one man named keith davidson. davidson, the onetime attorney for both adult film actress and star stormy daniel's and playboy 1998 playmate of the year, karen mcdougal. and it is karen mcdougal's deal that they are going through right now? now, emil beauvais, the trump attorney, talking to keith davidson, karen mcdougal, and stormy daniels, attorney about the deal. but they asking davidson about the settlement deal. he tried to negotiate someone seeking 100 million from many pack it out. >> anyway moving on. davidson says, when trump was is sending in the polls, a former friend of karen mcdougal attempted to publicize mick google's alleged almost years-long affair on the press. obey returns to how davidson retained karen mcdougal is a client noting he was referred by her brother-in-law, davidson's former client, bove, a questioning. davidson about how mcdougal's brother-in-law and another man who provided security. were paid in the agreement. they're going into this. again, we have heard from previous testimony tha

it's been keith davidson on the stand, right? but the focus keeps coming back again and again and again to michael cohen a thousand times. he's been name checked in this trial. a lot of what we heard hasn't been flattering, but is that actually part of the state's strategy here? >> here's the thing, cooperating witnesses or people like michael cohen who is cooperating witness-esque, they always have problems. in the grand scheme of things, witnesses like michael cohen and keith davidson aren't all that bad in the spectrum of cooperating witnesses. these are often people who are hardened criminals who may be brought into court in shackles and prison gear. you don't have that with michael cohen or keith davidson, but the people know that these are problematic witnesses because they seem seedy. michael cohen seems impulsive, rude, and possibly even somebody who makes bad decisions all on his own. the people know this, so they're getting out in front of it. they're doing the right thing, what you should always do with cooperators, wh

and keith davidson says he was not telling me the truth. steinglass says about what? n funding. if you remember back, ana, to both the indictment, the original indictment from the manhattan d.a. along with some of the testimony that we've heard so far in the last ten days or so, there are allegations that have been made that the former president, right, as the client of michael cohen was asking michael cohen to delay these payments until after the election because maybe they wouldn't have to pay out to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal if he won the election. it seems as if this is kind of what they're trying to hone in on here, the prosecution. however, what i think may work against him here, and i would love for the attorneys on your panel to weigh in on this is chipping away again at michael cohen's credibility. we know this is going to be a big part of the cross examination from todd blanche along with the former president's other attorneys. not only with the cross examination of keith davidson but once michael cohen takes that stand, chipping away at witness credi

asked what he meant in this text, keith davidson said it was gal lows humor. ump was leading in the polls and there was a growing sense that folks were ready to call the election. davidson said there was an understanding between the two of them that, quote, our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of donald trump. that is where we start the hour with some of our favorite experts. msnbc political analyst tim o'brien is back at the table after being at the courthouse. also state attorney for palm beach counter florida and former top prosecutor at doj, msnbc legal analyst andrew weissmann. andrew, i want to come back to you on this point we were talking about in the last hour. the heart of this case is two questions, right, whether the motive exists to interfere in the election and whether donald trump did indeed commit the fraud he's charged with. >> absolutely. and so the part of that -- we've got a very strong case that's been presented by the state, which is the motive that there was an intent to do this about the election, the mo

keith davidson arranged a meeting in california in keith davidson's office. question, can you tell us the substance of what ms. mcdougal said about the nature of her interactions with mr. trump during this meeting? answer i can summarize it. that's fine. ms. mcdougal alleges that she had had a romantic affair with donald trump for some years prior. question, when you say romantic, does that include sexual? answer that's what she expressed. that was the blockbuster story. that was for sale to the national enquirer. can google was a playboy magazine model who in 1998 was playmate of the year. karen mcdougal has said in interviews she was in love with donald trump and did not want her story about donald trump to be made public, keith davidson was able to use that story as leverage to use the national enquirer to pay his client, karen mcdougal, $150,000, to work for the national enquirer or its parent company by occasionally maybe writing articles for them the prosecution alleges this was a classic example of the so-called catch and kill scheme the jury has alrea

particularly at a time when trump's lawyers were arguing that this was essentially old, just keith davidson and michael cohen. they didn't make this argument explicitly, but they were leaning into the idea that these two were just freelancing and the davidson was essentially extorted trump. and so that that didn't get dispelled from that tape. but the idea that trump didn't know what have it's also the first time that the jury has heard from trucks that's because i mean, we see him talk going into the court coming out of the court saying things that are true is you just show there, even though todd blanche his attorneys shook his head. yes. when the idea that he's not allowed to testify just is not true it and trump looked him for affirmation and he shook his head. yes. but in the courtroom, trump is very quiet. he mullis first, his attorney, something that they were kind of annoyed about. it sounded like today when it's reported how often they're speaking. >> but you can't hear what he's saying. >> and for the most part, he has his eyes closed a lot during the prosecution asking questions

