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How is this supposed to tie into a conspiracy by Trump?

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jrdaustin said:

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Is it just me, or are all of these witnesses exposing the exact opposite of what the prosecution wants to prove?

The prosecution is trying to sell some sort of conspiracy on the part of DJT to affect the election. However, what's being exposed is what everyone already knows... Politics is a dirty game played by a lot of seedy players, with lots of people who are on the periphery getting paid. McDougal wanted to blackmail Trump and get paid. She didn't want to tell the story.

They're playing the jury and the American people for fools in trying to isolate DJT from known history. Gary Hart, John Edwards, Bob Livingston, Bill Clinton... Plus a ton more that tried to hide stories from getting out into the public. None illegal. Then we have Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, who went a step farther in trying to either hide evidence, or pay to frame others in order to gain political advantage.

How is this supposed to tie into a conspiracy by Trump?

This is all boiling down to: "Democrats get to play the dirty game of Politics. Trump doesn't, and will be punished for doing what they do... and continue to do."

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Keith Davidson, an attorney, testified for about an hour prior to a lunch break Tuesday that he signed a contract to represent the actress and model Karen McDougal in her claim that she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump.

On the stand, Davidson went over his text exchange with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard negotiating the rights to her story in June 2016 amid the presidential race.

"I have a blockbuster trump story," Davidson wrote to the editor.

"Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…" Howard responded.
Davidson and McDougal were also in conversations with ABC News about telling her story, he testified.

However, McDougal "did not want to tell her story" and so preferred the deal with AMI, which would not have required her to speak, Davidson said.

At one point, while Davidson and Howard were negotiating, Davidson wrote, "Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I'm thinking Isle of Man." He said that text was a joke about Trump's presidential run -- "That somehow if Karen did this deal for AMI, that it would help Donald Trump's candidacy."

Davidson will return to the stand at 2:15 p.m. ET

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aggiehawg said:

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Keith Davidson, an attorney, testified for about an hour prior to a lunch break Tuesday that he signed a contract to represent the actress and model Karen McDougal in her claim that she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump.

On the stand, Davidson went over his text exchange with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard negotiating the rights to her story in June 2016 amid the presidential race.

"I have a blockbuster trump story," Davidson wrote to the editor.

"Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…" Howard responded.
Davidson and McDougal were also in conversations with ABC News about telling her story, he testified.

However, McDougal "did not want to tell her story" and so preferred the deal with AMI, which would not have required her to speak, Davidson said.

At one point, while Davidson and Howard were negotiating, Davidson wrote, "Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I'm thinking Isle of Man." He said that text was a joke about Trump's presidential run -- "That somehow if Karen did this deal for AMI, that it would help Donald Trump's candidacy."

Davidson will return to the stand at 2:15 p.m. ET

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Oh for heaven's sake!

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Former President Donald Trump has removed the social media posts that Judge Juan Merchan ruled violated the gag order he is under for his New York criminal hush money trial.

Trump was fined $9,000 earlier on Tuesday for violating the gag order by criticizing expected trial witnesses nine times in posts on social media and his campaign page.

Trump was ordered to remove the posts by 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday and pay the fine by close of business day on Friday, May 3.

The links to the Truth Social and campaign website posts now redirect to a "Not found" and a "404" error page, respectively.

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Trump has entered the courtroom.
Eric Trump is here along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is sitting in the first row.
The former president didn't answer questions in the courtroom hallway.
Prosecutors have also entered the room.
Trump is chatting to his attorney Emil Bove at the defense table.

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Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and court is in session.
Attorney Keith Davidson, a key witness who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, will continue his testimony in the hush money trial.
Davidson walked in front of Eric Trump on his way to the witness stand. They gave slight nods to each other.

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The jury is back and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is beginning his questioning of Davidson.

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Trump is sitting back in his chair, looking up at the messages on the screen that prosecutors are showing to Davidson. He is intermittently commenting to his attorney, Emil Blanche.

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Witness Keith Davidson is looking at another series of texts from August 2016.

Davidson texted former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard: "I can't believe they are asking me to go back for another 25 but they are. (T)He deal is accepted at 150k. Can u do that?"

Howard responded: "He just called me. F**ck it. Not my money. I'll ask."

"We had come to terms by this point at AMI on the deal points," Davidson testifies as he explains an August 5, 2016, text message discussing concerns with the agreement he had received from AMI's general counsel.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is continuing to walk Howard through the text messages.

"We are figuring out the mechanics of the deal already," Howard texted Davison in August 2016. "Right now I mean," Howard said in a follow-up text.

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Testifying about 2016 texts surrounding the discussion around the Karen McDougal deal, Keith Davidson described "growing frustration."
"On my side of the aisle there was growing frustration with process," Davidson testified.
"It was difficult to red-line something that didn't even closely resemble" the deal points that had initially been reached, Davidson added.

