Trump trial resumes after infamous Cohen phone call tape is played for jury

This
is
developing
news.
Check
back
for
updates
throughout
the
day.

Prosecutors
are
set
to
resume
questioning
witnesses
Friday
in
the
New
York
criminal
hush
money
trial
of

Donald
Trump,
after
jurors
heard
from
the
former
lawyer
for
two
women
who
were
paid
not
to
reveal
their
alleged
affairs
with
the
ex-president.

The
lawyer,
Keith
Davidson,
negotiated
six-figure
hush
money
deals
for
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
and
former
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal
ahead
of
the
2016
presidential
election.

Trump
is
charged
with
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records
related
to
the
$130,000
payment
to
Daniels,
who
claims
she
had
sex
with
Trump
in
2006.
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
accuses
Trump
of
unlawfully
trying
to
influence
the
2016
election
by
buying
and
suppressing
damaging
information
about
him.

Judge
Juan
Merchan
on
Thursday
also
held
a
hearing
on
whether
Trump
once
again
violated
the
gag
order
barring
him
from
speaking
about
jurors,
witnesses
and
others
involved
in
the
trial.

On
Tuesday,
Merchan
held
Trump
in
contempt
for
violating
his
speech
restrictions
nine
times.
The
judge
fined
Trump
$9,000,
the
maximum,
and
warned
him
that
future
violations
could
land
him
in
jail.
Prosecutors
in
Thursday’s
hearing
flagged
four
more
alleged
gag
order
violations
by
Trump,
though
they
said
they
were
not
seeking
to
put
him
in
jail.

Merchan
has
yet
to
rule
on
the
additional
alleged
violations.

Over
two
days
of
testimony,
Davidson
discussed
his
work
with
the
National
Enquirer
and
Trump’s
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen
to
craft
the
hush
money
deals,
in
the
process
shedding
light
on
how
tabloids
operate
in
their
hunt
for
lurid
stories.

David
Pecker,
the
former
CEO
of
the
Enquirer’s
publisher,
in
prior
trial
testimony
described
his
work
as “checkbook
journalism”
and
said
he
made
deals
with
the
understanding
of
trying
to
help
Trump’s
election
chances.

On
the
night
Trump
won
that
election,
Davidson
texted
the
Enquirer’s
then-editor
in
chief, “What
have
we
done?”

He
testified
Thursday
that
the
text
was “sort
of
gallows
humor.”
But
he
added
that
he
and
the
top
editor,
Dylan
Howard,
understood
at
the
time
that “our
activities
may
have
in
some
way
assisted
the
presidential
campaign
of
Donald
Trump.”

On
cross-examination,
Trump’s
attorney
stressed
that
Davidson
has
never
met
or
spoken
with
Trump,
and
that
all
of
his
knowledge
about
the
then-presidential
candidate
came
secondhand.

After
Davidson
left
the
witness
stand,
prosecutors
called
Douglas
Daus,
a
forensic
analyst
for
Bragg’s
office
who
detailed
his
findings
from
Cohen’s
phone.

Jurors
heard
a
recording
of
Trump
saying
asking
Cohen, “So
what
do
we
got
to
pay
for
this
—
150?”
and
instructing
his
lawyer
to “pay
with
cash.”
Pecker’s
company
at
the
time,
American
Media,
paid
McDougal
$150,000
for
the
rights
to
her
affair
claim
as
part
of
an
alleged “catch
and
kill”
scheme
to
bury
the
story.