Jurors at the New York hush-money trial Tuesday listened with rapt attention to Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Karen McDougal, as he gave a first-hand account of negotiations to sell the salacious story for $150,000.
“I have a blockbuster Trump story,” Davidson said in a text to an Enquirer editor. Davidson told jurors he meant the text as a “teaser” about McDougal’s relationship with Trump.
Prosecutors claim that during the 2016 presidential campaign Trump conspired with the National Enquirer to boost his candidacy by buying exclusive rights to stories about his alleged extramarital affairs and then not publishing them.
Earlier Tuesday, Justice Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt for repeatedly violating a gag order not to discuss witnesses in the case. The judge imposed a $9,000 fine and warned that future violations could result in jail for Trump, the presumed Republican nominee for the White House.
Prosecutors sought the penalties after Trump had repeatedly posted on social media about adult film star Stormy Daniels and ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, both key witnesses in the case against him.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges Trump falsified dozens of business records to conceal a $130,000 payment by Cohen to Daniels to keep her quiet in October 2016 about her story of an affair. Prosecutors say Trump falsified the documents to help influence the election by hiding his conduct with women.
Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer, represented both McDougal and Daniels in negotiations to sell their stories about their relationships with Trump a decade earlier.
Prosecutors first focused Davidson’s testimony on negotiations that resulted in the Enquirer buying her story for $150,000 and agreeing not to publish it.
Enquirer editor Dylan Howard referred to Trump’s wife, texting: “Did he cheat on Melania?” Davidson replied: “I really cannot say yet. Sorry.”
While Davidson initially sought more than $1 million, Howard made clear that the Enquirer’s owner, American Media Inc., wouldn’t go that high. He met in Los Angeles with McDougal and Howard. Davidson was also talking to ABC News.
“Better be quick,” Davidson texted Howard. He testified that he was “trying to play two entities off each other” to get the best price.
While ABC demanded that McDougal tell her story publicly, she didn’t want to do that, in part because she didn’t want to be depicted as “the other woman,” Davidson said. Instead, she went with AMI.
Last week, former AMI Chief Executive Officer David Pecker testified that he had no intention of publishing McDougal’s story because it would embarrass Trump and hurt his campaign.
Before Davidson testified, Merchan fined the former president $1,000 for each of nine violations of the gag order.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan said.
Trump’s use of social media, news interviews and campaign speeches has created a challenge for judges overseeing his many legal cases as they weigh the impact of his public comments against his free-speech rights — especially as he campaigns for a return to the White House. It also illustrates Trump’s habit of attacking critics with his high-profile bully pulpit to sway public opinion and get what he wants.
The judge rejected Trump’s argument that his disputed posts were made in response to “attacks” against him.
‘Threatening, Inflammatory’
Before the trial started, Merchan had imposed the gag order after concluding Trump had made statements that were “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” and had targeted court staff and other individuals. The judge expanded his order to include his family, after the former president attacked the judge’s daughter on social media.
It isn’t the first time Trump has run afoul of a gag order. Last year, during New York state civil fraud trial that he eventually lost, a judge fined the former president $15,000 for twice violating a gag order in that case. Trump faces similar restrictions on what he can say in a federal criminal case against him in Washington, where he’s charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump denies wrongdoing in the New York hush-money case, as well as three other criminal prosecutions he faces. Trump claims the prosecutions are part of a political “witch hunt” against him.
(Updates with details of lawyer’s testimony)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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Published: 01 May 2024, 01:16 AM IST