Negotiations or “extortion”: Donald Trump’s defense did everything Thursday to discredit the lawyer of former porn star Stormy Daniels, cited as a witness, and through him the transaction at the heart of the criminal trial in New York of the former President of the United States.
In this case with enormous political stakes for him, the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election is being prosecuted for 34 falsifications of accounting documents.
They were allegedly used to hide the $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels in the home stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign, which resulted in a narrow victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This sum would have been used to buy her silence about a sexual relationship that she claims to have had with Donald Trump in 2006, when he was already married to Melania. A relationship that Donald Trump denies.
For two days, the ex-actress’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, has been detailing in court for the jurors the underside of this negotiation, which he conducted directly with Donald Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen .
But under the eyes of the former president, gold tie and navy blue suit, his defense did not miss the opportunity to paint an unflattering portrait of the witness and his methods.
The latter had made a specialty of monetizing silence on embarrassing secrets from celebrities, practices described as “extortion” by one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Emil Bove, who bombarded the witness with questions.
Hulk Hogan
During a tense exchange, Keith Davidson had to concede that he was the subject of a federal investigation – which resulted in no prosecution – after having negotiated the sale to former wrestling star Hulk Hogan of a ” sex tape » concerning him.
“I made a financial request” on behalf of clients, “I made no threat,” he said in defense.
The lawyer also had to admit having made the following confidence to Michael Cohen: “If he (Donald Trump) loses the election, and he will lose it, we lose all means of pressure. »
Finally, a confidentiality contract was signed on October 28, 2016, a few days before the presidential election.
The $130,000 was paid by Michael Cohen, via a shell company. He was reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s holding company, the Trump Organization, for expenses recorded as “legal expenses”, hence the prosecution for falsification of accounting documents.
Michael Cohen, who says he acted at the request of the candidate, has not yet testified.
The whole point of the affair will be to determine what Donald Trump knew about these behind-the-scenes negotiations.
On Thursday, jurors were able to hear an audio recording, already known, of a private conversation in which Michael Cohen spoke to him of a payment to obtain the silence of another woman, the model Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had a adventure with the billionaire.
“95% Democrats”
In the midst of the campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump risks in this case the first criminal conviction of a former American president.
Before the resumption of the debates on Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan examined a new burst of unbridled statements from the tempestuous candidate made outside the courtroom, which criticized Michael Cohen, who had become his number one enemy, or the jurors, described as “95% Democrats.” “.
Prosecutors denounced new violations of the ban, ordered by the magistrate, on insulting jurors or witnesses.
Another lawyer for Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, once again defended the urgency of protecting his freedom of expression.
The implication, “is that the jury is not fair,” said the judge, who warned the accused that he was ready to incarcerate him so that he would stop his attacks. He did not rule Thursday.
For his part, Donald Trump once again mentioned the trial on his Truth Social network, but to deny that he falls asleep during the hearing, which sometimes seems the case when he sinks, eyes closed, on his armchair.
“I just close my beautiful blue eyes sometimes, I listen intently, and I absorb everything! “, he assured.
Three years after leaving the White House in chaos, and after recovering from two impeachment proceedings, Donald Trump enters the campaign being indicted in four cases, including the one before federal justice in Washington, which involves on his alleged illegal attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election won by Joe Biden in 2020.
But due to appeals and procedural questions, the trial in New York, of a smaller scale, could be the only one tried before the November 5 election. The debates resume on Friday.