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AMI General Counsel Cameron Stracher suggested Davidson call Cohen.
Davidson texted Dylan Howard:
"he wants me to call Cohen. U think that's ok? Ive been trying like hell to avoid that."
Davidson says that "even when we spoke," he and AMI's general counsel "still weren't on the same page." He explains this was why Strachter told him to call Cohen.
Davidson testified "I thought it was odd" that he was told to call Cohen.
Davidson says he didn't want to talk to Cohen because of his last conversation with Cohen in 2011 around the blog post. He said it was "not pleasant or constructive. I didn't particularly like dealing with him and that's why I was trying like hell to avoid talking to him."
"Ok we are paying," Howard texted Davidson on August 8, 2016. "Glad it all sorted."
"****en Jesus," Howard texted.
Davidson testified, "I think it was just a frustrating deal for everybody involved." It was a lot of "heavy lifting."
"Yes, I believe so. I told Cohen this never would've happened without you," Davidson responded to Howard.
"He's hopeless. Oh well. Another one done!" Howard responded

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Prosecutors are now showing Keith Davidson's email to Michael Cohen on August 5, 2016, asking Cohen to call him.
"I called him to let him know as a professional courtesy that the deal involving his client closed," Davidson testified.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him, who was Cohen's client. "Donald Trump," Davidson said.
Donald Trump was not a named party to the deal, Davidson said, but also added he recognized the benefit this deal with former Playboy model Karen McDougal would serve Trump.

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Steinglass is showing the jury that the text messages were sent the same day as the effective date of AMI's contract with McDougal.

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Keith Davidson says he received 45% of the $150,000 deal.

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Davidson says there were two explanations for why AMI would buy McDougal's story without planning to run it.
The first was they were trying to build up her brand and that story would not help it. The second was more of an "unspoken understanding," Davidson said.

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"I think one explanation that was given was that they were trying to build Karen into a brand and didn't want to diminish her reputation. And second was more of an unspoken understanding that there was a close affiliation between David Pecker and Donald Trump and that AMI would not run this story or any story related to Karen and Donald Trump because it would tend to hurt Donald Trump."

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aggiehawg said:

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Guess so. That kind of threw me for a loop too.

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AgLiving06 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Guess so. That kind of threw me for a loop too.

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Taking notes in what to charge Biden with?

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"Stormy Daniels was a client of mine," Keith Davidson says.

Donald Trump has his lips pursed and briefly glanced over at Davidson as he begins answering questions about how he knows Stormy Daniels.

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Days after the contract was signed but before AMI wired McDougal the money, Davidson texted Howard -- I'm going to let ABC know that Karen has decided to keep her story quiet.
"I'm going to let them know that the family has begged and pleaded with her not to come out and that she has promised her family she wouldn't. I will have Karen ignore all of their calls. Any objection?
"I needed to sort of off-board ABC," Davidson testified.

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Urban Ag said:

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hawg - a couple of questions from someone not at all following this.

If Trump is convicted is there any realistic possibility he sees actual jail time?

If convicted but no actual jail time, would these charges make him ineligible to hold office?

If either of the above were to happen, any thoughts that maybe that is what Trump and DeSantis met to cover? If Trump can't hold office he throws all of his kingmaker weight beyond Ron?

Thanks

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Keith Davidson sent a "cease and desist" letter to the blog on Stormy Daniels' behalf. The 2011 post was about Daniels' relationship with Donald Trump.
Rodriguez, who represented Daniels in 2011 and referred her to Davidson then, called Davidson, saying: "Some jerk called me and was very very aggressive and threatened to sue me and I would like you, Keith, to call this jerk back."

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"Who was that jerk?" Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.
"Michael Cohen," Davidson said.

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When he called Cohen, Davidson recalled being immediately "met with a hostile barrage of insults and insinuations and allegations and that went on for quite a while."
"I don't think he was accusing us of anything. He was just screaming," Davidson said of Cohen.
Davidson said he was successful in "accomplishing my client's goal" of getting the blog post taken down after he sent the "cease and desist" letter.
The jury is getting a picture that Cohen is aggressive and difficult to deal with.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche cracked a smile when Davidson was describing Cohen's screaming.

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National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Keith Davidson on June 30, 2016:
"FYI Gina trying to hawk Stormy again," a reference to her manager Gina Rodriguez.

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"Part of Gina's role and responsibility, the services she provided, was to monetize stories in the press. She was like a story broker," Davidson said in explaining the text message.

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"Gina was bringing this story back to market," Davidson explained.
Davidson responded to Howard at the time: "Lol - she's trying to sell a story to you?"

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Witness Keith Davidson is speaking to the jury while answering the prosecutor's questions about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels' former manager Gina Rodriguez.

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Keith Davidson is being asked about what impact the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape had on the interest in Stormy Daniels' story
Davidson says there was very little interest in the "marketplace" in Daniels' story about an alleged affair with Trump in the summer of 2016 through the fall. But the "Access Hollywood" tape sparked interest in Daniels' story, Davidson says. That's when interest in her story "reached a crescendo."
"So, far as I'm aware, it had tremendous influence," Davidson says.

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In response to the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape, Keith Davidson texted Dylan Howard, "Trump is ****ed," Davidson is explaining in court.

