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As he continues with cross-examination, Trump attorney Emil Bove is going over the agreement with Stormy Daniels that Keith Davidson negotiated.

"You're providing legal services to Ms Daniels?" Bove asked, noting he has used terms like plaintiff and defendant in describing the agreement.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is zeroing in on the call Keith Davidson had with Michael Cohen in December.

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Keith Davidson says that Michael Cohen had at times talked with him about being Donald Trump's chief of staff or attorney general.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove asks Keith Davidson about his testimony a short time ago that Michael Cohen could be an "aggressive guy."
"You could be aggressive, too?" Bove asks Davidson.
Davidson responded he didn't know.

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Tim Parlatore, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, said on CNN Thursday that the defense attorneys should focus on discrediting Michael Cohen when questioning Keith Davidson.
"I would go and use him to attack Michael Cohen's credibility. And there's a lot of different angles you could use on that."
Parlatore added: "I would use him to kind of separate him from Donald Trump because there's a lot of things that Cohen is apparently doing on his own without getting approval from above."

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Defense attorney Emil Bove is asking Keith Davidson to confirm that nondisclosure agreements are common in the media law space and that they are enforceable and often litigated over in court.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove asked, "You made no threats to Michael Cohen related to the 2016 election, is that the answer?"
"I made no threats to anyone," Keith Davidson replied.
"You never linked these negotiations to the 2016 election with anyone, is that your testimony?" Bove asks.
"That's fair," Davidson says.

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Keith Davidson is now being questioned by Trump attorney Emil Bove about various celebrities and stories related to them and his alleged involvement.
Davidson has said "I don't recall" to numerous questions.
"Is it fair to say your memory seems a little fuzzy around some of these issues?" Bove asks Davidson.
Davidson responds that he's had 1,500 clients, and these issues were from many years ago.

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After Davidson responded with little or no detail to a line of questions from Trump attorney Emil Bove, Bove jabbed at the witness who is also an attorney about his "fuzzy memory."
That led to a testy exchange.
"We're both lawyers. I'm not here to play lawyer games with you," Bove said.
Merchan sustained an objection to that remark
"You're getting truthful answers, sir," Davidson says.
He also took exception to some of the specific terminology Bove was using in his questions.
"If you're not here to play legal games, then don't say 'extract,'" Davidson told Bove.

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There is a sidebar at the bench. Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Judge Juan Merchan to instruct Keith Davidson to answer a question.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove asked whether there was a "settlement" between Keith Davidson's client and Charlie Sheen.
"I'm not going to answer that," Davidson said.
Bove asked Judge Juan Merchan to instruct Davidson to answer the question about the settlement.
Merchan said Davidson is asserting privilege and told Bove to ask another question.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove has been asking a series of questions relating to the time Davidson, the witness, was investigated as part of a 2012 extortion probe tied to Hulk Hogan.
After several exchanges surrounding the investigation, Davidson confirmed in his testimony that he was not charged in connection with the case.
Bove asked again if the experience "gave him familiarity" with extortion law.
"Perhaps, I don't know," Davidson responds, shaking his head.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is questioning Keith Davidson about Karen McDougal again.

Davidson said that when Donald Trump was ascending in the polls, a "former friend" of McDougal attempted to publicize her interactions with Trump in the press.

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One of Donald Trump's attorneys, Emil Bove, is asking Davidson about how he retained actress and model Karen McDougal as a client.
Bove notes that the attorney, who negotiated McDougal's hush money deal, was referred by her brother-in-law, who was Davidson's former client.
Bove asks Davidson whether the agreement was ever actually signed by McDougal.
"It's my recollection I had a fully executed retention agreement with Ms. McDougal," Davidson says.
The initial retainer agreement said the attorney's fee would be 35%, though Davidson testified he received 45%.
Bove goes on to question Davidson about how McDougal's brother-in-law and another man who provided security were paid in the agreement. Davidson says the other players in the deal who aren't lawyers were not paid out of his own cut.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is trying to drill down on whether it was helpful for Keith Davidson to be able to tell Karen McDougal that he'd already started generating interest in the story from the National Enquirer, showing text messages between Davidson and Dylan Howard.

