(USNewsMag.com) – One of Stormy Daniels’ former attorneys, who also worked for model Karen McDougal, testified that he believes the hush money deals with former President Donald Trump most likely helped Trump during the 2016 election rather than hindered him.
On Thursday, May 2nd, Keith Davidson was the sixth witness in the former president’s hush money trial to take the stand. In his testimony, Davison discussed text message communications between himself and Dylan Howard, a top editor at the National Enquirer, regarding his stories about Daniels and McDougal ahead of the 2016 election.
Davidson’s remarks come after former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker testified on Saturday, April 27th, that he had used his publication to protect himself, his company, and Trump.
Davidson believes that his media company’s activities “may have in some way” assisted the former president in securing a narrow defeat of Hillary Clinton.
Davidson contacted the National Enquirer editor teasing a “blockbuster” story about Trump, which he told the court was the affair with McDougal, and that he was aware the National Enquirer wanted to help Trump during his 2016 campaign. When the McDougal tape dropped with Access Hollywood, the two bragged that it would mess up the former president’s campaign.
That release also generated interest in the story surrounding Daniels and the hush money payments. Davidson claims he was chosen to close the deal between Daniels and Cohen after the publication passed on the rights to Daniels’ story and she was threatening to take it elsewhere if she wasn’t paid to keep it quiet. After she was eventually paid, the attorney received a $10,000 cut from the $130,000. Davidson said the implications of the deal did not hit him until election night in 2016 when he texted Howard.
In that text message shown to the jury, Davidson asks, “What have we done?” Prosecutors claim the message supports their argument that the former president authorized hush money payments through his former attorney Michael Cohen to keep Daniels quiet and influence the presidential election while trying to cover up the payments. Davidson maintained in court that the remark was made in jest, although when pressed by cross examiners he admitted to believing their actions may have impacted the results.
Trump faces 34 felony counts and has pleaded not guilty. Despite the ongoing legal battles on multiple fronts, he remains almost neck and neck with Biden in general election projection polls.
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