Trump attorney has testy exchange with Stormy Daniels’ ex-lawyer

Cross-examination is just

getting underway for a critical witness.

This is Keith Davidson,

the former attorney

for adult film star and director

Stormy Daniels

as well as 1998 Playboy

Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal.

Mr.

Davidson

being questioned by Trump

attorney Emil Beauvais.

Davidson just confirmed

for the jury that he has never had

any interactions

directly with Donald Trump,

the former

president of the United States.

CNN reporters inside the courtroom

telling us

that Trump is staring at the witness

passing answer questions,

answers questions

from Donald Trump's attorney.

What's going on in

court is significant right now.

Emil Beauvais,

who is Donald Trump's

attorney, is talking to Keith Davidson,

the attorney

for Stormy Daniels,

and very little about Michael Cohen.

And Beauvais is zeroing in on a call

the Davidson had with Michael Cohen

in December. 2016.

Davidson testifies of Cohen quote,

I thought he was going to kill himself.

This is because Cohen had thought

he was going to get a job

in the Trump

White House, the Trump administration.

And he did not get that.

We know that Michael Cohen

was frustrated by that from Davidson's

previous testimony.

But this is the first time

we've ever heard Keith Davidson express

that he was convinced of Michael Cohen's

being so distraught

as to actually be in the realm of self

harm.

And Lanny Davis,

this is obviously being cited

as an example,

being brought forward

as an example of Cohen's instability,

his rashness.

Davidson says that Cohen's had times

at times

talked with him

about being Trump's chief of staff

or attorney

general.

I don't know if you

have any thoughts on this,

but that you know Michael Cohen

better than the rest of us.

First of all, that's

an opinion testimony by a lawyer, right?

It's not necessarily a fact.

And secondly,

no, I'm not going to comment on that.

I know Michael

is going to tell the truth,

and it'll be up to the jury

given those kinds of assertions,

whether he's believable.

And I think the key question

for everybody

watching

is whatever

Michael Cohen

did in the past,

when he testifies,

will the jury use common sense

and reach a conclusion

that what he's testifying to

and this moment is backed up and is true.

And it will be up to them to decide

We are getting updates

from inside the courtroom

as of this moment.

And Trump's attorney is suggesting

that Keith Davidson was careful

not to threaten that the payments

those to eventually went to Stormy

Daniels be made prior to the election.

Keith Davidson says he doesn't

remember this.

And Karen,

as we're looking

at this line of questioning,

essentially what a mill

Beauvais is asking, Keith

Davidson is

if he was trying to make sure

to avoid the appearance of extortion

as he was negotiating this payment,

getting this money

from Michael Cohen to his client,

Stormy Daniels.

What do you make of this

line of questioning that

that they've started with?

Well, there's always the concern

if you're negotiating one of these deals

on behalf of a client,

that you could be

or there could be an insinuation

of extortion, because, in essence,

they want to get that

issue out

in front of the jury

because it is kind of

a form of extortion. Right.

Pay me or I'm going to go forward.

It's legal.

It's lawful

because you're using an attorney

and you're not actually saying

those words that it's this or that.

But and so all lawyers are really careful

to do that when you're negotiating this.

So I'm not really sure why Davidson isn't

admitting that,

because you have to be careful of that

when you are negotiating

these types of deals.

But that's what they're trying to show

is just to plant

that seed in front of the jury,

because that's

what they're going to argue

that, look,

Donald Trump is being extorted

right before the election.

They paid Michael Cohen paid it off.

And they're really

drilling down on this

because Trump's attorney just asked

Keith Davidson again.

Keith Davidson

is the man who was acting as Stormy

Daniels as attorney at this time.

To say that in 2016

he was going, quote, right up to the line

without committing extortion.

Davidson responded and said,

I don't understand the question, Paula.

I mean,

we knew that

they were going to go on here

and try to

essentially make Keith Davidson

look bad as he was negotiating

these deals

and had been commenting

on how little money they believe

Trump had, how stingy he was, what it

and that line of questioning.

And he also set this up

because he talked about how interest

in his client,

Stormy Daniels

story had kind of waned

until the Access

Hollywood tape is released.

And then suddenly there's

this surge of interest.

So he admitted on the stand

during direct the right,

she knew this was her opportunity

to potentially make money.

And of course, he's

applying a lot of pressure

on Michael Cohen to get this money.

He also knows there's an incentive

to pay him before the election.

So it is a fine line.

And like I said earlier,

we knew that the defense attorneys

were going to seize on that.

And we are now learning

that Trump's attorney is pressing

Keith Davidson on

whether he helped someone

get paid in connection with that story.

They're talking about a Lindsay

Lohan story and a TMZ story about her.

Paul read,

I wasn't quite expecting Lindsay

Lohan to give up at the

first criminal trial

of a former president.

But here we are.

Yeah, well, not on my bingo card either.

But clearly

they're trying to establish Davidson

as being a bit of an opportunist. Right?

This is the game he plays.

This is how he makes money

profiting off of this tabloid culture

and people where in a situation

like Lindsay Lohan,

not in a very vulnerable position.

And it appears that they're now

going through other instances as well.

I think we're going to

hear a lot of other

really surprising names about to come up.

What's the point of bringing up

Hulk Hogan and Lindsay Lohan?

I mean, what is the pattern

that Trump's attorneys care?

I do believe

we're trying to establish here

with this line of questioning.

I think

they're trying to dirty up Keith Davidson

and make him look like he's

somebody who goes out and extorts people

on behalf of his clients. Right.

And I think what he's

and he keeps answering,

I don't recall to to six questions

so far from Amil Beauvais.

I mean, of course, you're

going to remember

whether or not

you represented a celebrity

like Lindsay Lohan or Hulk Hogan.

Or whoever they're talking about

that doesn't that

that's the kind of thing

that they're going to be able to say,

oh, come on, this guy's a liar.

It's not like they're talking

about someone you don't know.

You're going to remember

if this person you represented

or that you were involved

in was a particular celebrity.

And once again,

they're going to

try to paint Donald Trump as the victim.

Of extortion

and a victim of political persecution.

But isn't that

is it this Keith Davidson thing?

I mean, you can go

look at Keith Davidson's website

right now.

I just looked at it the other day

and he has pictures

of a lot of the celebrities

that he has represented.

And Karen McDougal's picture

was on there for a time.

I don't know if it still is.

She was unhappy

with the fact that it was on there.

I mean, this is kind of cute,

Davidson's Lane.

That's why people went to him

and he was connected

with people like Stormy Daniels.

Yeah. And Trump's

lawyers here are arguing

that you weren't trying

to secure

a great deal necessarily for your client

to do the best thing by her.

You were trying to get as much money,

not for yourself,

in addition to your client

when you knew someone in this case.

And then candidate

Trump was

in an especially vulnerable position.

I mean, go back to his direct

where he talked about

how he knew

Stormy Daniels

story was suddenly more valuable

after Access Hollywood tape.

And while he says that he testified here

on Cross

that no one talked directly about it

as impacting the election,

they do later on in the transaction.

There are those text messages.

Now, the defense has moved on to here

we go.

Davidson's work with clients were paid

by Charlie Sheen

asking whether he took steps

that caused Sheen to pay his client.

Again, bringing up more examples

of how Davidson

may have targeted people for money.

We asserted

there was some tortious activity

committed and valid settlements

that were expected.

Now, the defense attorney doubts

that Davidson,

your memory seems a little fuzzy

or on some of these issues

you and Karen

were just talking about that,

how he keeps saying, I cannot recall.

So now

I'm only the undermining his credibility

in terms of the type of work he did

and whether it was extortion,

but also the fact that he's

not being completely upfront

about exactly how some of these deals

with other celebrities came to fruition.

Trump's attorney was asking him

about our supposed 90 day bar suspension

that Keith Davidson was under a

Davidson said he did not recall that.

And Trump's attorneys

seem to be skeptical of that.

Trump's attorney says, quote,

We're both lawyers.

I'm not here to play lawyer

games with you.

The judge, Judge

Mershon, sustains

an objection to that remark.

I mean, this is getting contentious.

I mean, all they're trying to do here,

and it's quite

effective is

if they can make him

out to be shady

and someone not to believe, then

any points that the prosecution

scored with this witness,

they're going to say,

you can't believe him either.

He's another liar.

He's shady

He says he doesn't remember these things.

Of course, you're going to remember

if you negotiated something

on behalf of a

of a celebrity

or that you were held that you

you were suspended,

your bar license was suspended.

Any lawyer would remember that.

So he's not like he's saying,

no, it didn't happen.

Right. He's saying, I don't recall.

And that is

that's going to be

something that the jury is going

to shake their head and say,

I'm not sure we can believe it.

And Davidson is pushing back

saying, I'm

giving you

truthful answers

that I'm not going to discuss

confidential answers.

Talk about the Trump

or the client attorney privilege.

I mean,

I think it's important

to keep in mind here

that what Trump's team

knows, their only goal, their mind,

they just need one juror

to to to essentially side with them here.

That's exactly right.

And I think you're going to see them

do this with many of the witnesses.

I mean, the idea that you can't talk

about certain aspects of agreements

because of your duty, your former client.

Okay.

But not remembering a bar suspension.

Now, attorneys

are approaching

the bench, talking to the judge

for a sidebar up.

The defense attorney asked the judge

to instruct Davidson

to answer a question

about whether he remembers Charlie Sheen

paying his clients.

We'll see what the judge does here.

It also

seems to be going back

to the David Pecker tactic, the technique

that Trump's attorneys use.

They are where they brought up

Mark Wahlberg.

They brought up Arnold Schwarzenegger.

They were basically saying

this is something that rich people do.

This is commonplace now.

They're bringing up Charlie

Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Hulk Hogan as well.

What is the point of all this to me?

Anyone is entitled to an attorney

and it seems like Mr.

Davidson has created a niche firm

for himself for sure.

Two points. One visceral one technical.

The visceral point is Donald Trump's

lawyers want the jury to be disgusted

by this guy.

They want

they want the jury to be repelled

by Keith Davidson, by Stormy Daniels.

By Karen McDougal.

And they want to make the point

that this happened

because Keith Davidson, they're going to

argue, is an opportunist.

And this is the technical point.

The timing is important. Here.

The alleged affairs

with both McDougal

and Stormy

Daniels happened a decade before

2005 and 2000 60 2006 2007.

Right. And one of the arguments

the prosecutor is going to make is, gee,

why would Donald Trump, Michael Cohen,

only care about paying them off

in September,

October of 20, 16, ten years later?

The answer they're going to say

is because the election was looming.

But the counter to

that is going to be

the reason they paid in September

October 2016

is because

that's when this opportunist

they'll say it

nicely pounced

and came to us in a threatening way

the way he did with many other clients.

I think that's where prosecutor

Trump's lawyers are going with this.