Trump lawyer suggests ‘hush money’ payment was extortion

A lawyer for Donald Trump sought on Thursday to portray the “hush money” payment at the centre of his criminal trial as extortion, questioning a lawyer involved in the deal about his cash-for-dirt negotiations with other celebrities.

Defence attorney Emil Bove’s questioning of the lawyer Keith Davidson hinted at a strategy by Mr Trump’s legal team to undermine the credibility of prosecution witnesses in the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.

Mr Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies Ms Daniels’s assertion they had sex a decade earlier.

After Mr Davidson testified that he arranged the $130,000 payment with Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Mr Bove asked about Mr Davidson’s alleged efforts to seek cash from Hulk Hogan in exchange for a sex tape involving the former pro wrestler.

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He also asked Mr Davidson about attempts to trade embarrassing information for cash from celebrities including actor Charlie Sheen and reality TV star Tila Tequila.

“You were pretty well-versed in getting right up to the line without committing extortion, right?” Mr Bove asked.

Mr Davidson denied ever committing extortion.

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Mr Trump’s lawyers are likely to take a similar tack with other expected witnesses including Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and Mr Cohen, who has served prison time for his role in the payment scheme.

Mr Davidson confirmed Ms Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement with Mr Trump to keep quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter, but said he would not describe the payment as hush money. “It was consideration in a civil settlement agreement,” he said.

Mr Davidson said the forceful denial he helped Ms Daniels craft when the payment was revealed in 2018 did not amount to a lie because it referred to a “romantic sexual” relationship rather than a one-off sexual encounter.

“You have to go through it word by word, and I think if you did so, it would technically be true with an extremely fine reading,” Mr Davidson said. Ms Daniels later disavowed the statement and said the signature on it was not hers.

Earlier in the day, Justice Juan Merchan signalled he might fine Mr Trump over allegations he again violated a gag order that prohibits him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses and families of the judge and prosecutors if those statements are meant to interfere with the case.

Justice Merchan challenged a defence assertion that Mr Trump did not violate the gag order when he said the Manhattan jury in the first criminal trial of a former US president was picked from a heavily Democratic area.

“I’m making an argument that he didn’t,” a lawyer for Mr Trump, Todd Blanche, told the judge.

“Well I’m not agreeing with that argument,” Justice Merchan responded without saying whether or when he would impose a fine.

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Prosecutors are asking Justice Merchan to fine Mr Trump $4,000 (€3,730) for violating the gag order four times last week. In one instance, Mr Trump, a Republican, said in a television interview that “that jury was picked so fast – 95 per cent Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat”.

“By speaking about the jury at all, he places this proceeding in jeopardy,” prosecutor Christopher Conroy said.

Mr Conroy said Mr Trump also violated the gag order by calling Mr Cohen a liar and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker a “nice guy”. Mr Pecker testified last week and Mr Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness in the case.

Mr Blanche said there was “no threat” in what Mr Trump said about Mr Pecker and he said Mr Cohen, in his social media comments, has been “inviting, and almost daring” Mr Trump to respond to his comments about the trial.

Any penalty would follow a $9,000 fine Justice Merchan imposed on Tuesday. Justice Merchan said at that session that he might jail Mr Trump if he continues to defy the gag order. Mr Conroy said prosecutors were not yet asking for Mr Trump to be jailed.

The gag order aims to prevent one of the world’s most prominent people from intimidating witnesses, jurors and other participants in the trial. It does not prevent Mr Trump from criticising prosecutors or the judge himself.

Mr Trump claims prosecutors are working with Democratic president Joe Biden to undercut his bid to win back the White House and says Justice Merchan faces a conflict of interest because his daughter has done work for Democratic politicians.

Mr Trump faces three other criminal prosecutions, though it is not clear whether any of them will go to trial before the November 5th presidential election. Two accuse him of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden, while another accuses him of mishandling classified documents after leaving office. He has pleaded not guilty in all three cases. – Reuters

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