Trump's attorneys renew request for mistrial after Stormy Daniels concludes testimony



Donald Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, stated Wednesday that the defense will again request a mistrial of the New York criminal case against the former president, according to live updates from the courthouse.

On Tuesday, Trump's defense team requested a mistrial over porn actress Stormy Daniels' testimony, Blaze News previously reported. During the prosecution's direct examination, Daniels stated that she "blacked out" during her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. She also mentioned that his comparably larger stature created an "imbalance of power."

"It almost defies belief that we're here about a records case. ... This is not a case about sex," Blanche remarked.

Blanche argued that Daniels' Tuesday testimony on the witness stand differed from previous public comments she had made about the alleged affair with Trump. He further claimed that Daniels provided details about the alleged encounter that were not relevant to the indictment.

Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records concerning payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen. Cohen claimed that he received payment from Trump as reimbursement for a $130,000 so-called hush money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged affair.

The former president has denied the affair allegations and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Blanche told acting Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday, "We move for a mistrial based on the testimony of this witness. … A lot of the testimony that this witness talked about today is way different than the story she was peddling in 2016."

"She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell, ... and that's not the story she told today," he continued. "But now we've heard it. And it is an issue. How can you unring the bell?"

Merchan denied the defense's request for a mistrial and blamed Trump's attorneys for not objecting more during Daniels' testimony.

On Thursday morning, the defense's cross-examination of Daniels continued. After the conclusion of her testimony, Blanche stated that the defense planned to renew its motion for a mistrial over Daniels' statements. The attorney also said they would reintroduce a motion to block testimony from former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed she received so-called hush money to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.

The prosecution informed Blanche that they do not plan to call McDougal as a witness.

"She was on our witness list, but we have never indicated an actual intention to call her," prosecutor Joshua Steinglass stated.

Blanche also said the defense would like to raise an issue regarding the judge's gag order against Trump. Blanche requested that Trump "be allowed to respond publicly" to Daniels' testimony. He noted that the former president will be "asked repeatedly over the next week or two about these new accusations of consent and of what happened that night."

"He is not allowed to say, 'I did not do that,'" Blanche told Merchan.

"The press reporting over the last 24 hours about the current version of the story that we believe is completely false … is completely different in kind than the denials and stories that have come forth since as far back as 2011 and 2014," Blanche continued. "As we've said repeatedly, he needs an opportunity to respond to the American people. The reasons for the gag order as they relate to Ms. Daniels are over. She's no longer a witness."

Prosecutor Chris Conroy claimed that Trump should be replying to Daniels' testimony in court and not to the media.

"If somebody wants to respond to something said in this room, that can happen in this room. It's not supposed to happen out there," Conroy stated. He claimed that lifting the gag order would have "very real consequences for witnesses."

Merchan denied Blanche's request to modify the gag order.

"My concern is not just with protecting Ms. Daniels or a witness who has already testified. My concern is with protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole," Merchan told Blanche. "Other people will see you doing it. … Other witnesses, including not only Michael Cohen, other witnesses will see your client doing whatever it is he intends to do."

"The nature, the vitriol … your client's track record speaks for itself here. I can't take your word for it that he says I'm just going to speak the facts," Merchan added.

Blanche then renewed his request for a mistrial over Daniels' testimony, stating that she presented a new account of her story. He claimed her statements on the witness stand insinuated that the "completely made-up encounter with President Trump may not have been consensual."

"It almost defies belief that we're here about a records case and the government is asking about an incident that happened in 2006," Blanche argued. "This is not a case about sex."

Blanche said Daniels' "out of control" testimony was a "dog whistle for rape."

Merchan denied the defense team's request for a mistrial.

"The more specificity Ms. Daniels can provide about the encounter, the more the jury can weigh whether the encounter did occur and if so whether they choose to credit Ms. Daniels' story," the judge remarked.

Merchan again blamed the defense for not objecting to each statement made by Daniels that the attorneys cited in their request for a mistrial.

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Ex-attorney for Daniels, McDougal says clients wanted to revive careers — and he never saw Trump’s signature on agreement



The New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump continued Thursday with a hearing on additional alleged gag order violations and testimony from the prosecution's witness attorney, Keith Davidson. Davidson previously represented porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom allegedly had an affair with Trump.

Davidson testified that he never saw a copy of the so-called hush money agreement between "David Dennison," allegedly Donald Trump, and "Peggy Peterson," allegedly Stormy Daniels, that was actually signed by Trump. He saw only an agreement signed by Cohen, allegedly on Trump's behalf.

