Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ former attorney resumed his testimony Thursday morning walking through more communications in the lead up to the hush money payment in 2016.
Here’s how it played out:
- Cross examination resumes: After the midmorning break, it was elicited through testimony that Daniels former attorney “lost trust” in Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen due to the “delays in funding.” When the amount came through Davidson texted the National Enquirer editor who was helping broker the deal — “was never really sure.”
- Settlement agreement: Jurors also saw the confidential settlement agreement between Daniels and the former president — under the pseudonyms David Dennison and Peggy Peterson. Notably there is a side agreement which includes Trump’s real name and not Dennison’s — written in Davidson’s handwriting. The side letter agreement “decodes” the agreement that uses the pseudonyms, Davidson explains.
- No copy of agreement: Davidson says he never saw a copy of the agreement where there was a signature on the line for “David Dennison.” Only Michael Cohen signed the agreement on Trump’s behalf. All in Davidson was paid $10,000 for his role.
- Text to inquirer editor: Davidson then texted National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard “what have we done” on election night. “Oh my god,” Howard responded. Prosecutors also brought back up a Wall Street Journal story about McDougal published Nov 4 2016 just four days before the election. Davidson at the time represented McDougal who was engaged in a deal with AMI over her allegations of a relationship with Trump.
- Davidson speaks to Cohen: Davidson spoke to Cohen “more than once” describing him as “very upset that the article had been published.” “He was very upset about the timing of the article and wanted to know who the source of the article was…he threatened to sue Karen McDougal.” Davidson confirms “his boss” was a reference to Donald Trump.
Remember: The deal with Stormy Daniels was also executed before election night. “It was on election night as the results were coming in. There was sort of surprise among the broadcasters and others that Donald Trump was leading in the polls and that there was a growing sense that folks were about ready to call the election.”
“There was an understanding that our efforts may have in some way — strike that — our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
“Who won the election?” Steinglass asks, just for the record. “Donald Trump,” Davidson says.
CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.
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