NEW YORK — The prosecution’s key witness has yet to take a stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. But jurors are already hearing Michael Cohen’s words as prosecutors try to directly tie Trump to payments to silence women with damaging claims about him before the 2016 election.
The second week of testimony in the case ends Friday after jurors hear a potentially crucial piece of evidence: a recording of Trump and Cohen, then his lawyer, discussing a plan to pay off an ex-Playboy model who alleged an affair to have with Trump. The former president denies the affair.
Prosecutors have been using detailed testimony all week about meetings, email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts to build on the foundation of their case, accusing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election . They set the stage for crucial testimony from Cohen, who paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence before going to prison over the hush money scheme.
Trump’s defense has tried to poke holes in the credibility of prosecutors’ witnesses, showing that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by keeping the women quiet. During questioning of a lawyer representing two women in hush-money negotiations, the defense also suggested that Trump was in fact the victim of extortion.
The recording played Thursday was secretly made by Cohen shortly before the 2016 election. Cohen hears Trump talk about a plan to buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story from the National Enquirer so that it never goes to would come out. The tabloid had previously bought McDougal’s story to bury it on Trump’s behalf.
At one point in the recording, Cohen revealed that he had spoken with then-Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, about “how to get the whole thing going with financing.”
Trump is heard replying: “What do we have to pay for this? Fifty one?”
Trump suggested making the payment in cash, prompting Cohen to object by repeatedly saying “no.” Trump then says “check” before the recording cuts off.
Prosecutors played the recording after calling Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst from the Manhattan district attorney’s office who performed analysis on iPhones that Cohen turned over to authorities during the investigation. Daus returns to the stand on Friday morning and it is not yet clear who will follow him.
Jurors this week also heard more than six hours of crucial testimony from Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented McDougal and Daniels in their negotiations with Cohen and the National Enquirer — the tabloid that bought and buried negative stories in an industry practice known as ” catch-and-kill.” Davidson described Thursday that he was shocked that his covert efforts could have helped Trump win the 2016 election.
“What have we done?” Davidson texted the then-editor of the National Enquirer on election night when it became clear that Trump would win. “Oh my god,” the tabloid editor responded.
“There was an understanding that our efforts were somehow — and this is notable — our activities were somehow able to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” Davidson told jurors.
Trump’s lawyers earlier in the day tried to play down the potential damage of Davidson’s testimony by having him acknowledge that he never had any interaction with Trump — only with Cohen. Davidson said he had never been in the same room as Trump until his testimony.
“I had no personal interactions with Donald Trump. It either came from my clients, Mr. Cohen, or from some other source, but certainly not from him,” Davidson said.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal corporate records of the Trump Organization. The charges stem from items such as invoices and checks that were considered legal fees in the Trump Organization’s administration, when prosecutors say they were actually reimbursements to Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels.