Compromise or “harassment”: Donald Trump’s defense did everything on Thursday to discredit the lawyer of former porn star Stormy Daniels, who was named as a witness, and through him the affair of the heart of a criminal trial in New York, former president of the United States. .
In this case with great political stakes for him, the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election is accused of 34 falsifications of accounting documents.
They would be used to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in the home stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign, which narrowly won against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This amount was used to buy her silence about a sexual relationship she said she had with Donald Trump in 2006, when he was already married to his wife Melania. A relationship that Donald Trump denies.
For two days of hearing, the former lawyer of the actress, Keith Davidson, has detailed to the jurors the underside of this negotiation that he made directly with Donald’s personal lawyer Trump at the time, Michael Cohen.
But under the former president’s eyes, gold tie and navy blue suit, his defense did not miss the opportunity to paint an unflattering picture of the witness and his methods.
The latter had made a special silence on embarrassing secrets from famous people, a practice that was described as “extortion” by one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Emil Bove, who attacked the witness with questions.
– Hulk Hogan –
During a tense exchange, Keith Davidson was forced to admit he had been the subject of a federal investigation – which did not lead to any charges – after negotiating the sale of the former wrestling star Hulk Hogan from “sex tape” about.
“I made a financial request” on behalf of clients, “I did not make any threats”, he defended himself.
The lawyer also had to admit that he had told Michael Cohen: “If he (Donald Trump) loses the election, and he does, we will lose all means of pressure.”
Finally, a confidentiality agreement was signed on October 28, 2016, a few days before the presidential election.
The $130,000 was paid by Michael Cohen, through a shell company. He was reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s holding company, the Trump Organization, for expenses billed as “legal fees”, and thus the prosecutor for falsifying accounting documents.
Michael Cohen, who says he acted at the applicant’s request, has not yet testified.
The whole point of the case is to determine what Donald Trump knew about these conversations behind the scenes.
On Thursday, jurors were able to hear an audio recording, already known, of a private conversation in which Michael Cohen spoke to him about paying to silence another woman, model Karen McDougal, who also said that there was an adventure with the billionaire.
– “95% democrats” –
In the middle of the campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump is at risk in this case the first criminal conviction of a former American president.
Before the debates began on Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan examined a new round of incoherent statements from the disgraced candidate outside the courtroom, fighting against Michael Cohen, who became his main enemy his, or against the jurors, described as “95% Democrats”.
Prosecutors denied new violations of the judge-ordered ban for insulting jurors or witnesses.
Another lawyer for Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, defended his urgency to protect freedom of expression.
The effect is that “the jury is not fair”, angry with the judge, who warned the accused that he was ready to put him in prison until he stopped his attacks. He did not rule on Thursday.
For his part, Donald Trump repeatedly mentioned the trial on his Truth Social network, but denied that he fell asleep during the hearing, which sometimes look like that when he sinks, eyes closed, on his chair.
“I just close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, I listen intently, and I absorb everything!”, he said.
Three years after leaving the White House in turmoil, Donald Trump enters the campaign charged in four cases, including that before the federal courts in Washington for allegations of attempts illegal to overturn the results of the presidential election won by Joe Biden in 2020.
But because of appeals and procedural questions, the New York trial, on a smaller scale, may be the only one tried before the Nov. 5 election.
The debates begin on Friday.
2024-05-03 02:08:09
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