Lawyer who brokered alleged hush money deal with Trump for Stormy Daniels testifies

As Keith Davidson, the lawyer who brokered the alleged hush money deals for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, watched the 2016 presidential election results roll in, he texted the tabloid editor who had worked with him on the payments in apparent shock.

“What have we done?” Davidson wrote in a 3 a.m. text message following election night on Nov. 8, 2016, to Dylan Howard, then National Enquirer editor-in-chief.

Howard deadpanned: “Oh my God.”

That text was introduced Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court as Los Angeles-based Davidson testified for a third day at former President Donald Trump's historic criminal trial. Under direct examination by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, he explained to the jury his mindset during the text exchange.

“This was sort of gallows humor,” Davidson testified. “It was on election night as results were coming in. There was surprise among the broadcasters that Donald Trump was leading in the polls, and folks were about to call the election.”

Davidson said he thought: “Our activities may have somehow assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”

That alleged election interference is a central tenet in the prosecution's theory of the case against Trump, who is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to the payment to Daniels, an adult film star who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump.

Prosecutors have said Trump committed the alleged business fraud, falsely recording the payment to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged affair as “legal services,” to protect his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election — a factor that elevates the charges to felonies. Trump faces up to 4 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors have also said McDougal, a former Playboy model, who has alleged she had an affair with Trump, was paid $150,000 in hush money. 

Trump, 77, is the first president or ex-president to go on trial on criminal charges. On his Truth Social site Thursday afternoon, Trump denied claims by reporters that he's appeared to sleep at times during his trial, though he admitted closing his eyes. 

“Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don't fall asleep during the Crooked DA's Witch Hunt, especially not today,” Trump's account posted. “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!” 

Trump's attorneys have said the GOP's 2024 presumptive presidential nominee is innocent and impacting an election is simply the goal of candidates in a democracy. Trump has called the trial a “scam” and a “witch hunt” and has said his Democratic opponent in the upcoming election, President Joe Biden, is behind his prosecution.

As he continued testifying Thursday, Davidson said that following the election, in mid-December, he got a call from Trump's personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, with whom he had worked to arrange the hush money deals.

“He was despondent,” Davidson said of Cohen, who he said was Christmas shopping at a department store. “He said something to the effect of ‘Jesus Christ, can you [expletive] believe that I'm not going to Washington after everything I've done for that guy? I’ve saved that guy's [expletive] so many times. You don’t even know. That guy isn't even paying me the $130,000 back.’ ”

Davidson said the Dec. 9 call, a video call, was lengthy.

He called Cohen “desperate” and later, during the cross-examination, Davidson said that Trump's fixer sounded suicidal. 

“I thought he was going to kill himself,” Davidson said.

Just months before the election, Cohen had started recording conversations with Trump, according to testimony.

During testimony from one of the Manhattan District Attorney's forensic investigators of computer devices, prosecutors played an audio file of Cohen telling Trump about setting up a shell company to make the hush money payments.

“I need to open up the company for the transfer of all that info for our friend David. I'm going to do that right away. I’ve spoken to [then Trump's chief financial officer] Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” Cohen tells Trump.

“We'll pay cash,” the former president said on the recording.

On cross-examination by defense lawyer Emil Bove, Davidson admitted that the first time he was in the same room as Trump was when he began testifying at the trial earlier this week.

“I’ve had no personal interactions with Donald Trump,” Davidson testified.

Bove has framed the hush money payments as extortion, attempting to tarnish Davidson's credibility in the eyes of the jury while casting Trump as the victim. He grilled Davidson on his past dealings with nondisclosure agreements such as the ones he constructed for the Daniels and McDougal payments.

Davidson admitted he had been investigated by both state and local authorities in 2013 for extortion in relation to the famous wrestler known as Hulk Hogan. But he noted no criminal charges had been brought against him. 

“I did everything I could to make sure that my actions were lawful,” Davidson said.

Bove grilled Davidson about his involvement in a series of tawdry tabloid deals born of celebrity scandal. Davidson had represented a client that had allegedly been paid by celebrity news website TMZ in 2010 for information about actor and Long Island native Lindsay Lohan spending time in a drug rehabilitation facility, he admitted. 

In another recording also played Thursday, this time a conversation with Cohen, Davidson suggested that Daniels push for the settlement before the election because that was when she would have the most leverage over the former president.

Before testimony began Thursday, state Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan heard arguments on four instances in which Trump is alleged to have violated the gag order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about witnesses or the jury in the case.

Merchan already held Trump in contempt of court Tuesday, ruling that Trump violated the judge's gag order in the case nine times and fined him $9,000 for the offenses.

The judge also warned Trump he would consider putting him in jail if he continues to violate the protective order. But the four alleged violations occurred before the judge's contempt ruling, so Trump is not expected to face potential jail time.

“His statements are corrosive to this proceeding and the fair administration of justice,” said prosecutor Christopher Conroy.

The four statements in question include Trump speaking ill of Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness at his ongoing trial. Trump also said in an interview that the jury comprises Democrats, and called former National Enquirer editor David Pecker “a nice guy,” in what prosecutors said was a calculated message to the witness, who was testifying at the time.

“The defendant knows what he's doing,” said Conroy.

But Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, seized on Merchan’s earlier contempt order, saying Cohen has repeatedly mocked his client, attacking his character, and mocking him for being on trial and also his presidential candidacy.

Merchan said in his prior contempt order that “it is of utmost importance to this Court that the Expanded Order not be used as a sword instead of a shield by potential witnesses,” adding that he'll consider “the propriety of continuing the limitation on extrajudicial speech as it relates to certain individuals” when deciding future claims of gag order violations.

Cohen has made comments critical of Trump during live chats he's been hosting on TikTok during the trial.

“Mr. Cohen has been inviting and almost daring President Trump to respond to the things that he’s been saying,” Blanche argued.

But the judge appeared unmoved by Blanche's arguments with respect to comments made by Trump in the hallway outside the courtroom, during which Trump called Cohen a liar.

“No one forced your client to stand where he went that day,” said Merchan. “His exit is to the right, he went left.”

Trump has apparently heeded the judge's threat of jail time if he violates the gag order again, sticking to criticism of the prosecutor and the case at large, all permitted under the limited gag order.

“That [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg didn't want to bring it until the election happened,” said Trump, wearing a yellow tie and speaking in the court hallway before proceedings began Thursday. “And then he brought it. You just do know that this case could have been brought eight years ago. It could have been brought eight years ago. Instead, they wait and wait and wait. They know it's not a good case,” he said.