and keith davidson testified that cohen seemed suicidal and that point because of everything that was happening. >> but we're they felt that it was really the most effective was going after davidson. we've got incredibly contentious for the first time that we've really seen it be that high of a temper, i think inside the courtroom, as they were drilling down on him, questioning him about whether or not he was extorting trump likening the other people that he has worked with when it comes to whole cogen, lindsay lohan, charlie sheen, and kinda i'm to flustered keith davidson, which it seemed to be somewhat successful. i don't know how it run. the court read in the core, it was it was it was tough sledding. i mean, it was really hard watching it just in just two days ago, two days ago, he was polished and he got almost timid. one thing that was very striking come to me and my colleagues watching this is that when david pecker was walking, who is the former and my head was walking through the details of his engagement with michael cohen. and really this business of sleaze that he was in

keith davidson is terrible. michael cohen is terrible, but the pressure in the process secretion is going to ask at the end of the case, is who benefited from all this? who is who is the person who is above it all of the fine details, but who set this process in motion? the argument that prosecution is going to make is that it was donald trump he was he set it in motion and he was the beneficiary and all these sleeves fact, all these sleazy people were just doing what trump will also is the argument that all these sleazy people are living in the petri dish that donald trump has built. >> well, that's i think the real risk. and i'm curious what the lawyers on this panel thank but i think that is the real risk for the defense with what the jury here says, the jury here, that there's gradations of this or there's the jury hold. donald trump accountable for everything they're going to hear about michael cohen, about david pecker, about keith davidson, that this was what was taking place. michael cohen referred donal

what is the difference between extortion and what keith davidson said he was doing? >> yeah, it's a really fine line that when we go back to what happened in late october 2016, davidson, you've been said yes, he is aware of the line and that he was not trying to sport money from trump, that instead, this was an agreement. he keeps trying to get away from the hush money moniker and the campaign piece of it saying repeatedly that this wasn't tied to the campaign at all. >> exactly what she directly contradicts in text messages that he testified to on direct shortly after the deal was negotiated, right? he's like what have we done? he acknowledges that the agreement that was reached, the fact that stormy daniels story was suppressed, that that likely helped trump get elected. so in his own words, he is contradicted himself there, even at the moment, he was getting money from cohen here he says he wasn't thinking about the impact on the election, but this has been really, actually pretty surprising cross-examination because of how much new information damaging information

david pecker has testified to this, and i'm assuming from my time there, keith davidson was a top contact of dylan howard, much like gina rodriguez. >> and dylan howard being the editor. >> the editor in chief, the person who isn't testifying as far as we currently know. davidson was intimately involved with ami in terms of repping different women, different people who were involved with sex tapes and he's a fixer for all intents and purposes. this is one of i think the most time he's spent in court for some time and he is used to sending threatening letters and getting on the phone with people and doing deals for consideration. >> what would be the relevance of proving that davidson was selling lots of these stories, because that isn't the point of this case? the point is whether or not specifically the stormy daniels payment and the repayment that is being complained about by michael cohen has to do with the election. >> part of is to paint him as a shady character, always shaking down people. charlie sheen, hulk hogan, lindsay lohan. and donald trump is one of them. and part of this co

it turns out that keith davidson is an expert in that kind of thing. defense lawyers today peppered davidson with questions about previous pay for dirt arrangements. here is trump attorney emil bove. you have represented some clients who you help to get paid by charlie sheen, right? davidson. i have represented several clients who have claims against charlie sheen. emil bove. who you extracted sums of money from charlie sheen on behalf of, correct? davidson smiles. there was no extraction. emil bove. you took steps to cause charlie sheen to pay, correct? davidson. we asserted there was activity committed and settlements that were executed. then a little later, this happened. emil bove, "in 2010, you presented a woman named dawn holland, right?" davidson, "yes." emil bove, and "and dawn holland leaked information about lindsay lohan at a rehab facility." davidson drinks water, pauses, and respond, "that is reported that is what she did." >> emil bove, "you helped ms. holland get paid for what i said, didn't you?" davidson says, "i helped ms. holland get

there is no reasonable doubt left that keith davidson, about keith davidson, negotiating that deal on behalf of stormy daniels with michael cohen. that's the essence of his testimony . that is why he is a witness, but, when your life goes so far off course that you find yourself negotiating hush money payments for adult film stars of presidential candidates so that you can help hide the truth about that candidate from voters, for a fee of $10,000 that you earn from that transaction, it might not be the only unseemly thing you've been involved with in your life. so, on cross-examination, to trump's the light, sure, donald trump's other criminal defense lawyer tried to expose keith davidson's role in trying to arrange hush money payments, in one case, allegedly for as much as $2 million, for other famous men, including hulk hogan and charlie sheen. keith davidson was also involved in trafficking information about the treatment of lindsay lohan in a rehab facility. this testimony, from this person , who has the lead his law career, took place in a building filled with honorable lawyers w

