Discredit the witness if you've got nothing else.One of the most vivid pieces of evidence Thursday was a 2016 text message sent by Davidson to Dylan Howard, who was then the top editor at the National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid.
“What have we done?” Davidson asked Howard as the results came in on election night.
Howard’s reply was, “Oh my god.
[...]
“There was an understanding that our … activities may have assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump,” Davidson testified.
Legally, that’s important. The offense with which Trump is charged is usually classified as a misdemeanor unless it is committed in furtherance of another crime.
[...]
[Trump attorney Emil] Bove implied that Davidson was only a few legal niceties away from committing outright extortion on behalf of his clients.
Davidson countered that he always acted within the law.
But some of the seamier elements of the celebrity world were laid out, with references to sex tapes involving, separately, wrestler Hulk Hogan and reality TV star Tila Tequila, as well as a Davidson client who apparently helped make public that actress Lindsay Lohan was in rehab.
The Hill
Drama queen.Last week, Merchan ruled that Trump had violated the order in nine of 10 examples brought forth by prosecutors. The judge fined Trump $1,000 for each instance and expressed regret he could not levy heavier fines.
[Judge Juan] Merchan heard arguments about another four alleged violations on Thursday morning, but he has not yet issued a ruling.
A Thursday afternoon fundraising email from the Trump 2024 campaign and the Republican National Committee bore the subject line, “They’d cut my tongue out if they could.”
Trump claims Cohen committed all the crimes himself without Trump's knowledge.
Hope Hicks was next up. She testified that Trump was worried reports about his affairs and behavior toward women would negatively impact his chances in 2016.
Which Pecker himself testified was totally manufactured.It was “kind of pulling us backwards in a way that would be difficult to overcome,” she said, adding that there was a “consensus” that the tape was “damaging” and the situation was “a crisis.”
[...]
[Hicks recalled] being present on phone calls between [Trump and Pecker], including a call in which Trump congratulated Pecker on a “great investigative piece” about 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson.
“Sometimes he would say things like ‘This is Pulitzer worthy,’” Hicks said of Trump, drawing laughter from journalists in the gallery.
In another call, she recalled him “praising some of the reporting” about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was also a presidential candidate, around the time the tabloid reported that Cruz’s father was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
The Hill
Awwww. Poor baby.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE 05/04/2024:
UPDATE 05/05/2024:
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