an email to Cohen: “Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement agreement canceled and void ab initio.” He also said he no longer represented Daniels.