Additionally, Davidson noted that there was a side agreement that did use the parties' real names. That agreement listed Peggy Peterson as Stephanie Gregory Clifford, Daniels' legal name. However, it read, "David Dennison a.k.a." followed by a blank line.

According to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, the side agreement did include Trump's name, but Davidson admittedly was the one who handwrote it. Davidson noted that he has never met Trump and had never even been in the same room as him until these court proceedings.

Davidson claimed that he received a call from Cohen after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, expressing frustration and anger that he was "not going to Washington" with Trump "after everything I've done for that f**king guy."

"That f**king guy is not even paying me the $130,000 back," Cohen allegedly stated, according to Davidson. The money referred to the payment Cohen sent to Daniels for the alleged agreement between Trump and her.

According to Davidson, per the agreement, Cohen instructed him to tell the Wall Street Journal that the allegation of an affair between Daniels and Trump was not true.

Davidson made a statement to the WSJ in 2018 on behalf of Daniels that read, "I am saying with complete clarity that this is absolutely false."

The attorney rejected the corporate media's use of the terms "hush money" and "payout."

"It wasn't a 'payout,' and it wasn't 'hush money.' It was consideration in a civil settlement," Davidson argued.

He noted that Daniels made plans to appear on Jimmy Kimmel's show despite the settlement agreement because she wanted to "talk about her life and reinvigorate her career."

Trump's lawyer, Emil Bove, played a recording of Davidson telling Cohen that Daniels wanted the money "more than you could ever imagine."

Davidson went on to say in the recording, "If [Trump] loses this election, and he's going to lose, we all lose all f***ing leverage. ... This case is worth zero."

Davidson testified that like Daniels, former Playboy model McDougal was also attempting to revive her career.

According to Davidson, McDougal said selling her story of having an alleged affair with Trump to the National Enquirer was her "dream deal." He stated the contract between the tabloid and McDougal promised her a monthly column on aging and fitness in Star and OK magazines.

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Trump trial: Judge rules on alleged gag order violations, witnesses discuss Michael Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels



On Thursday, the prosecution's third witness, finance executive Gary Farro, returned to provide his testimony in the New York criminal case brought against Donald Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to cover up so-called "hush money" payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress, to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital affair.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, claimed that he made a $130,000 payment to Daniels at Trump's request. Farro, Cohen's former banker, returned for his second day on the stand Tuesday to detail how Cohen set up a new LLC to allegedly complete the transaction.

Last week, Farro explained that Cohen urgently requested in 2016 that First Republic Bank open a new LLC, Resolution Consultants, for "capital real estate." According to Farro, Cohen never made a deposit after the account was set up. Instead, two weeks later, Cohen backtracked on the plan, stating he no longer wanted to open that account, Farro said. Cohen requested to open a different LLC, Essential Consultants, for the same purpose, Farro testified.

Cohen obtained a home equity line of credit transfer the same day he opened the account, Farro told the court. On October 27, Cohen completed a $130,000 wire transfer from Essential Consultants to attorney Keith Davidson's trust account, Farro continued. At the time, Daniels was one of Davidson's clients.

"It's an account that's held by attorneys on behalf of one of their clients," Farro explained. He claimed that Cohen told him the payment was a "retainer" for a real estate transaction.

Todd Blanche, Trump's attorney, clarified with Farro that Cohen did not indicate on the account's paperwork that he was "acting as an agent" for anyone else.

"We would have to know who he was acting as an agent for," Farro stated. "We would have to ensure that he was not working with a person of interest."

"If [the] client told me it was a shell corporation, it would not have been opened. It would give me pause, very frankly," Farro added.

The prosecution called attorney Keith Davidson to the stand. Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal were previously clients of Davidson.

Davidson claimed that he negotiated with National Enquirer and ABC News on behalf of McDougal to sell her story for top dollar.

"At the time, as is often the case with negotiations, I was trying to play two entities off of each other," he testified.

Davidson claimed McDougal "did not want to tell her story." Instead, she wanted to "rejuvenate her career, to make money and to avoid telling the story and being termed the scarlet letter," he testified.

Dylan Howard, former National Enquirer editor, texted Davidson on July 23, 2016, "Get me a price on McDougall (sic). All in. Consulting gig perhaps as a fitness expert thrown into the mix," according to evidence submitted to the court.