"Maybe or maybe not," Davidson responded.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is now going through the Los Angeles meeting National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard had with Karen McDougal and Keith Davidson.
This is the meeting where Howard vetted McDougal's story.
Davidson says that he knew Howard was going to report back to David Pecker, the head of AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company. Davidson confirms he was informed initially after the meeting that AMI was not interested in McDougal's story because it lacked corroborating evidence.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove says he is making adjustments and thinks he has under an hour left of Keith Davidson's cross-examination.

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Court is breaking for lunch and will be resuming at 2:15 p.m. ET.

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Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels' former attorney, was connected at some point in past years with potential controversies involving various celebrities. It's something Trump attorney Emil Bove brought up while questioning Davidson.
Actor Charlie Sheen, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, Filipino former professional boxer Manny Pacquiao, and TV and social media personality Tila Tequila were among the celebrities mentioned in court.
Here's why Bove is asking about celebrities:

• Questioning Davidson's character as a witness
• Showing Davidson's "fuzzy" memory around details
• Trying to paint a darker motive, or possible extortion

"Your memory seems a little fuzzy around some of these issues," Bove jabs at Davidson.

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jt2hunt said:

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So where does the case stand right now in your opinion?

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Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the court is back in session after taking a lunch break.
Donald Trump walked into the courtroom, looking toward the press gallery and pointing toward someone before taking his seat at the defendant's table with his attorneys.
Prosecutors are also in the room.

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Trump attorney Susan Necheles is raising an issue involving the gag order before testimony resumes, providing the judge a stack of newspaper articles from legal commentators.
They are all articles that Trump would like to post on his Truth Social account, Necheles says.
"We think they are perfectly fine. We think there is ambiguity in the gag order," Necheles says.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy says his team would need to go through the articles. "It seems odd they're asking the court for an advance ruling," he said.
Merchan says he "appreciates what you're bringing to my attention," but says he's not going to be in the position of looking in advance at Truth Social posts.
Merchan says he has already ruled, and the appeals court has "found nothing wrong" with the gag order.

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"If in doubt, steer clear," Merchan tells them, adding, "There is no ambiguity, I believe, in the order."

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When Necheles tries to argue there was ambiguity, Merchan cut her off: "I'm not going to argue with you, Ms. Necheles."

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Attorney Keith Davidson, a key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements, is back on the stand.

Trump attorney Emil Bove has resumed questioning.

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Emil Bove has resumed by asking Keith Davidson about the 2011 blog post on thedirty.com.
The boyfriend of Gina Rodriquez, who was Stormy Daniels' manager, worked for the website, Davidson testified.

Bove asked whether Karen McDougal's ex-husband also worked for gossip website. Davidson says he does not know.

The Trump attorney suggested Rodriguez's boyfriend wrote the post about Daniels' alleged affair with Trump at the time. Davidson said he didn't know.

Bove asks whether he was able to get the post taken down because it was written by Rodriguez's boyfriend.

Davidson says he doesn't know if they were dating. "If she was, I don't think she would have needed me," Davidson says.

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Attorney Emil Bove asks Keith Davidson whether Gina Rodriguez, Stormy Daniels' agent, wanted thedirty.com post taken down because they were seeking a more lucrative opportunity with another outlet.

Davidson says he learned this later.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking Keith Davidson whether he continued to work with Michael Cohen after the Stormy Daniels deal in 2018.
"He sent me work," Davidson says.
"It's not as if the experience with him was so horrific that you ceased interacting with him, correct?" Bove asks.
"Our relationship changed over time," Davidson says, adding that he and Michael Cohen continued to interact professionally.

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The defense is asking Davidson whether he ever spoke to then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen about adult film star Stormy Daniels having "settler's remorse" regarding the hush money deal she reached for her story on Trump.
"I may have," Davidson says.
The witness, who represented Daniels in negotiating the deal, was asked if he ever used the word "leverage" in conversations with Cohen.
"No," Davidson said.

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Keith Davidson said he suspected at some point that Donald Trump's then-fixer Michael Cohen was recording some of their conversations.

"Ordinarily he was all over the place and these calls it was a very structured conversation, which wasn't really his personality," Davidson said.
"I recall a few conversations speaking with Mr. Cohen, when his conversations were odd and that led me to believe that I was being recorded," Davidson testified.
"Less pants on fire, more straightforward?" Trump attorney Emil Bove asked.
"Maybe a little more self-serving," Davidson said.

