Court hears that lawyers argued over paying Stormy Daniels
With Brandon Livesay, Kayla Epstein and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
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With Brandon Livesay, Kayla Epstein and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
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Cohen 'just screaming' after told of Daniels' claims
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
The court has heard about an online blog that had published claims about Stormy Daniels' alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump.
Davidson says he called Michael Cohen about the online article and was met with a “hostile barrage of insults… that went on for quite a while”.
“I don’t think he was accusing us of anything, he was just screaming,“ Davidson says.
“Finally after he finished, I explained to him I was calling because my client, Stormy Daniels', did not want the story published,” Davidson tells the court.
Davidson's testimony turns to Stormy Daniels deal
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Prosecutors have moved onto the topic of Stormy Daniels, after a lengthy look at how Keith Davidson negotiated the sale of Playboy model Karen McDougal’s affair claims.
McDougal’s hush-money is not connected to the criminal charges against Trump, but Daniels’ claims of having sex with Trump are.
We’re about to find out how Davidson was involved in negotiating the money for Daniels, a former porn star.
Multiple efforts to obtain McDougal's story of her Trump affair
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
David Pecker's tabloid company was not the only outlet working to obtain the McDougal scoop.
Davidson says there were parallel negotiations with AMI and ABC.
When Karen McDougal sold her story to AMI, Davidson said he then told ABC “she had promised her family” she didn’t want to speak publicly anymore.
How the Trump affair became the intellectual property of AMI
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
We’re now hearing about the actual deal that was finally signed between AMI, the media company that owned the National Enquirer, and Karen McDougal.
Keith Davidson says it was a $150,000 deal and it included the rights to her story of an alleged affair with Donald Trump. The contract itself is flashed up on the screen in the courtroom.
The prosecution ask him about a specific paragraph in the contract.
Davidson says the section made it clear that her Trump affair claims would now be the intellectual property of AMI.
Cohen 'not pleasant or constructive' as Trump lawyer, Davidson says
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Keith Davidson says “I thought it was odd” when he was asked to call Michael Cohen about the deal for Karen McDougal.
He says his first interaction with Cohen was in 2011, and he was not particularly eager to engage the ex-lawyer again.
“My interaction with him around that time... was not pleasant or constructive and I didn’t particularly like dealing with him. And that’s why I was trying like hell to avoid talking to him,” Davidson tells the court.
Trump deletes posts that violated gag order
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
It appears that Trump's team has deleted the Truth Social posts that violated the gag order, after Justice Merchan gave him a 2:15pm deadline to do so.
Two posts on his campaign website that ran afoul of the order also appear to be gone.
In their stead, Trump posted on Truth Social that "The Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH" and accused Justice Merchan of "rigging the presidential of 2024 election" [sic].
The gag order does not bar Trump from attacking Justice Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Prosecutors return to Keith Davidson questioning
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Keith Davidson is back on the stand and we are once again looking at his extensive text message conversation with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
The prosecutors are taking him through the back-and-forth that detail his negotiations to sell former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story.
The text messages are shown on large screens in the courtroom, with some lines highlighted in yellow and other lines of text blacked out.
Davidson is asked to read certain lines out loud, often having to correct spelling mistakes in the messages and explain abbreviated words.
Court about to start up again
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan has returned to his seat, Donald Trump is here too. And the witness is about to come in.
Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates.
Courtroom sketches of the day in court
What prosecutors hope to gain with current witness order
Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court
There are a number of factors that go into determining the order of witnesses.
Earlier today, we heard from a banker, a public television archivist, and a man who records depositions - not the most exciting collection of witnesses.
But now we are hearing from Stormy Daniels' former attorney and getting some of the sordid details of her and Karen McDougal's hush-money payouts.
It appears prosecutors are interspersing narrative testimony with documents and other drier froms of evidence that they need to prove their case, according to Rebecca Roiphe who was an attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
She says this is a case about false business records so it’s “equally if not more important” to focus on what will inevitably be the core elements of the prosecution’s case.
Remember, Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to 11 invoices, 12 general ledger entries and 11 cheques.
We may see this same rhythm throughout the trial to keep jurors alert and interested.
Trump back on the campaign trail - briefly - this week
Donald Trump is required to be in court for this trial, which is being held in New York City.
But on Wednesdays, the trial has the day off.
Trump is using this Wednesday as an opportunity to get on the campaign trail in his quest to become US president for a second time.