keith davidson, i do. bove, and you represented some clients who helped get paid against charlie sheen. >> i represented clients. and who you extracted pay from? we asserted there were valid settlements executed. bove,ec in 2010 you represented woman named dawn holland, right? >> davidson, yes. bove, and dawn holland leaked information about the treatment of lindsay lohan, correct? davidson, it was reported that's what she did. bove, you helped ms. holland get paid, didn't you? this is when the prosecutor says objection, the court says overruled. david, i helped ms. holland get paid yes. the implication of all this keith davidson is a seedy lawyer in the world of extortion and trump is actually the victim here like charlie sheen and lindsay lohan. it is a weird strategy. after all nobody is disputing this case is about alleged hush money payments meant to cover up trump's m affairs. and painting davidson as an extortionist doesn't fundamentally change that. now, trump's lawyers did try to cast doubt today

keith davidson who arranged hush money payments is back on the stand. he is testifying about a payment he negotiated on behalf of adult film actress stormy daniels, which is at the heart of this case. now, trump denies the women's claims in all of the charges against him. davidson's testimony follows nearly 45 minute hearing on four more alleged violations of the gag order, imposed on him by the judge. earlier this week, trump was held in contempt of court and fined $9,000 for nine violations of the order banning him from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case. with us now to talk more about this, msnbc national correspondent yasmin vossoughian, outside the courthouse, in manhattan, jeffrey sluman, timothy heefy and christie greenburg. so, yasmin, take us into the courtroom, what is happening right now? >> yeah, let's take a step back and i'll go forward, jose, for a moment, as we talk quickly about the gag order hearing that happened earlier today. there were four potential violations made, it seemed as if judge juan

here let me start with the fact that trump's attorney has been bringing up keith davidson's work on other celebrity scandals for example the defense name-dropped charlie sheen, bringing up an alleged $2 million payment to davidson's client they mentioned the time davidson was invested the gated by law enforcement as part of 2012 extortion probe tied to how kog and he was not implicated in that probe of this had to do with a whole cogen sex tape, then they asked davidson about a settlement deal. he tried to negotiate with somebody seeking $100 million from boxer, manny pacquiao after a big fight, then hey, press keith davidson on whether he helped someone get paid in connection with the 2010 tmz story about the rehab treatment of lindsay lohan up bill brennan, the purpose of bringing up all of this is what does show the jury who their hearing from. i mean, this is an individual who preys on people with problems and while it may not be illegal, it certainly it smacks of distasteful. and today was as the world turns, i mean, it was like a soap opera episode this is the people like this in ou

and with every bit of dirt that keith davidson revealed about himself and every bit of dirt that was thrown at him by donald trump's lawyer, what really mattered in that room is that the oldest person in the room, sitting under a crown of blonde hair at the defense table, lived his life in such a way that his future was in the hands of keith davidson in october, 2016, when he was asking the people of the united states of america to make him the next president. i was sitting in the front row of the reporter section of the courtroom, which is actually the third row of spectator seats. the first row is reserved for circuit sevis agents. -- for secret service agents. the second row is for the family and then there is the third row, where in the afternoon there was nothing, nothing between me and the back of donald trump's head. the same seat was occupied last week by the writer, jonathan alter, who wrote at some length for the washington monthly about his day of contemplation staring at, quote, the back of his head. the meticulously coiffed souffle. what you see under the hair in that co

keith davidson, i do.ve represented some clients who you helped get paid by charlie sheen, right? i've represented several clients who had claims against charlie sheen and who you extracted sums of money from charlie sheen on behalf of, correct? there was no extraction you took steps to cause mr. xin to pay, correct we asserted that there was tortious activity committed and valid settlements that were executed. so some of this that emil bove is doing here in the courtroom before the jury, it's subtle and it suggestive to the jurors, but it is something that he may try and argue later on that the defense team might try and argue later on whenever they have all of this evidence into the record, there's another really brief exchange, just so you can see how there's wordplay going on here between the defense council and keith davidson about what he was doing and what kind of a person he was bove asked him. i remember i'm asking what you remember. all right. can younswer davidson in answer to what beauvais i'm

established on that side of the equation was all of the back and forth between michael cohen and keith davidson who said he never met or interacted with the former president at all, so then what you see now going on with the defense is they are trying to tear down credibility of davidson. they are the ones who brought in all these other sex tapes that he brokered, money exchanged with hulk hogan, he would not get into his transactions for charlie sheen he said look, i have had 15,000 clients. i don't remember everything will transaction. what they are trying to do is basically put him in the same bucket with michael cohen saying neither one of these people come this is the defense, have any credibility also establishing for them that, you know, these deals of call and not by former president donald trump, and the other thing i would just quickly mention, john is an interesting exchange between davidson and cohen where cohen calls him in december right before or after the election. basically is commiserating with him saying can you believe i am not going to the white house? he is clearly angry.

