Trump trial resumes after notorious Cohen telephone name tape is performed for jury

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Prosecutors and protection attorneys resumed questioning witnesses Friday within the New York prison hush cash trial of Donald Trump after jurors heard from the previous lawyer for 2 girls who have been paid to not reveal their alleged affairs with the ex-president.

The lawyer, Keith Davidson, negotiated six-figure hush cash offers for porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy mannequin Karen McDougal forward of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying enterprise data associated to the $130,000 cost to Daniels, who claims she had intercourse with Trump in 2006. Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of unlawfully making an attempt to affect the 2016 election by shopping for and suppressing damaging details about him.

Choose Juan Merchan on Thursday additionally held a listening to on whether or not Trump as soon as once more violated the gag order barring him from talking about jurors, witnesses and others concerned within the trial.

On Tuesday, Merchan held Trump in contempt for violating his speech restrictions 9 occasions. The choose fined Trump $9,000, the utmost, and warned him that future violations may land him in jail. Prosecutors in Thursday’s listening to flagged 4 extra alleged gag order violations by Trump, although they stated they weren’t searching for to place him in jail.

Merchan has but to rule on the extra alleged violations.

Over two days of testimony, Davidson mentioned his work with the Nationwide Enquirer and Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to craft the hush cash offers, within the course of shedding mild on how tabloids function of their hunt for lurid tales.

David Pecker, the previous CEO of the Enquirer’s writer, described his work in prior trial testimony as “checkbook journalism” and stated he made offers with the understanding of making an attempt to assist Trump’s election possibilities.

On the evening Trump received that election, Davidson texted the Enquirer’s then-editor-in-chief, “What have we completed?”

He testified Thursday that the textual content was “type of gallows humor.” However he added that he and the highest editor, Dylan Howard, understood on the time that “our actions could have ultimately assisted the presidential marketing campaign of Donald Trump.”

On cross-examination, Trump’s lawyer harassed that Davidson by no means met or spoke with Trump and that each one of his data concerning the then-presidential candidate got here secondhand.

After Davidson left the witness stand, prosecutors referred to as Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst for Bragg’s workplace who detailed his findings from Cohen’s telephone.

Jurors heard a recording of Trump saying asking Cohen, “So what will we acquired to pay for this — 150?” and instructing his lawyer to “pay with money.” Pecker’s firm on the time, American Media, paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her affair declare as a part of an alleged “catch and kill” scheme to bury the story.