Testimony in Trump hush money trial continues after 2nd gag order hearing – PBS NewsHour
William Brangham William Brangham
Ali Schmitz Ali Schmitz
Leave your feedback
On the stand Thursday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial was Los Angeles lawyer Keith Davidson. He negotiated both the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements at the center of the case against the former president. William Brangham was in the courthouse and breaks down the latest.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Geoff Bennett:
On the stand today in Donald Trump’s hush money trial was Los Angeles lawyer Keith Davidson. He negotiated both the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements at the center of the case against the former president.
William Brangham was in court today and joins us now to break down the latest developments.
So, William, this was the continuation of Mr. Davidson’s testimony about how he actually negotiated these payments. What else did we learn in court today?
William Brangham:
That’s right, Geoff.
Prosecutors teased out more information about this negotiation that he had to get his then-client Stormy Daniels, as you mentioned, to pay — to be paid $130,000 so that she wouldn’t go public with this story of an alleged relationship she had with Trump right before the 2016 election.
And at one point during his testimony, Davidson acknowledged that he knew that this payment to Daniels and the other one to the Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were intended to somehow help Donald Trump’s campaign. And this is central, because prosecutors here want the jury to see these payments as election interference.
And then Davidson later in his testimony told a story about how, after the election, he got this hour-long phone call from Michael Cohen, who he described as being despairing and despondent because he hadn’t been given a job in the fledgling Trump administration. He actually — Davidson said he worried that Cohen might actually try to kill himself.
And in that conversation, Cohen also mentioned that he was really upset because Trump had still not repaid him the $130,000 that Cohen used of his own money to pay Daniels. Again, this is central too, because it is that eventual repayment and how those repayments were accounted for that are the center of the 34 allegations of falsifying business records that Trump stands accused of.
Geoff Bennett:
So, how did Mr. Trump’s attorneys try to undermine Keith Davidson’s testimony when they cross-examined him?
William Brangham:
They tried to put as much daylight between Davidson and Donald Trump, acknowledging that he never met with him, never spoke to him, never had any phone calls, never has been in a room with him before.
They also tried to portray Davidson as a guy who gets salacious information about celebrities and then tries to extort celebrities with that information. And they mentioned all of these different cases that he had been involved with, about — with Charlie Sheen, and Hulk Hogan, and Lindsay Lohan.
And they want the jury basically to see Davidson as this sort of serial blackmailer, extorter of rich people for money.
Geoff Bennett:
And the day actually started, William, as you well know, with a separate hearing today over allegations that Donald Trump has again violated the gag order that the judge in this case has placed on him. Bring us up to speed.
William Brangham:
That’s right, Geoff.
The morning started with this hearing where prosecutors have alleged that Donald Trump has committed four more violations of this gag order. You will remember earlier this week the judge found that Donald Trump was guilty of nine violations of that gag order and fined him $9,000.
Prosecutors say he has continued to do that four different times, talking about witnesses, talking about the jury, and they’re arguing that this makes impossible to have a fair trial, that jurors might be nervous, that witnesses might not give full testimony.
And so they’re arguing that he needs to be sanctioned again.They don’t want him to go to jail yet, but that still hangs over this as well. Trump’s defense team argues, look, the man is running for president. He’s just repeating things that a lot of his supporters are saying out in public, and that he needs to have the right to say these things.
The judge seemed somewhat skeptical of that. We don’t know when he’s going to rule on that yet, though, Geoff.
Geoff Bennett:
William Brangham reporting tonight from Manhattan.
William, thanks so much.
William Brangham:
Thanks, Geoff.
Watch the Full Episode
May 02
By Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker, Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press
May 02
By Associated Press
May 01
By Adriana Gomez Licon, Scott Bauer, Michelle L. Price, Associated Press
May 01
By Laura Santhanam
William Brangham William Brangham
William Brangham is an award-winning correspondent, producer, and substitute anchor for the PBS NewsHour.
Ali Schmitz Ali Schmitz
Support Provided By: Learn more
Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.
© 1996 – 2024 NewsHour Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Sections
About
Stay Connected
Subscribe to ‘Here’s the Deal,’ our politics newsletter
Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.
Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour.
Support for NewsHour Provided By