Trump in Stormy (Daniels) Weather as prosecutors produce tapes on hush money trial but, his lawyer Davidson calls it settlements and denies they were payouts

 

Trump in Stormy Weather as Attorney for Playboy playmate and Porn Star gives salacious stories about the alleged affair ex President had with them during a grilling

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-trial-hush-money-case-live-updates-rcna149907

By Ashe N Ayer

Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented Playboy playmate McDougal and adult porn star Stormy Daniels, was grilled by ex-President Donald Trump’s lawyers on a litany of celebrity gossip stories as Trumps attorneys painted him as an “ extortionist “ who leveraged sex tapes into a multi-million dollar pay-outs and business.

 

Stormy Daniels

Daniels is an adult film actor who has publicly alleged that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006 and was paid off to keep silent about the affair. Trump has denied the affair.

 

Taking the stand on Thursday, Davidson claimed they had affairs with Trump the that the former president made payments to buy their silence .He gave the jurors his version of of what the media described as a crucial insight into how the payment came about. Trump has denied stoutly all the claims by McDougal, a former Playboy playmate, and Daniels.

 

 

 

 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the lead prosecutor in the case, watched the proceedings as the former President dozes off feighning sleep and a total lack of interest in what was going on around him , as a forensics specialist from the DA’s offfice, Doug Daus, explained in painstaking detail how data is extracted and preserved from electronic devices. 

 

Serving as an IT expert, Daus explained “data about data”  as he sought to enter  into evidence text messages and conversations between former Trump White House aide Hope Hicks; Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former CFO ; former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, and Trump himself.  

As media reported that  Trump closed his eyes daily during court proceedings, appearing at times to fall asleep, the former president pushed back. “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!” he said in a Truth Social post Thursday. 

 

Trump fundraises off gag order as attorney fights it in court

Trumps’ lawyer Todd Blanche vehemently denied Trump violated the judge Juan Merchans GAGA order even as his presidential campaign sought to raise money off it. Trump informed supporters in a message that he had been FULLY GAGGED” and “stuck in court all day” and urged them to send him cash.

To the accusation, on a survey asking whether “you support President Trump more or less after every single witch hunt, raid, indictment, and arrest., ” Blanche argued Trump should be able to respond to “months of attacks” by hi former attorney Michel Cohen, who is expected to testify later in the trial. Trump’s lawyer also invoked President Joe Biden, saying Trump can’t respond after the sitting president made an oblique reference to the trial by mentioning “stormy weather” during recent remarks.

 

“Nobody’s forcing him, but he’s running for president. He has to be able to go speak,” Blanche said. Trump shook his head.

Prosecutors alleged that Trump was creating “an air of menace” with statements that were allegedly  “corrosive” to the case. Days earlier, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $9,000 over what prosecutors said were willful violations of the court’s order and warned he could face prison time. He was fine $1,000 dollars each for each of the nine counts of felony listed by the court. 

Blanche bemoaned the media attention on the case, NBC reports saying “Every time we whisper to our client it is livestreamed all over social media. “ Reporters sit in the court pews behind Trump and his team watching their every move.

 

Carefully worded denials

Davidson, an high profile  LA attorney who has represented clients in settlement agreements against A-list celebrities, explained to jurors how denials he had issued in Daniels’ name were, in his opinion, truthful — as prosecutors tried to press him to admit that he obfuscated the truth. A denial that Daniels and Trump had a romantic relationship was “technically true,” he said, under a “very, very, very fine reading of it.” “How is that technically correct?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.

 

“You’d have to hone in on the definition of ‘romantic,’ ‘Sexual,’ and ‘affair,’” said Davidson. “I don’t think anyone had ever alleged that any interaction between her and Mr. Trump was romantic.” He flatly denied any payouts by Trump and instead characterised them as settlement while he testified to other narrowly worded denials. 

 

Sleazy deals and tabloid secrets

Trump watched closely as his attorney Emil Bove rattled through Davidson’s involvement in several high-profile scandals. He pointed to an article Dylan Howard — a former National Enquirer editor,  who played a key role in the alleged scheme to buy McDougal’s story — co-wrote about a Hulk Hogan sex tape on which he made racist comments. Bove quedtioned about an alleged extortion scheme around the tape.

 

Bove asked about Davidson’s involvement in a story about actor Lindsay Lohan’s treatment at a rehab facility (Davidson said he did not recall), his dealings with a “sex tape broker” in connection with the “Tila Tequila tape” (Davidson again could not recall), or his involvement in a widely publicized $2 million settlement from Charlie Sheen that the Hollywood actor called “tortuous.” Davidson denied extorting money from Sheen, instead maintaining that there were “valid settlements executed.”

 

He also asked Davidson whether he had used the words “leverage” and “settler’s remorse” in conversation with Cohen, in a phone call Cohen had recorded. Asked if he recalled saying of Trump, “If he loses this election, we all lose all fucking leverage. This case is worth zero,” Davidson conceded that he had. On cross-examination, the prosecution solicited more context, depicting the conversation as having occurred long after the election was over and to be about an attorney Daniels had later retained and this widely reported in the media.

The line of cross-examination was intended to sow doubt about the nature of the Daniels deal, and Davidson’s ulterior motives. Trump leaned into his chair, his arm slung over the side, as Bove elicited again from Davidson that he had never been in the same room as the former president until today.

Listening to the tapes

Daus, the forensics expert, attested to the accuracy of audio recordings of phone calls that were removed from Cohen’s phone. Cohen taped his conversation with Davidson and the defense aired the conversations in court. “It’s not just me that’s being affected. It’s my entire family,” Cohen told Davidson. “Nobody’s thinking about Michael.”

Another recording heard Cohen and Trump speaking about the McDougal deal, as Cohen explained his intent to set up a company that would purchase the rights to the story.

“Pay with cash,” Trump tells Cohen in a recording played for the jury.

What happened on the 10^th day of the hush money trial of Trumps alleged affairs with porn star Stormy Danies and Playboy mate Karen McDougal. In summary:

• Prosecutors argued this morning that former President Donald Trump should be held in contempt of court for again violating his gag order.
• Keith Davidson, the former lawyer for the two women who have alleged affairs with Trump — adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — completed his testimony.
• Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty and denied a relationship with her and McDougal.

Trump makes stop at fire station 

 

Trump was cheered by firefighters with boxes of pizza as part of a campaign stop at a Midtown Manhattan fire station after his trial wrapped for the day. He also posed for photos.

Outside courtroom, Trump says his legal team will appeal

Trump said the gag order imposed on him by Judge Juan Merchan was UnConstitutional and that his legal team would appeal. He also appeared to say that he wasn't allowed to testify in the case because of the gag order.

 

“I’m not allowed, as a presidential candidate — the leading candidate, the Republican Party nominee, and the one who’s leading Biden by a lot -- I’m not allowed to talk,” Trump said outside the court as reporters and supporters virtually mobbed him.

"There's never been an abuse like this before, this conflicted judge should get out of this case, he should not be having this case. He gives us nothing. It's such a rigged court. So I'm not allowed to testify. Because of an unconstitutional