CNN
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Decide Juan Merchan handed down his first punishment to Donald Trump for violating the judge’s gag order within the New York hush cash trial Tuesday, fining Trump $9,000 for 9 violations.
The choose additionally warned the previous president in his written order that continued violations might additionally result in imprisonment – a putting reminder of the historic and surreal nature of this trial.
As soon as the trial itself started Tuesday, jurors heard from the legal professional who negotiated each the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush cash agreements, Keith Davidson, who detailed his tribulations with Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen within the last days of the 2016 marketing campaign to get the cash promised to Daniels for her to remain quiet.
Davidson testified {that a} tabloid editor believed Daniels’ story can be the “last nail within the coffin” for Trump’s presidential aspirations in October 2016 after the Entry Hollywood tape got here out. As a substitute, Davidson negotiated a $130,000 hush cash take care of Cohen on Daniels’ behalf, and she or he didn’t converse out publicly earlier than the 2016 election.
Listed below are the takeaways from day 9 of the Trump hush cash trial:
Trump is fined – and faces extra later this week
Earlier than the jury was known as in Tuesday morning, Merchan levied a $9,000 nice in opposition to the previous president for a number of violations of the choose’s gag order barring public dialogue of witnesses within the case or the jury.
Merchan fined Trump for 9 violations – $1,000 every, the utmost allowed by legislation – after prosecutors had filed a movement to carry the previous president in contempt over his social media posts and public feedback about Cohen, Daniels and the make-up of the jury pool.
This received’t be Trump’s final run-in with Merchan’s gag order, both. Final week, the district legal professional’s workplace cited one other 4 feedback from Trump that allegedly violated the order. Merchan has scheduled a listening to on these violations for Thursday.
The feedback cited by prosecutors pointed to Trump’s continued commentary about witnesses, together with that he thought AMI chief David Pecker was “good.” Prosecutors argued that the comment was a message to different witnesses to “be good” on the stand.
In his order, the choose warned Trump that he might be imprisoned if he continues to willfully violate the gag order. Merchan might jail Trump for 30 days for locating him in contempt.
“The Courtroom is not going to tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if mandatory and applicable beneath the circumstances, it should impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.
Stormy’s lawyer takes the stand
Davidson, an LA-based legal professional, represented each McDougal and Daniels once they had been purchasing tales about their romantic relations with Trump in 2016.
He described intimately his conversations with American Media Inc.’s then-chief content material officer Dylan Howard – aided by textual content exchanges between the 2 wealthy intimately to assist clean up Davidson’s reminiscence – as he minimize a $150,000 take care of AMI for McDougal’s story after which struck a $130,000 deal instantly with Cohen for Daniels after AMI backed out.
Davidson mentioned Daniels’ supervisor, Gina Rodriguez, approached him and requested him to shut the deal. “It’s going to be the simplest deal you’ve ever finished in your total life,” Davidson mentioned, earlier than pausing and letting out somewhat chortle.
Rodriguez informed him it had already been negotiated. “All it’s important to do is speak to {that a}**gap Cohen,” Davidson recalled.
Davidson walked jurors by the contracts he drew up with Cohen and the justifications he obtained when Cohen initially didn’t pay.
“I assumed he was making an attempt to kick the can down the street till after the election,” Davidson testified about Cohen’s excuses for not arising with the funding, which prompted him to inform Cohen at one level that the deal was off.
Davidson’s testimony additionally offered some lighter moments. Within the contract, he used pseudonyms: Peggy Peterson for Daniels as a result of she was the plaintiff and David Dennison for Trump as a result of he was the defendant.
Assistant district legal professional Joshua Steinglass requested if Dennison was an actual individual. “Sure, he was on my highschool hockey group,” Davidson mentioned.
“How does he really feel about you now?” Steinglass requested.
“He’s very upset,” Davidson mentioned, holding again amusing.
Daniels’ legal professional additionally had some selection phrases for Cohen. Requested to explain Cohen’s demeanor whereas negotiating the cost with him, Davidson mentioned, “He was extremely excitable, type of a pants on hearth sort of man.”
Cohen, Davidson added, was just like the cartoon canine who yells “squirrel!”
Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro returned Tuesday morning to stroll the jury by Cohen’s financial institution exercise across the cost to Daniels.
Data present it took Cohen lower than 24 hours to open an account for a shell firm and use it to wire the cash to Daniels’ legal professional.
On October 27, 2016, Cohen pushed his financial institution to expedite a $131,000 advance on the house fairness line of credit score tied to his private property he shared along with his spouse. That was accepted and the cash was transferred to the brand new Important Marketing consultant LLC account Cohen opened, telling his banker on the time it was for a rushed actual property deal.
The subsequent morning Cohen wired $130,000 to an account facilitated by Daniels’ lawyer.
Farro testified that when he handled Cohen, 90% of the time it was an “pressing matter.”
The banker additionally mentioned First Republic Financial institution closed all of Cohen’s accounts, leaving solely his present mortgages with the establishment, after information of the Daniels hush cash cost grew to become public.
Prosecutors used data custodians to enter a number of video clips into proof Tuesday morning.
Three C-SPAN clips of Trump talking at public occasions had been performed for the jury in open courtroom. Two clips from October 2016 marketing campaign occasions confirmed then-candidate Trump vehemently denying allegations from girls who publicly accused him of sexual assault after the “Entry Hollywood” tape was launched earlier that month.
“As you may have seen, proper now I’m being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It’s a phony deal. I don’t know who these girls are,” Trump says in a single clip.
In a clip from January 11, 2017, President-elect Trump mentioned, “Michael Cohen is a really gifted lawyer. He’s a superb lawyer in my agency.”
Why a protection legal professional thinks Decide Merchan did not jail Trump over gag order
Snippets from Trump’s October 2022 deposition taken for his E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuits had been additionally admitted into proof and performed in courtroom.
Prosecutors additionally performed a clip from the deposition the place Trump described that Reality Social was a platform he opened as an alternative choice to Twitter. In one other clip Trump responds to questions confirming that he’s married to Melania Trump, since 2005.
Jurors additionally noticed Trump establish himself because the speaker within the “Entry Hollywood” tape throughout that deposition – though no video clip was performed in relation to the query in regards to the “Entry Hollywood” tape, nor the tape itself. (The choose beforehand dominated solely a transcript of the audio might be admitted into proof – not the video footage.)
Trump had a number of guests within the gallery behind him in courtroom on Tuesday, past the everyday accompaniment of aides there every day.
His son, Eric Trump, attended the trial – the primary member of the family of the previous president to seem through the trial. Susie Wiles, Trump’s senior marketing campaign adviser, was sitting beside the previous president’s son.
Ken Paxton, the Texas legal professional normal, and David McIntosh, who has cofounded conservative political teams together with the Membership for Development, stopped into the courtroom for a few of Tuesday’s session, too.
Tuesday’s appearances might be the start of a brand new sort of pilgrimage for Trump’s allies: as a substitute of visiting him at Mar-a-Lago, they arrive to see the presumptive GOP nominee stand trial in New York.
Trump additionally obtained one other dose of household pleasant information: Earlier than the trial started his attorneys had requested for Could 17 off in order that Trump might attend his son Barron’s commencement. The choose had mentioned he didn’t know but if that was potential – however on Tuesday, Merchan mentioned issues had been shifting shortly sufficient that he was comfy having no courtroom that day so Trump might attend commencement.
Trump had beforehand attacked the choose for stopping him from attending Barron’s commencement, although the choose had solely beforehand mentioned he was withholding a choice on the request.