Davidson testified that Trump was not named in the deal with the National Enquirer but claimed that the purchase of McDougal's story would benefit Trump. Davidson received 45% of the $150,000 deal.

He told the court that there were two possible reasons the tabloid purchased the story without plans to run it.

"I think one explanation that was given was that they were trying to build Karen into a brand and didn't want to diminish her reputation. And second was more of an unspoken understanding that there was a close affiliation between David Pecker and Donald Trump and that AMI would not run this story or any story related to Karen and Donald Trump because it would tend to hurt Donald Trump," Davidson testified.

He noted that, prior to the "Access Hollywood" tape, there was little interest in Daniels' story.

"So far as I'm aware, it had tremendous influence," Davidson told jurors. He further claimed that "no one wanted to talk to Cohen" to close a deal on the story. Davidson described Cohen as "not pleasant or constructive."

He explained that the tabloid's parent company, American Media Inc., decided it did not want to purchase Daniels' story, so Cohen "stepped into AMI's shoes."

Davidson testified that the deal was written up using fake names to conceal those involved. "Peggy Peterson" was used for Daniels, and "David Dennison" was used for Trump, he claimed.

According to the agreement, Cohen was to send $130,000 to Davidson by October 14, 2016. However, Davidson did not receive the funds in time, he stated. Cohen allegedly gave many reasons for the delay.

"Goddamnit what do you expect me to do, my guy is in five different states today," Cohen reportedly wrote to Davidson.

Davidson testified that Cohen ultimately decided to send the funds himself. He noted that he had assumptions about how the deal would be funded but did not know.

Gag order ruling

DA Bragg filed a contempt motion against the former president, claiming that his comments about individuals involved in the New York criminal case violated Merchan's gag order.

Trump was accused of violating the judge's order approximately a dozen times, including 10 social media posts published on Truth Social. In one of the posts, Trump mentions "two sleazebags," which the prosecution argued was referring to Cohen and Daniels, who are both expected to testify against Trump.

Bragg urged Merchan to remind Trump that he could face jail time for repeated order violations.

Before continuing with the witness testimony on Tuesday morning, Merchan ruled on the alleged violations, finding Trump in contempt of his order. According to Merchan, Trump violated the gag order nine times. As part of the judge's ruling, Trump must pay $1,000 per violation. He was also ordered to remove "offending posts" from social media and two "offending posts" from his campaign website. The posts must be removed, and the fine must be paid by the close of business Friday.

The judge's order read, "THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment."

Trump's attorneys argued that the former president's comments referring to Cohen and Daniels were in response to repeated public attacks made by the two witnesses. His team noted that neither Cohen nor Daniels is restricted from making disparaging comments about Trump, the case against him, or his political campaign.

"President Trump is allowed to respond to political attacks," Trump's attorney told the judge last week.

"To allow such attacks upon protected witnesses with blanket assertions that they are all responses to 'political attacks' would be an exception that swallowed the rule. The Expanded Order does not contain such an exception," Merchan responded.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Trump had already removed the social media posts.

According to prosecutors, four additional comments made by Trump since last week's hearing also allegedly violated the gag order. Merchan will hold another hearing later this week to consider those comments.

The trial will resume on Thursday with a gag order hearing, and Davidson is expected to continue his testimony.

Anything else?

On Tuesday, Trump was joined in court by his son Eric Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

"With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump," Paxton wrote on X.

The prosecution stated that if Trump testifies, it would like to use the gag order violations during cross-examination to show "the defendant's attempt to dissuade witnesses, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels."

Trump responded to the gag order violation ruling on Truth Social, writing, "This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH. I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole 'Trial' is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!"

In addition to ruling on the alleged gag order violations, Merchan granted Trump approval to attend his son Barron Trump's upcoming high school graduation.

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Trump's attorneys cross-examine David Pecker, poke holes in alleged 'catch-and-kill' scheme



The prosecution wrapped up its direct examination of its first witness, former publisher at National Enquirer David Pecker, on Thursday, leaving the defense team some time to begin its cross-examination the same day.

On Friday, Emil Bove, an attorney for Donald Trump, continued questioning Pecker, who claimed during his testimony that he purchased the rights to multiple unfavorable stories about Trump to ensure they never went to publication. Pecker's actions were referred to as a "catch-and-kill" scheme.

Pecker claimed that he had an arrangement with Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen to ensure the stories never saw the light of day. Also, during his testimony, he said he expected to be reimbursed directly by Trump or the Trump Organization for the scheme.