keith davidson was trump's first lawyer. it was in his role as karen mcdougal's first lawyer that he texted the editor of the national enquirer, dylan howard, "i have a blockbuster trump story." the prosecutor, who has possession of those text messages, asked the witness to read the text that he sent to dylan howard. "i had a blockbuster trump story. what did you mean by that? sort of an entrie or teaser to dylan to let him know that i had, perhaps, an opportunity for him. and what was the, generally's eking, and certainly without revealing client confidences, what was the opportunity about which you were contacting him? regarding the interaction between karen mcdougal and donald trump. what did mr. howard say, if anything, in response? talk first thing. i will get you more than anyone for it. you know why. what do you understand that to mean? that he would call me in the morning. what did you understand the rest of the text to mean? that, i don't know if i had a clear understanding at that time, but i knew that dylan's boss

one this guy, keith davidson, is a sleeves for lack of a better word, he's in a sleazy business that preys on people who are vulnerable. >> davidson wall cagey about his clients readily said his firm has been heavily involved in media case's, but he flatly rejected the idea of anything unseemly in any case hey including this one, indeed all along he said, stormy daniel's is just telling the truth i believe my client and karen mcdougal. yes. >> of course, from the beginning, this whole trial has been about some pretty unsavory topics. but with the arrival of this witness, it is even more so we'll interesting and tom form. and thank you very, very much. let's get some insight right now from former federal prosecutor, robert ray. he served as counsel to them in that president trump during his first impeachment. thanks very much, robert for joining us. jurors today, heard that 2018 recording where michael cohen and trump actually discussed the karen mcdougal hush money payment and another recording we're cohen said trump hated that they had to pay stormy daniels. how significant is that?

. >> reporter: on the stand today, stormy daniels a former attorney keith davidson who negotiated $130,000 payment from cohen to pay stormy daniels forr story before the election. >> and you have sex? >> yes. >> reporter: the night trump won, writing, what have we done? howard replied, oh, my god. asked to clarify the text, davidson told the attorney there is an understanding their activity might have assisted trump's campaign. trump has denied any wrongdoing and details about the payment, so today, the prosecution played an audio recording, in which rafah until davidson hates the fact we did it. davidson testified that was a reference to the payment for daniels. trump lawyers meanwhile tried to paint davidson is a serial extortionist of celebrities. citing alleged deals related to lindsay lohan, charlie sheen, and hulk hogan. and that he did the same with trump. >> they are doing a good job at showing sort of this cd, dirty underbelly of this world that keith davidson peddles in, by all accounts, this is what this man does for a living. it is bread-and-butter. >> reporter: and today, trum

these are calls between michael cohen and keith davidson.avidson testified that these calls were recorded surreptitiously by michael cohen. i'll read you a little bit from the transcript, and bear with me because it can be hard to follow. here's what it is. michael cohen, saying would you write a book, break away from the entire trump, we'll call it the doctrine. would you go completely rogue, it's not just me that's being affected. it's my entirely family. it's that nobody is thinking about michael. i wasn't going to play penny wise. i'm saying to myself, what about me, and i can't tell you how many times he said we did it, and everyone said it was the right move. what about me and i can't even tell you how many times. that's a repeat, sorry. steinglass asks keith davidson, who did you understand he to be a reference to in that michael cohen call. davidson said mr. trump. steinglass said about what. davidson, stormy daniels settlement. all right. let's try to figure out what's going on here. back with us, adam pollock and catherine christia

he was doing this on his own. >> but keith davidson did not testify that today keith davidson testified that michael cohen made clear in every chance he got that he was working for donald trump and and he was doing things on his horse. that's his strain. i'm not to saving the polls saying the boss told me to do i'm not done yet. >> he also testified that michael cohen, it was very clear was acting on trump's behalf that michael cohen would not be able to act with his own authority, that he was acting on donald trump's authority that was given. let me jeff, i want to read part of the gag order ruling where the judge addresses trump's claim that that reposts of his comments or retweets or not violations, which is an argument trump has made ad infinitum for years now, the judge said, quote, it is counterintuitive, indeed absurd to read the expanded order to not prescribe statements that defendant intentionally selected and published to maximize exposure. this is not to say that a reposts will always be deemed a statement of the poster as context is directly relevant. however, here under th

hoffinger said did you wire $130,000 to keith davidson that next day. i did said cohen and was mr. davidson listed as beneficiary, actually his attorney client trust account is. hoffinger was this a retainer, no. what was this for, in order to pay stormy daniels to execute the nondisclosure agreement and to obtain her story, her life rights. they introduce another exhibit, the e-mail to michael cohen from keith davidson. i confirm that i will work in good faith and no funds shall be -- it's only after you received the fedex will i disburse, fair. e-mail to cohen from keith davidson, i wanted to make sure i received the agreement. did you receive the final nda. cohen, i did. hoffinger, did you let mr. trump know when you received it. the task was finished, accomplished and done. and also taking credit for myself so he knew i had done it. that was important. >> michael cohen was always looking for a pat on the back, pat on the head, if you will, from donald trump. he wanted to make him happy. he was very much like a puppy dog. look what i have done for you. i've done a good job. see m

