Stormy Daniels' Tulsa attorney gives his take on Trump trial – Tulsa World
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Clark Brewster of Tulsa posted to his social media on Thursday a photo with his client Stormy Daniels after her testimony in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan.
Clark Brewster, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, speaks on March 31, 2023.
Tulsa World Staff Writer
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It all began with a surprise phone call: How Clark Brewster came to represent Stormy Daniels.
Clark Brewster knows a few things about high stakes.
The Tulsa-based trial attorney made a name for himself with high-profile criminal defendants and highly complex litigation, and he owns race horses — including one that ran the Kentucky Derby a week ago.
But he went straight from Churchill Downs to a Manhattan courtroom where the fate of a former U.S. president — and possibly the fate of his candidacy in the next presidential election — is at stake.
“I’ve had a situation in my life where the cases that we’ve been involved in are just fantastic. I mean, we’ve just had the benefit of having that kind of practice,” said Brewster, who has represented Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film star central to the case against former President Donald Trump, since 2019. “But this was really a case for the centuries, I think.”
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023, making him the first American president to be criminally prosecuted. And three separate criminal cases are still pending against him in other jurisdictions.
He is currently on trial, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, in the state of New York.
Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, testified for more than seven hours total between Wednesday and Thursday.
Brewster returned to Tulsa late Thursday and sat down with the Tulsa World on Friday morning to share his initial reactions and observations from the courtroom.
About Daniels’ role in the case, Brewster said it’s important to understand that she isn’t a central figure because of the extra-marital sex that she claims Trump had with her in 2006.
Trump is charged with breaking state law in New York a decade later by falsely claiming as legal expenses a $130,000 hush-money payment from his then-attorney Michael Cohen in the final days of the 2016 election to keep Daniels quiet about their previous sexual liaison.
Prosecutors have alleged that Trump’s actions were designed to conceal a larger scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election — by having his allies purchase others’ silence about stories potentially damaging to his electoral prospects.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and claims that all criminal allegations against him are politically motivated. He even maintains that he only met Daniels once in 2006 for a photo opportunity at a golf course.
Brewster said that from his extensive trial experience, he believes that the credibility and truthfulness of a witness like Daniels, “even though it might not be critical to the central element of the (criminal) case, does go to the credibility of the defense.”
“My client really was in the center of the issues in dispute, with regard to what led to that payoff and that reporting, so I think she’s part of the puzzle,” Brewster said. “Her testimony really illuminates this factual dispute — whether they believe her overview of those facts or whether they believe that he only met her once for a photo op. I think that is a very significant issue for the jury.”
Brewster has represented Daniels in legal matters in California, Florida, New York, Ohio and Texas.
So what was his assessment of her testimony this week, which included graphic, sexual details and pushback against defense attorneys’ suggestions that she had engaged in a shakedown of Trump?
“I’ve seen her in a lot of different settings in legal matters, … so I really know her well and know her story extremely well. I actually think that she very credibly explained what happened factually, and I think she was believable,” Brewster said. “The cross-examination of her, I think, really served to bolster and provide great credibility to the consistency of her story and the believability of it.”
Brewster recalled how Daniels came to him for help in early 2019 because she was concerned that her previous attorney had stolen money from her and forged her name.
That attorney, Michael Avenatti, ultimately went to prison for defrauding Daniels of $300,000 and has been subsequently tried and convicted of extorting and defrauding a handful of other clients to the tune of millions more dollars.
But neither Brewster nor Daniels could ever have imagined where those initial circumstances would lead.
“We never could really believe or predict that he (Trump) would be charged with a crime and she’s a witness in that case — but it’s not something we’re going to run away from,” he said.
Brewster said he was deeply disturbed to witness “the attacks on the system, day in and day out, by the defendant — saying that the judge is corrupt or the prosecutors or corrupt. To me, that is very, very damaging to our system, our structure of justice, the whole jurisprudence reliance that we must have to believe fairness occurs.
“And I didn’t see any of that. I really didn’t.”
Brewster said he believes that New York’s use of a grand jury to review evidence and claims before charges are brought serves as a check and balance against politicization.
And this longtime criminal defense attorney shared high praise for the conduct of both the judge and prosecutors he has observed in this case.
He called the prosecution team “very sharp,” “very ethical” and “very thorough” and said he was impressed with their “diligence, careful thought and preparation.”
“There’s a lot more they could have done that would have been embarrassing to Mr. Trump, but they didn’t do it. I think they were restrained,” Brewster said.
In the court record, the judge reported calling Trump’s attorneys to the bench to tell them to admonish their client to stop “cursing audibly” during Daniels’ testimony because it had the potential to intimidate the witness.
Brewster said he thinks the judge handled the situation in that indirect manner to try to avoid embarrassing Trump.
“I’ve been in front of a lot of different judges, both federal and state, across the country and have a feel for what I think is judicial conduct or rulings that are aberrant or seem some way slanted. I saw none of that in the courtroom,” Brewster said.
He also said he thinks how he and Stormy Daniels each feel about Donald Trump might surprise a lot of people.
Daniels has traded insults with Trump on social media for years. But “privately, she feels bad for him. I know that because she’s expressed that to me. And we all have empathy, honestly, for his situation,” Brewster said.
The longtime criminal defense attorney in Brewster comes out when he speaks about Trump as a defendant.
“People think since I represent Stormy Daniels that I immediately must believe a set of facts that are negative to the defendant and only positive for the witness. As a lawyer, you’re put in many situations where you’re representing someone that’s very unpopular, that has done things that are just abhorrent, but they’re entitled to a lawyer at their side to make sure the law is correct, that it is applied to the facts, and they’re entitled to a lawyer to advocate for that position,” he said.
“I wish the best for Mr. Trump. I sincerely do. I know a lot of people love him and a lot of people follow him. And many of them are my friends, and I hope there’ll be no friendship in any way impaired as a result.”
As a trial lawyer, Brewster spends a lot of time in court. But he suspects that his memories from this monumental trial, played out in a Manhattan courtroom big enough to hold only involved attorneys; select few journalists; a few supporters of Trump, including his son Eric Trump and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida; and extensive security personnel, will always stand out in his memory.
“It was a very interesting experience, from the security, from what’s at stake here for our country and this man, as well,” Brewster said. “If he is acquitted, we ought to all be happy. And if he’s not — we don’t have to all be happy, but we can have confidence the system worked.”
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andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com
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Tulsa World Staff Writer
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Clark Brewster of Tulsa posted to his social media on Thursday a photo with his client Stormy Daniels after her testimony in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan.
Clark Brewster, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, speaks on March 31, 2023.
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