Trump trial resumes with testimony from lawyer behind Stormy Daniels hush money payment

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is
developing
news.
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updates
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The
New
York

criminal
trial
of

Donald
Trump
is
set
to
resume
Thursday
with
more
testimony
from
the
attorney
who
helped
broker
a
hush
money
payment
from
the
former
president’s
lawyer
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels.

Keith
Davidson,
who
represented
Daniels
and
former
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
testified
Tuesday
about
his
involvement
in
selling
the
story
rights
for
both
women,
each
of
whom
separately
claimed
to
have
had
sex
with
Trump
while
he
was
married.

The
$130,000
payment
to
Daniels
in
particular
is
at
the
center
of
the
historic
criminal
trial
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court,
where
Trump
is
charged
with
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records.

Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
accuses
Trump
of
unlawfully
mislabeling
those
records
as
part
of
a
scheme
to
secretly
reimburse
his
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen,
who
paid
Daniels
shortly
before
the
2016
presidential
election.
Trump
unlawfully
tried
to
influence
that
election
by
buying
and
suppressing
damaging
information
about
him,
Bragg
alleges.

Thursday’s
session
marks
Trump’s
return
to
the
courtroom
for
the
first
time
since
Judge
Juan
Merchan
held
him
in
criminal
contempt
for
repeatedly
violating
his
gag
order
—
and
warned
that
future
violations
could
land
him
in
jail.

Merchan
on
Thursday
morning
was
expected
to
hold
another
hearing
on
whether
Trump
violated
the
gag
order
four
more
times.

Trump,
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
must
sit
in
court
throughout
the
trial,
which
is
expected
to
last
six
weeks.