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Keith Davidson, the judge and all of the attorneys are now wearing headphones to listen to an audio recording, which is a defense exhibit.
Trump did not put headphones on, and the jury and public cannot hear it.

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Some witnesses taking the stand in the hush money trial against Donald Trump have unsavory reputations, which allows the defense to potentially poke holes in the case, CNN's Phil Mattingly said.

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"None of this is going to look great. All of this is very unseemly, dealing with people that, perhaps, you might not necessarily want to be going to church with on a weekly basis.

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"But that also means the the defense has real opportunities," Mattingly said.

One, the defense could poke holes in people's credibility. Two, the defense has the opportunity to prove this overarching point, "'prove to me that Donald Trump knew about all of this.'" And three, actually making the case that's alleged here, "actually getting at conviction, actually getting all 12 people aligned with what prosecutors are alleging," Mattingly said.

He also added that Trump's legal team is also very good and they're going to take advantage of the fact that a lot of these witnesses aren't "exactly the purest form of individuals."

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The defense is asking Davidson whether he ever spoke to then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen about adult film star Stormy Daniels having "settler's remorse" regarding the hush money deal she reached for her story on Trump.

"I may have," Davidson says.

Davidson, the judge and all of the attorneys then donned headphones to listen to an audio recording.

Afterward, Davidson confirmed that he can be heard on the audio saying, "Sometimes people get settler's remorse, you know? In other times people think, 'I need to resolve this case by a certain date, because this is when I have the most.'"

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Keith Davidson confirmed he used the word "leverage" in his conversation with Michael Cohen.
"That was Ms. (Stormy) Daniels' goal to use leverage against President Trump?" Defense attorney Emil Bove asked.
"No," Davidson responded.

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Stormy Daniels wanted to get out of the settlement agreement in 2018 and the founder of "Hustler" magazine, Larry Flynt, offered her $1 million and payment of her legal costs to get out of the deal with Donald Trump, Keith Davidson says.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is now bringing up Michael Avenatti and his representation of Stormy Daniels.
He is asking Keith Davidson whether he said that Avenatti had "driven a serious wedge" between Daniels and her then-publicist Gina Rodriguez.
Davidson confirms, "Sounds like something I recall, yes."

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Emil Bove confronts Keith Davidson with a recording in which he told Michael Cohen that Stormy Daniels wanted the money "more than you could ever imagine," and that he said: "If he loses this election, and he's going to lose, we all lose all ****ing leverage."

"'This case is worth zero.' Do you recall saying that to Mr. Cohen," Bove asks.
Davidson confirms he said this.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is now walking through the agreement with Stormy Daniels, noting it was not signed by Donald Trump.
"It's blank here in the DD space?" Bove asks, referring to Trump's pseudonym, David Dennison.
"Yes," Keith Davidson says.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove has wrapped up his cross-examination of Keith Davidson, the key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements.

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Judge Merchan is back on the bench and Keith Davidson is back on the witness stand.
Also in the courtroom is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump glanced briefly in Bragg's direction as he walked in, though he was already facing him while talking to Boris Eyshteyn.
The jury has also just come back in.

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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is back at the podium, having returned from the break he requested to gather an exhibit.
The prosecutor begins by asking Davidson about the context of the April 2018 conversation Michael Cohen recorded.
Steinglass asks Davidson whether Michael Avenatti at that point was representing Daniels, and had sued Cohen and Davidson. "I believe so," Davidson says.

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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass brings up Davidson's testimony after questions from Trump attorney Emil Bove about Stormy Daniels and "leverage."

In that recorded conversation with Michael Cohen, Davidson said, "She wanted this money more than you could ever imagine and you better ****ing get it."

Davidson says that when he was saying "If he loses the election we lose all leverage" he was referring to what Gina Rodriguez' boyfriend said, not something said by Daniels.

Now Bove is asking for a moment to consult with Steinglass before accepting a transcript of the call into evidence.

Bove does not object.

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Prosecutors are playing an audio clip of Michael Cohen for the jury.
This is the first time the jury has heard Cohen speak directly. Cohen's voice is beaming through the courtroom.
"I'm sitting there saying to myself, 'what about me. What about me.' I can't even tell you how many times he said to me 'I hate the fact that we did it,' and my comment to him was 'but every person that we've spoken to tells you it was the right move," Cohen is heard saying in the audio clip.

