Key witnesses in Trump’s criminal trial describe how the hush money deals came together
The criminal trial of former President Donald Trump resumed in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday with testimony from a key witness who described in detail how the hush money transactions at the center of the trial came together.
The criminal trial of former President Donald Trump resumed in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday with testimony from a key witness who described in detail how the hush money transactions at the center of the trial came together.
Prosecutors called on Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, who said they had sexual encounters with Trump and were paid to keep quiet about their allegations during the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied both women's claims.
Trump sat stone-faced as Davidson began recounting his work for Daniels, an adult film star. He recounted an incident in 2011 when a website posted a blog item about Daniels’ saying she and Trump had had a “physical or romantic interaction” in 2006. At the request of Daniels' talent manager, Gina Rodriguez, Davidson sent the site a cease-and-desist letter, he said. Around the same time, he said, Rodriguez got a call from "some jerk," who turned out to be Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, who was "very aggressive" and threatened to sue Daniels over the item.
Davidson said he called Cohen and was "met with a hostile barrage of insults." He said he told him his client had nothing to do with the story and had tried to get it taken down. It eventually was removed from the site.
The story came back to life in 2016, after Rodriguez started shopping it around as Trump's odds of becoming the Republican presidential nominee increased. There was little interest in Daniels' story until the so-called “Access Hollywood” tape became public that October. A hot mic recorded Trump saying in 2005 that he could grope women without their consent because "when you're a star, they let you do it."
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