He has two rallies planned - one in Wisconsin and one in Michigan.
With his limited ability to campaign due to the trial, there has been a recent small shift in his statements to media outside the court.
Chunks of his comments focused on attacks on President Joe Biden as well as various election issues like the economy and campus protests against the war in Gaza.
His statements had previously focused much more heavily on his criticism of the criminal trial’s merits.
Ex-judge says Merchan in tough spot over gag order violations
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
While court is on break, let's look at the gag order decision from earlier today.
Yesterday, I asked a former judge how Justice Merchan might consider punishing Trump for his repeated violations of the order.
“I do not envy the position he’s in,” said former New York State Acting Supreme Court Justice Diane Kiesel, who oversaw the trial of socialite scammer Anna Delvey.
“On one hand, you gotta lower the hammer because clearly Trump is testing him,” Judge Kiesel added. “On the other hand, what does the judge do if he imposes fines, and then Mr Trump continues to behave like this?”
In his decision, Justice Merchan raised the spectre of jail time if Trump continued to violate the order.
That is not something he would add lightly, Judge Kiesel said.
“Do you really think the judge wants to put the [former] President of the United States in jail?”
Court breaks for lunch
The court is now taking a long break for lunch.
Trump exited the courtroom without speaking to members of the press.
We were just hearing from Stormy Daniels' former attorney, Keith Davidson, who brokered her and Karen McDougal's hush-money payments.
Stick with us as we bring further reporting and analysis from the first criminal trial of a former president.
Messages include jokes about Trump's potential presidency in 2016
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
There are a whole lot of text messages we’re still trawling through.
One message from tabloid editor Dylan Howard says they will lay it on thick for Karen McDougal, meaning her compensation for the story.
“Good. Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Man,” Davidson texted back, in reference to Trump’s presidency.
He tells the court he doesn’t think the Isle of Man is a country, and it was a joke. It gets a few laughs from the courtroom.
An inside look into 'checkbook journalism'
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
We’re getting an inside look into the inner workings of so-called “checkbook journalism”.
Dylan Howard and Keith Davidson clearly haggled via text message over the sale of Karen McDougal’s story to the National Enquirer.
In these messages, we're seeing them haggle over the price, apply pressure, hedge and cajole.
McDougal's three goals in hush-money negotiations
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Keith Davidson tells the court McDougal had three goals in her negotiations: to rejuvenate her career, to make money and to avoid becoming the other woman.
He says McDougal did not want to tell her story.
Then we see the negotiations for her story with Dylan Howard. Davidson says he started high, asking for $1 million.
ABC News and 'estrogen mafia' wanted McDougal's story, Davidson says
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
In an attempt to get Dylan Howard's attention, Keith Davidson sent a text to instill urgency: "Don't forget bout Cohen. Time is of the essence. The girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia."
Now on the stand, Davidson says he is sorry for the phrase "estrogen mafia", calling it "unfortunate" and "regrettable".
He says it was in reference to "several women" who were leaning on Karen McDougal to take her story to ABC News.
Davidson played 'two entities off' each other for Trump affair story
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
We're getting a bit of flavour for how these types of hush-money deals were made at the National Enquirer.
There are more messages being shown to the court, which lay out how the lawyer and editor would interact.
The two men use words like “entree” for the story, like the snippets of information being shared are teasers before the main course.
Davidson’s messages also have a sense of urgency.
He admits to the court he was trying to “play two entities off of each other”, to secure the best payday for his client.
More text messages about alleged Trump affair read in court
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
There are more texts between tabloid editor Dylan Howard and Keith Davidson.
Howard messaged, “did he (Trump) cheat on Melania?” and “Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania?”
Davidson replied, “I really can’t say yet. Sorry.”
Davidson reads the text messages aloud to the court room.
He follows up the texts by saying McDougal claims she had a “romantic affair” with Donald Trump.
The prosecution asks if the tryst was sexual, and Davidson says: “That’s what she expressed.”
He says he set up a meeting between McDougal and Dylan Howard.
Deal sparked in text messages that are shown in court
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
We are going over text messages between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard, then the top editor of the National Enquirer, that show the origins of the deal between the publication and the Playboy model.
In June 2016, Davidson texted Howard, “I have a blockbuster Trump story.”
Howard replied, “Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…”
AMI Publisher David Pecker, Howard's former boss, testified earlier in the trial that Davidson had brought the story of Karen McDougal's alleged affair with Trump to the National Enquirer.