The lawyer who negotiated hush-money deals on behalf of two women alleged to have had affairs with Donald Trump is set to continue testifying in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday in Manhattan.
Keith Davidson has already given colorful testimony about how deals to pay Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels came together in 2016. Prosecutors are using his testimony to help jurors understand the mechanics of Trump’s efforts to pay off women and convince jurors that it was done in service of his campaign.
Davidson took the stand on Tuesday and testified, among other things, about efforts to try and wrangle Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, to wire the $150,000 he had agreed to pay Daniels for her silence in the closing days of the campaign. Asked why he believed Cohen was delaying payment Davidson said: “I thought he was trying to kick the can down the road until after the election.”
Prosecutors want Davidson’s testimony to corroborate the upcoming testimony of Cohen, a key witness in the case, who negotiated the deals on Trump’s behalf. Trump’s lawyers have already signaled they will aggressively attack Cohen’s credibility in the case, painting him as a liar and someone who has an axe to grind.
This week, Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, has already fined Trump $9,000 for violations of the order and mandated he take down offending posts from Truth Social. Trump complied with the request for removal on Tuesday.
He will hold a hearing on Thursday afternoon on four additional instances in which Trump may have violated the gag order in the case. Prosecutors raised the violations last week. The four alleged violations involve two comments about Cohen, one about the jury, and one about David Pecker. Merchan has barred Trump from attacking witnesses in the case or jurors.