Pecker gave former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story. She claimed that she had had an extramarital affair with Trump. Pecker admitted that Trump never reimbursed him for his purchase of the story. Bove attempted to poke holes in Pecker's testimony, noting that the story would have been beneficial for the tabloid to run, and McDougal was trying to restart her career at the time she made the allegations.

Additionally, Pecker said he paid $30,000 for the exclusive rights to another story that turned out to be untrue, though he admitted he would have run the article if it had been accurate. He also did not receive any money from Trump for that story.

Despite previously being interested in McDougal's story, Pecker claimed that he "didn't want anything to do" with porn actress Stormy Daniels' story. She also claimed she had an affair with Trump.

"I said to Michael Cohen that after paying for the doorman story and the Karen McDougal story, I wasn't going to pay anything further and I wasn't a bank," Pecker testified.

During his testimony earlier this week, Pecker claimed that Trump had thanked him for not running the unfavorable stories. However, Bove pointed out that in a 2018 interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pecker did not state that Trump had expressed any gratitude toward him or the tabloid for such actions.

"Are you suggesting the FBI made a mistake here?" Bove asked Pecker.

Pecker acknowledged that the bureau's notes were inconsistent with his testimony.

"I know what the truth is, I can't state why this is written this way. I know what was said to me," he responded.

Bove questioned whether Pecker still has equity in the National Enquirer's parent company, AMI. Pecker replied that he does.

"Part of AMI's business model was to purchase stories, correct?" Bove questioned.

Pecker confirmed that the company did regularly buy the rights to news stories and that the practice was not unique to Trump. The former publisher noted that there were other celebrities who were promoted by the tabloid and provided a warning when negative press was about to be published. Pecker previously said that he had a similar arrangement with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He admitted that publishing negative stories about Trump dating back to the 1990s was "not good for business." Pecker further acknowledged that he had never heard the term "catch and kill" prior to the case. Additionally, many of the negative articles about Trump's presidential opponents published by the National Enquirer were "not exclusive" to the tabloid, indicating that other media outlets had first reported the stories.

Rhona Graff, Trump's former executive assistant and former vice president of the Trump Organization, was briefly called to the stand as the prosecution's second witness.

Graff testified that she saw Stormy Daniels in the reception area at Trump Tower before Trump declared his presidential run.

During the defense's cross-examination, Graff told Trump's attorney, Susan Necheles, that Trump was a "fair" and "respectful" boss over her 34 years with the company.

"Sometimes he would peek his head in and say, 'Go home to your family,' which I thought was very thoughtful of him," Graff stated.

She noted that she "vaguely recall[ed]" Trump saying that Daniels was at Trump Tower because she was considering being a contestant on "Celebrity Apprentice."

The prosecution called its third witness to the stand, Gary Farro, a finance executive who worked at First Republic Bank for 15 years. Farro was employed at the bank when Cohen took out a home equity loan to cover the $130,000 payment to Daniels.

"Michael Cohen was assigned to me after a colleague left in 2015," Farro stated, adding that he was "very excited to be working for him."

Farro received an email on October 11, 2016, requesting that he contact Cohen. The email was shown to the jury, along with correspondence written a couple of days later by Farro, which read, "Need an account opened for Mike Cohen immediately. He wants no address on the checks. Calling you now to discuss."

Farro said that Cohen wanted to open a new LLC, Resolution Consultants, claiming it was for "capital real estate." He noted that it was not unusual for an LLC not to put an address on its checks.

"A deposit was never made in the account, so the account never went live," Farro explained. He testified that he received an email roughly two weeks later that said Cohen no longer wanted to open Resolution Consultants but wanted to open a different LLC, Essential Consultants — the account Cohen allegedly used to pay Daniels.

The court will reconvene on Tuesday. Farro will return to the stand to conclude his direct examination and cross-examination.

Anything else?

At the start of Friday's trial, acting Justice Juan Merchan stated that the court would hold a hearing on Thursday regarding allegations that Trump had violated the judge's gag order.

Merchan previously placed the order on Trump, preventing the former president from making any public statements about those involved in the trial or their family members.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the prosecution accused Trump of violating that order approximately a dozen times, citing posts he wrote on social media as comments he made to the press outside the trial. Prosecutors asked the judge to hold Trump in contempt and order him to pay a $1,000 fine for each alleged violation. Bragg also requested that Merchan remind Trump that he could face jail time for repeatedly violating the order.

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