Michael Cohen reveals Donald Trump 'hated' hush money deal in a recording played during the trial
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: The hush money trial involving former president Donald Trump resumed in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, May 2.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen revealed in a recording played during the trial that Trump “hated” the hush money deal that was struck to suppress adult film star Stormy Daniels’ claims of a sexual encounter with him.
Micheal Cohen’s revelations and Donald Trump’s discontent
Cohen recounted the deal made days before the 2016 election and its potential influence on Trump’s campaign victory.
“What have we done?” attorney Keith Davidson texted on election night to National Enquirer executive Dylan Howard who had helped mediate the deal, as revealed during the testimony.
Howard, National Enquirer’s editor-in-chief at the time, responded, “Oh my god,” describing their text exchange as “gallows humor” about their belief that "our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
The deal was struck to suppress Daniels’ claims of a sexual encounter with Trump by paying her $130,000 to prevent any potential damage to Trump’s presidential campaign.
However, the revelation of the deal and its implications have now become a significant point of contention in the ongoing trial.
The ‘catch and kill’ scheme and its aftermath
Davidson had represented Daniels and Karen McDougal who both claim to have had affairs with Trump in 2006.
The National Enquirer’s parent company paid McDougal $150,000 as part of a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress negative stories and benefit Trump’s presidential campaign.
On November 4, Davidson heard from an “upset” Cohen after The Wall Street Journal ran a story on the deal to suppress McDougal’s story.
Cohen said his “boss” — Trump — “was very upset” and “threatened to sue Karen McDougal," CNN reported.
Following the story's publication, Davidson was barred from the White House by Trump. Cohen, who sounded disheartened during a conversation with Davidson, was later reimbursed by Trump for the payments made to McDougal.
These payments were falsely recorded as legal payments, leading to Trump being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Stormy Daniels' settlement and Donald Trump’s reaction
During the witness testimonial, prosecutors played a recording of a phone conversation that Davidson said Cohen had “surreptitiously” recorded.
On the tape, Cohen told Davidson that Trump, who he did not name, had complained about the Daniels’ settlement.
“I can’t even tell you how many times he said to me, you know, ‘I hate the fact that we did it,’” Cohen said in the recording,
“My comment to him was ‘But every person you spoke to said it was the right thing to do,'” he added, as per NBC News.
Davidson said he understood that “he” referred to Trump and “we did it” referred to the payment to Daniels.
Interestingly, prosecutors also played Michael Cohen’s recording of a conversation with Donald Trump where he said, “I need to open up a company for the transfer...regarding our friend David... I’m going to do that right away, and I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up.”
The court hearing will resume on Friday, May 3, where more revelations are expected to come to light.