let's start right ended on keith davidson. who is an important witness. tell us who davidson is and what he was going through? >> he's the lawyer for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. prosecutors were taking them through the negotiation of the settlement payments to both women which as you know, operated differently the first one and the second one. david pecker testified he is told dylan howard, do not get involved in this. i do not want any affiliation with a pornography start. also, i am not a bank. nonetheless, dylan howard did get involved and he got involved by involving keith davidson who had a prior relationship with stormy daniels' manager. herself described as an infamous story broker. this is the seamy underbelly of the world that david pecker took us through. this is a -- >> this is the wrong below the inquiry. it's too sketchy for us, the national enquirer. you need to run this as an off book operation because us, the national enquirer, find this to be too dubious. >> i'm glad to use sketchy because sketchy comes in mind when i think of keith

keith davidson had a reasonable explanation. he had a client who was chomping at the bit to exploit some of the notoriety she was getting, and at the same time she took seriously the fact that the agreement she had had liquidated damages clause that meant if he/she reach the confidentiality part of the agreement, she could have to pay $1 million for each violation. he was trying to titrate between a client who wanted to be in the public eye, and mitigating risk for her. that is how we chose to do it. from that standpoint, the obnoxiousness of keith davidson trying to be like, this is what i did and it was too cute by half and i did it. it's more sympathetic in the eye, and whether the jury will take that, i'm not sure. i think the prosecution is doing an overall good job situating this story, and the seeming of some of the people involved. they do not have to like these folks. they just have to believe they are telling the truth about the ultimate, allege bad guy, the former president of the united states. >> we have to take a b

keith davidson.ow they're not only losing control of it, they're losing control of their contact with stormy daniels. >> things were spiraling out of control, and that's why there was this feverish pace, and this all happened on the heels of "access hollywood," and you can see how the prosecutors have set this up very well. because we all know the story already, as he's testifying to it, we have all heard it from a number of different witnesses. we've heard it from the perspective of stormy daniels, her lawyer, mr. pecker, the banker, and all of these pieces fit together, and they have done a good job of waiting to do this. >> what did you understand about ms. daniels' story that would end up in the daily mail? that's what we were told and that's what i relayed to mr. trump. >> you see now in some ways how fortunate, whatever you want to call it for donald trump, that he did not text, that he did not send e-mails. >> now they have call logs. >> but they only have one tape, right. >> exactly. you have

keith davidson? it's the beauty of cross-examination , right? on direct keith davidson being questioned by the prosecutor is very calm, very very cool, little funny on cross when trump's lawyers are asking him combative argumentative he and the aaa really went at each other a couple of times over this question of extortion obviously, the lawyers arguing i didn't extort but anybody have never extorted anyone trump layer also suggested he had threatened people which he denied. and i think trump's team scored some points today in the sense that they made this whole world look dirty and sleazy, and that trump was in some ways in the trump characterization, a celebrity victim of these shakedowns but i'll be honest, even if the jury believes that i don't know how that ultimately matters for the verdict here because stormy daniel's and keith davidson didn't fill out trump's accounting books? >> no. yeah. yeah, it's not the actual is on the actual payment, but here's the thing that i am not understanding my understanding is that an opening statement the

keith davidson, how did you see this week ending up from the way that it began?o not think that a lot of people knew the impact that hope hicks would have, so close to trump that there would be this protective veneer and she threw down some information that i think really helped the prosecution's case, how do you see this case? >> this week was a mixed bag, all good for the prosecution. there are a lot of us that are looking for the marquis maine witnesses. the custodian of records, these people, if you don't have them, you don't have text that were read to the jury, you do not get video recordings. juries are visual creatures. this is how you keep them engaged. to end with hope hicks is perfect. it was great for the prosecution and hope hicks, she knew exactly who he was, if you did not know and she saw who donald trump was, she should've gotten out. she did not, she came back for more, let's be clear. you know, having that level of emotion going into her testimony made her more credible. i put on twitter today that she still put lipstick on a pig, it is not lik

let's start where i ended on keith davidson, who is an important witness. tell us who davidson is and what he is going through today. >> is the lawyer for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, so prosecutors were taking him through the settlement payments of both women, which as you know operated differently. the first one, ami handled. the second one, david pecker already testified he told dylan howard, do not get involved with this. i do not want any affiliation with a star. it endangers our distribution deal with walmart and i am not a bank. nevertheless, howard did get involved and he got involved by involving keith davidson who had a former relationship with stormy daniels manager, gina rodriguez, herself described as an infamous story broker. this was the underbelly of the world that david pecker kind of took us through. >> this is below the inquirer. like that is too sketchy for us, the national enquirer. you need to run this as an off book operation, because us, the national enquirer, find this to be dubious. >> i'm glad you used the word, sketchy, beca

i mean, he's calling keith davidson. i'm not sure.y other people knew that michael cohen actually had done this at that time. rudy giuliani, obviously later new because he said it on fox news. but michael cohen's wife didn't even know that this had occurred, and that works two ways. >> remember, we heard the testimony from the banker to suggest that he had a certain amount of money in the bank and then he wanted to match that because his wife buckle cohen's wife, looked at all the finances and he was trying to be very secretive about all these different aspects of it. >> now, if you're the defense, how are you going to use that you're going to say? this man has lied to every branch of government and his wife, but you want it to believe him right now, but if you are the prosecution, think about your working backwards, you're thinking about your closing argument, how to sum out of all things have happened here. and one thing you want to sum up is the use of the word that berman just read repaid or not? i thought if i did this, he might