"Wave the white flag. It's over people!" Howard responded to Davidson's text, according to Davidson.

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Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was "washing his hands of the deal," Davidson said of the Stormy Daniels' story.
Remember how publisher David Pecker testified last week that he wanted nothing to do with an adult film star even if it would help Trump. It would not play well with big tabloid distributors like Walmart, he said on the stand.
Davidson said it was unusual for Howard to refer him to someone outside AMI to arrange a deal. "This is the only time it ever happened," Davidson said.
Davidson said when he got involved "the deal had really already been cut at 120."
Davidson testified "Stormy and Gina weren't going to take a discount so that 120 became 130," referring to amounts of $120,000 and $130,000.
Davidson says that the deal with AMI was essentially the same deal that was struck with Cohen, and after AMI washed its hands they handed it off to Cohen.

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"In essence, Michael Cohen stepped into AMI's shoes," Davidson said.

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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing an email from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen with the Stormy Daniels' agreement attached.
The email states there's a "settlement sum" of $130,000.
According to Davidson, when he got involved, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard told him the deal would go up to $150,000 to compensate the lawyer and either American Media Inc. or Cohen would pay for it.
Ultimately, it was settled at $130,000.

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Keith Davidson is explaining how they used fake names in the agreement between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels.
"Peggy Peterson" was used Daniels because she was the plaintiff, and "David Dennison" was used for Trump because he was the defendant, Davidson said.
Asked if David Dennison is a real person, Davidson said, "Yes, he was on my high school hockey team."
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him, "How does he feel about you know? "
"He's very upset," Davidson said, drawing laughs from some of the jurors.

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Davidson said Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez approached him and asked him to close the deal.

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"It's going to be the easiest deal you've ever done in your entire life," Davidson says, pauses, and then lets out a little laugh.

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Rodriguez told him it had already been negotiated. "All you have to do is talk to that a**hole Cohen," Davidson recalled.
He chuckled on the stand as he said it with a dramatic pause for the jury to catch the irony.

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The agreement that Keith Davidson emailed included a requested deadline of October 14, 2016, for Michael Cohen to provide the money but Davidson says the money was not sent by that date.

"We good?" Davidson emailed to Cohen on October 12, 2016.

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aggiehawg said:

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Guess so. That kind of threw me for a loop too.

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We fixed the keg said:

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aggiehawg said:

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jt2hunt said:

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Why would Paxton be in attendance? Showing support?

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Guess so. That kind of threw me for a loop too.

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Paxton: "someone is going to have to be attorney general, why not me?"

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aggiehawg said:

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Urban Ag said:

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hawg - a couple of questions from someone not at all following this.

If Trump is convicted is there any realistic possibility he sees actual jail time?

If convicted but no actual jail time, would these charges make him ineligible to hold office?

If either of the above were to happen, any thoughts that maybe that is what Trump and DeSantis met to cover? If Trump can't hold office he throws all of his kingmaker weight beyond Ron?

Thanks

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Jail time is always a risk with any conviction of course. But non violent first offenders can usually remain free pending appeal by posting an appeal bond.

A conviction would not render him ineligible to hold office, at least not on these charges.

Trump is probably talking to Desantis to appeal to his voters to come onto Trump's side and have DeSantis campaign for him while Trump is tied up in court? Maybe?

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Davidson says that he believed Cohen began making excuses for "failure to fund" their agreement as he walked through emails he exchanged with Cohen in October 2016.
On October 14, 2016, Davidson sent Cohen wiring instructions for the second time after Cohen said he'd send the money that day.
On October 17, Davidson emailed Cohen at his Trump Org address again: "I have been charged by my client with forwarding the below message.
The messages included:

• We have a written settlement agreement which calls for settlement payment to be sent by the end of business this past Friday. October 14, 2016. No payment was received. "
• We spoke on Friday, October 14th & you stated that funds would be wired today, October 17, 2016. No funds have been received as of the sending of this e-mail. My client informs me that she intends to cancel the settlement contract if no funds are received by 5PM PST today."

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Keith Davidson listed a series of excuses Michael Cohen gave him after he followed up about the Stormy Daniels' payment, including that the computer systems are "all ****ed up," placing blame on the Secret Service, among others.
"The Secret Service is in here, they've got so many ******* firewalls," Davidson recalled Cohen saying.
Conversations with Cohen were "conciliatory" but full of contradictions that made Davidson feel like Cohen didn't plan to fund the deal, Davidson said on the stand.
After days of excuses with no money wire, Davidson said he told Cohen, "I don't believe a word really that you say."
Cohen responded, "*******it what do you expect me to do, my guy is in five different states today."

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Trump could do (and did) worse. Not sure Paxton gets through confirmation hearings though. Too much baggage.

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Davidson testified that he came to believe that Cohen didn't have the authority to spend the money.

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"I think you can tell by these emails I was sending him there was a great level of frustration by me and my client," Davidson said.
"I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, '******* it. I'll just do it myself,'" Davidson testified.

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