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With seven months until the election, Trump faces 34 charges relating to $US130,000 that Cohen paid to Daniels, to cover up their affair from coming out on the eve of the 2016 election, when Trump was running against Hillary Clinton.
During the first week of the trial, the court heard how David Pecker, the publisher of the tabloid magazine the National Enquirer, and his Australian-born content editor Dylan Howard, helped Trump win the presidential election by burying damning stories about the Republican candidate in a practice known in the US tabloid world as “catch and kill”.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.Credit: AP
In one case, a doorman working for Trump was paid $US30,000 ($46,000) to suppress an unverified story claiming Trump had a child born out of wedlock. In another case, a former playboy playmate was paid $US150,000 ($230,000) to silence an alleged affair she says she had with him while he was married to his current wife Melania.
On Tuesday, the court heard from lawyer Keith Davidson, who represented both McDougal and Daniels. He texted Howard about McDougal in 2016, telling him: “I have a blockbuster Trump story”.
Howard, a former reporter at the Geelong Advertiser and Seven, replied: “Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why.”
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Another text message exchange shown to the jury took place on the night of the election – after the McDougal deal was brokered – when Davidson wrote: “What have we done?”
Howard replied: “Oh my god”.
Last week, the jury also heard from Trump’s longtime personal secretary Rhona Graff, who confirmed her former boss had saved contact information for Daniels and McDougal, the two women at the heart of the hush money case.
Her short evidence was followed by banker Gary Farro, who helped set up the account used to pay off Daniels.
Trump, however, continues to assert his innocence. Before walking into court, he again described the trial as hoax, demanded that the judge recuse himself, and once again lamented the cold temperature in the courtroom, which he described as an “icebox”.
And minutes after the gag order ruling, Trump sent out an email to fundraise from it.
“A Democrat judge just held me in contempt of court,” he said. “They think they can bleed me dry and shut me up but I’ll never stop fighting for you!”
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