>> tomorrow keith davidson is back on the stand.y'll continue to face questions from the prosecution and then there will be cross-examination and the question is we are still expecting a litany of other witnesses. this is not going to be in short order. it is a matter of who comes next in the story that the prosecution wants to bring. >> we'll continue to turn to both of you. >> thank you very much. >>> up next, donald trump once again trying to have it all ways. he wants immunity from being held accountable ever for the virtue of the fact that he was once president and suggesting that the man who beat him and is the president ought to be prosecuted. good for me, but not for thee. in the presidential politics is our next story. stay with us. l politics is our next story stay with us ing with it, everybody. now i sleep with inspire. inspire? no mask? no hose? just sleep. learn more, and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com -dad, what's with your toenail? -oh, that...? i'm not sure... -it's a nail fungus infection. -.

and what what keith davidson testified to his correct? but he thought he would be attorney general or chief of staff or some prominent role in the michael cohen thought he would be attorney yeah. okay. good let's not forget that i mean i'm know what entirely possible trump won the election. >> i mean, the figures that we're going in and out of trump tower that people that he wanted to see where michael cohen is someone who wanted to always elevate himself and trump size. he had a lunch with mark cuban and he had them said paparazzi there. so trump would see him having lunch with mark cuban and so he was always someone who thought that trump would be loyal back dam and i think that's really also the tail of what we're seeing here, which is we only know this because michael cohen said a lot of this publicly, even though people discredit him, i understand that. but michael cohen camp in forward and flipped on trump, even though trump was once confident, it's something it's a known quantity now, the breakdown in the relationship, but for peop

so keith davidson recounts on the stand a conversation that he says he had with michael cohen. this was during the transition davidson's in a department store on december i guess, of 2020. and he says, quote, he said something to the effect of jesus christ. can you effing believe i'm not going to washington after everything i've done for that f-in guy i can't believe i'm not going to washington. i've saved that guys asieh so many times. you don't even know. prosecutor says and did in a david's as is and then and then question is, i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt you. davidson says and then he made reference to he said, you know, i never even got paid that f-in guy is not even paying me back the 130,000 and then they made clear the hundred $30,000 that they're talking about, what did you mean by that last part? i never got paid repaid the uh, hundred and $30,000 from the deal with stormy daniel's. so again, where you have there is complaining about the money, but also complaining about not going to washington, not getting appointed to a job somewhere in the trump administrat

keith davidson. — take me through that. keith davidson, stormy _ take me through that.hrough that. keith - davidson, stormy daniels's lawyer who arrange that hush money payment at the centre of this case has been back on the stand and he really took juror�*s right back to election night sharing a text message she had with one of the editors at the tabloid, the national enquirer, asking, what have we done when it became clear that donald trump was winning. explaining that text message, he said that there was an understanding that their efforts had health donald trump ozment campaign. remember, thatis trump ozment campaign. remember, that is a key argument here from prosecutors. that this hush money was paid to influence the election, illegally. donald trump ozment defence team has said that that money was paid to protect his family and his brand. keith davidson then went into the discussions with michael cohen when there were crisis talks when the wall straightjournal published, eventually, the stories of this hush money payments. he discussed how he and michael cohen tr

she's not someone involved in these sort of hollywood underbelly of hollywood stuff like keith davidsondy who's going to be hard for the defense to attack in terms of her credibility. >> all right, peter baker, thank you so much for providing that insight. when we come back, we'll go back out live to the courthouse in manhattan. for the latest from this morning's witness testimony, stay with us. inois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. some people say, "why should i take prevagen? i don't have a problem with my memory." memory loss is, is not something that occurs overnight. i started noticing subtle lapses in memory. i want people to know that prevagen has worked for me. it's helped my memory. it's helped my cognitive qualities. give it a try. i want it to help you just like it has helped me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. i love your dress. oh thanks! i splurged a little because liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, right? i've been telling everyone. baby: liberty. did you hear that? ty just said her f

now i'm seeing text messages going on between keith davidson and dylan howard. there are contacts between the campaign and david pecker and it is putting those pieces all together. >> did you ask questions during that time and say wait a minute, this isn't adding up. did you ask questions and not get answers or get wrong answers ? >> of course i asked questions and the word that would come back is this is what david has decided. this is what david wants. it was david publication at the end of the day. american media was his tabloid empire. but, at no point did anyone say we have signed or got into an agreement to help interfere with the 2016 election. there was no communication regarding that. >> hope hicks testified that she didn't recall being in an august 26 meeting where the whole catch and kill scheme was launched. but, said it was possible she was there. did you find her to be a credible witness? we got the gist from katie in the last segment but how about you question >> it was clear when she came out she looked fragile, she didn't want to be there as muc