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The prosecution is done with redirect, after a line of questioning that led to the jury hearing audio from a phone call with Michael Cohen.

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aggiehawg said:

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Keith Davidson is recalling a time near the holidays that year while in a "strangely decorated department store" he got a call from "a very despondent and saddened Michael Cohen."
"He said something to the effect of 'Jesus Christ, can you ****ing believe I'm not going to Washington after everything I've done for that ****ing guy. I can't believe I'm not going to Washington. I've saved that guy's a** so many times you don't even know.'"
Trump is not paying attention to Davidson as he recalls this.
Davidson is shown the receipt from the store where he was shopping at the time he got the call from Cohen to remind him of the date of the call. It was December 9.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him how the store was decorated. Davidson, after a pause, described it as a warehouse-like big box store decorated like Alice & Wonderland. "There were these huge rabbits," he says.

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"That ****ing guy is not even paying me the $130,000 back," Keith Davidson recalls Michael Cohen telling him during the December phone call.

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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing Keith Davidson's January 2018 email response to the Wall Street Journal before they published an article about Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump.
"Comment: Nothing about the present day regurgitation of these rumors causes us to rethink our prior denial issued in 2011," Davidson wrote to the WSJ reporter.
Davidson forwarded that email thread to Michael Cohen to let him know how he handled the story.

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"We had a mutuality of interest in this period of time," Davidson says of why he forwarded the email to Cohen. "We had a fully executed settlement agreement and confidentiality agreement" that was the subject of the story.

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aggiehawg said:

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Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the court is back in session after taking a lunch break.
Donald Trump walked into the courtroom, looking toward the press gallery and pointing toward someone before taking his seat at the defendant's table with his attorneys.
Prosecutors are also in the room.

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Trump attorney Susan Necheles is raising an issue involving the gag order before testimony resumes, providing the judge a stack of newspaper articles from legal commentators.
They are all articles that Trump would like to post on his Truth Social account, Necheles says.
"We think they are perfectly fine. We think there is ambiguity in the gag order," Necheles says.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy says his team would need to go through the articles. "It seems odd they're asking the court for an advance ruling," he said.
Merchan says he "appreciates what you're bringing to my attention," but says he's not going to be in the position of looking in advance at Truth Social posts.
Merchan says he has already ruled, and the appeals court has "found nothing wrong" with the gag order.

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"If in doubt, steer clear," Merchan tells them, adding, "There is no ambiguity, I believe, in the order."

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When Necheles tries to argue there was ambiguity, Merchan cut her off: "I'm not going to argue with you, Ms. Necheles."

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Attorney Keith Davidson, a key witness who negotiated the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements, is back on the stand.

Trump attorney Emil Bove has resumed questioning.

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The bolded seems particularly damaging to the prosecution's case. Why would repayment to Cohen be in question if Trump was coordinating all these actions?

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Donald Trump's lawyers are back for re-cross-examination, and attorney Emil Bove has entered audio recordings into evidence.
Now the jury is hearing a recording that previously only the witness, judge and attorneys had listened to: Davidson discussing the idea of "settler's remorse" with then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Remember: Davidson negotiated the hush money deal for Stormy Daniels regarding her story about Trump.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is playing another recording where Keith Davidson is talking about former attorney Michael Avenatti driving a "serious wedge" between Stormy Daniels and her agent Gina Rodriguez.

Some background: In 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $11 million in restitution for embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients and obstruction. Avenatti pleaded guilty earlier that year to four counts of wire fraud for each client he stole from and one count of endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue Code. Prosecutors said he obstructed the IRS' effort to collect $5 million in unpaid payroll taxes for Tully's Coffee.

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The next witness is Douglas Daus, who works for the Manhattan district attorney's office and is a records custodian.
Daus processes digital evidence in a unit called the High Technology Analysis Unit.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy is questioning Daus.

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Douglas Daus is explaining how his office processes devices that are obtained via search warrant.

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TexAg1987 said:

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What devices did they get via search warrant? telephones?

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Douglas Daus said he was assigned to analyze two iPhones in the investigation related to Donald Trump: an iPhone 6s and an iPhone 7.
The cell phones belonged to Michael Cohen, Daus said.
One of the phones had a gold case, he confirmed.

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