not only financial gains for stormy daniels but for keith davidson. this is week three of this trial. week two of testimony here. not clear who the next witnesses could be. there's been chatter over the course of these weeks that donald trump repeatedly having his eyes closed throughout these hours in the courtroom, donald trump for the first time explicitly responded in a social media post, he said i don't fall asleep during this trial here, i simply close my beautiful blue eyes as i listen intensely and take it all in. >> danny, let's talk about this gag order. he's not supposed to make comments about the jury our witnesses, four instances that the prosecution is pointing to and i think we can play those and then we can talk. >> look at all the lies that cohen did in the last trial, he caught lying in the last trial, he got caught lying. that jury was picked so fast -- 95% democrats. the area is mostly all democrats. just a purely democrat area. >> michael cohen is a convicted liar and he's got no credibility whatsoever. he was a lawyer and you rely

but keith davidson helped to glue that together because keith davidson was working with stormy danielsrdinating with dylan howard who was coordinated with david perk and michael cohen and these two men, pecker and davidson, tie everything together. >> the other piece, vaughn, that i think we could expect them to be building to, is the checks. and they seem to want to make something of when they were signed. a reimbursement of what it was happens after. so the checks are paid out over 12 months, is the scheme agreed to by trump and weisselberg and cohen. and nothing was put into the record to refute that in terms of evidence that this jury will have with them or available to them when they go back to deliberate. >> reporter: right. and it is interesting that you say that. the point that is relevant here is the defense for donald trump or donald trump himself or his sons that were here today have never presented a different time line of when donald trump did find out that michael cohen was paid stormy daniels before the 2016 election. his attorney todd blanche makes the case that donald

the keith davidson well, i think you would have to hone in on the definition of romantic, sexual, and affair. steinglass go okay. can you explain that, davidson? well, i don't think that anyone had ever alleged that any interaction between mean she and mr. trump was romantic. >> okay. how about sexual davidson will that would be a sexual that would be a sexual or romantic. why spend time on this as a prosecutor, michael well, i don't think it was a good day or good, but what for the prosecution, you know, when you're having to get your witness to clay, that the parsing of the words i think that's a mistake, but they would know they're going to put stormy daniels on the stand or at least i expect they may or they might be trying to sort of bolster submit some discrepancies of her testimony to clean that up? >> before she testifies as this would be one of those one of those places where she may get caught in a back-and-forth. they doing that. they're also want to talk about what the payment was four and whether or not this was a leveraged pay, but whether or not this was something else

what it did do is it introduced to me this notion that some jurors could be reacting to keith davidsonkaren mcdougal's lawyer or was in the past their lawyer. these two guys, they're just both sleazy and they both don't tell the truth and they both are basically extortionists on cross- examination, keith davidson, who had done pretty well on direct on tuesday. he did not do well on cross. he came across as arrogant. he would say i don't recall when the jury knew perfectly well that he did and he underground -- under cross examination revealed that the cases of hulk hogan and charlie sheen and lindsay lohan and a lot of celebrities in trouble mentioned the courtroom and all of these cases, keith davidson was essentially acting as a sex tape of broker and extortionists whether it cross the line into legal extortion or illegal extortion or not is a separate question. clearly that was the game that he was playing and he was in much more touch with michael cohen in this period then we learned under direct examination . you can see the jury kind of going both of these guys, they're just tryi

one example is with keith davidson. he's trying to he's trying to do a deal here for karen mcdougal he says, quote the that gina rodriguez, that stormy daniels manager calls davidson and says some jerk called me it was very, very aggressive and threatened to sue me. and i would like uk's to call this jerk back and who was that jerk steinglass asked michael cohen, davidson said, so how is this going to impact the jury? do you think when they listened to cohen's testimony, which is expected to be any any day now who was that jerk, nobody wants to hear that. but look, there's a strategy here for the prosecution to put people like keith davidson and these other foundational witnesses on before michael cohen. and the reason is because michael cohen's going to have credibility issues. the fact that he is hectic, the fact that everything's always an emergency. he called them pants on fire that is really not going to be the thing that moves the needle. what's going to be impactful to the jury is what and michael cohen's testimo

. >> that was a lot of michael cohen and only a tiny bit of keith davidson and that reporting, but davidson said he understood that he referred to trump and we did it referred to the payment to daniels. couldn't be much more clear than that, i think. remember the entire argument for a big part of the argument made by the defenses that trump knew nothing about these payments, that michael cohen went rogue when he paid these women, for what reason no one can explain except trump. it seems to fly in the face of the notion this happened without trump's knowledge, something michael cohen himself will likely attest to when he takes the stand later in the trial. we also expect to hear from others close to trump, including his longtime aide, hope hicks, who was on these calls and could provide amount of evidence in the days ahead. lisa rubin is a legal correspondent in the courthouse today. george conway is an attorney and contributing writer at the atlantic, covering the trump trials. mary mccort has spent 20 years as a federal prosecutor in d.c., where she served as the chief of the criminal divi

a conspiracy here, it was a conspiracy between michael cohen and david pecker and, you know, keith davidson, but not donald trump. >> the michael cohen acting

michael cohen doesn't know what keith davidson testified to. this moment reinforces what we heard from keith davidson, stormy daniels' attorney and stormy daniels as well, did you know the statement of stormy daniels was false. this was in 2018 after the revelation of "the wall street journal" article and subsequently stormy daniels going on jimmy kimmel. we have seen that now played many times in which she was asked by jimmy kimmel if she had a one-night stand or an affair with donald trump and she was kind of coy about that response and denied outright in her statement in 2018 of having an affair and/or a one night stand with donald trump. she addressed that in her testimony just the other day. did you know the statement stormy daniels was falls? cohen says yes and goes on to say wanted to get credit staying loyal so we could have this matter taken care of. reinforcing the moment when this all began in january 2018. leading up to michael cohen pleading guilty in august 2018 and that's when, of course, he then subsequently said it was donald t

you heard from keith davidson. the attorney for karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels. just weeks before the november 2016 election. there was direct from the prosecution followed by cross examination from the defense. some of the big take aways there, they were trying to discredit not only keith davidson but witnesses like michael cohen and stormy daniels, saying cohen was a liar, that he couldn't be trusted. stormy daniels was out to advance her career, i would say and painted keith davidson as someone who was an ambulance chaser amid celebrity culture. we'll have to wait to see who takes the stand as a witness. >>> now to a massive headache for drivers in the northeast this weekend after a fuel tanker crashed sparking a highway inferno in connecticut. a truck carrying 8500 gallons of fuel crashed into a car, sparking the massive fire. miraculously, no one was seriously injured. that stretch of i-95 is closed down while crews demolish a bridge damaged by the flames. >>> now to austin, texas, a city reeling from the worth outbreak of opioid overdoses in almost a decade

election interference scheme was blown wide open. >> prosecutors called daniels former lawyer keith davidsonow deals came together for karen mcdougall with ami. >> one of the most significant patches of testimony. >> trump's legal team tried to paint davidson as an extorsionist. >> donald trump has never been closer to spending a night in jail. >> they are threatening to throw the republican nominee for president in jail for talking, harris. >> city prosecutors have now called hope hicks to the stand. >> i think the jurors will not only be listening very carefully to everything that hope hicks is saying, they're going to be looking over at how mr. trump responds. >> that is just some of what we lived through in one week. the judge also held donald trump in contempt for the first time. everyone waiting on that. he was fined and warned he could go to jail if he doesn't shape up. keith davidson, the former lawyer for mcdougall and daniels said trump was worried about the campaign which hope hicks has backed up. national enquirer payments were about helping the candidacy. they played the audio o

they went after key witness, keith davidson, the lawyer who negotiated has many deals for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. they used him to go after another star witness, michael cohen. >> reporter: former president trump arrived in court today, watching his defense team go on offense, casting a key prosecution witness as out to extort him for money. the defense hoped to discredit keith davidson, who negotiated payoffs for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. both threatened to go public with stories of affairs with mr. trump ahead of the 2016 election. trump denied the allegations and denied any advanced knowledge of payoffs. his defense team suggested the davidson had a habit of shaking down celebrities, like charlie sheen, for money. davidson said he never extorted anyone, testifying at length about negotiations with michael cohen, trump's former attorney. he admitted today that he never met nor spoke to the former president. instead, he dealt exclusively with michael cohen, has he -- who he painted as desperate and despondent that trump would not promote him, describing a phone call,

the cross-examination of the la-based lawyer keith debited -- davidson is over.er this break prosecutors will have another opportunity to ask him questions but before this break trump's team presented recorded phone calls between davidson and michael cohen where they discussed the possibility of stormy daniels having "settlers remorse" and in another call davidson said if they don't make a deal and trump loses the election, they would lose leverage. davidson also answered questions about a post about stormy daniels and president trump from 2011. he had the post taken down five years later he negotiated a 130,000-dollar payment from michael cohen to suppress the same story. davidson did not connect any of the deals directly to trump he said cohen told him "f it i will do it myself. he also signed a confidential -- confidentially -- confidentiality agreement. he appeared suicidal after not getting a position in trump's white house after the election. lawyers asked them for the definition of extortion and question him about deals he made with celebrities like lindsa

the defense hoping to discredit keith davidson, the lawyer who negotiated payoffs for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. both threatened to go public of stories of sex with mr. trump ahead of the 2016 election. mr. trump has denied the allegations of both women, and denied any advanced knowledge of the payoff. his defense team suggesting today that davidson had a habit of shaking down celebrities, like charlie sheen for money. davidson saying he never extorted anyone, testifying at lengths about his negotiations with mr. cohen, mr. trump's former attorney. but today saying he never met nor spoke to the former president. instead, he dealt exclusively with cohen, who he painted as desperate and despondent, that then president-elect trump would not make him attorney general or white house chief of staff. describing a phone call where cohen lamented -- "i can't believe i'm not going to washington." cohen saying he saved trump so many times, you don't even know. davidson testifying about cohen, i thought he was going to kill himself. a helpful point for the defense as it tries to cast coh