Tabloid reporter that show the Frantic Scramble to stop it from going off the rails. The chaos that ensued when the Hush Money Payments came to light. On the stand right now is a man named doug daus. Hes a tech expert who works at the das office. He comes after hours of extraordinary testimony from Keith Davidson. The jury saw the agreement between David Dennison and Peggy Peterson alongside a side letter written by Keith Davidson that, as he puts it, decodes the agreement between the two and specificically mentions donald trump. The deals was done before Donald TrumpsElection Night upset, a shocker to both keith david sop and National Inquire editor lance howard. Quote, Keith Davidson text the editor in chief of the National Inquirer around 3 00 a. M. Eastern on the night of the 2016 election. Quote, what have we done, Keith Davidson text. Oh, my god, he text him that night. Asked what he meant in his text, Keith Davidson said this was humor. He said there was an understanding between the two of them that, quote, our activities may have in some way assisted the president ial campaign of donald trump. Keith davidson also recalled Michael Cohens frustration when he learned he would not be going to washington with donald trump after he won. Davidson said he got a call from Michael Cohen, who said something to the effect of, quote, jesus christ, can you fing believe im not going to washington after everything i have done for that fing guy. I saved that guys bleep so many times you dont even know. Adding, that fing guy is not even paying me back the 130,000 referring to the hush money he paid Stormy Daniels. Keith davidson testified to the efforts by Michael Cohen to keep Stormy Daniels silent as reporters swarmed around the story in 2018. He says Michael Cohen text him, quote, keith, the wise men all believe the story is dying and dont think its smart for her to do any interviews. No interviews at all with anyone. He said Michael Cohen was in pants on fire mode. We were trying to thread a needle and hold off a breach and all the penalties that would come with that where cohen could file an arbitration or sue stormy. That would be another disaster he added that Michael Cohen threatened to, quote, Rain Legal Hell down on her. During crossexamination, team trump sought to poke holes in Keith Davidsons credibility highlighting other cases he has worked on involving his celebrity clients. Nbc news put it like this. Bove, trumps attorney is highlighting how seemy davidsons world was by bringing up past clients that he was investigated for allegedly extorting hulk hogan. Its where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. With us at table the is susan craig. Shes back from inside the courthouse. Also in court today watching in person is our friend at the department of Justice Andrew weisman. Along with charles cole man and yasmin vossoughian. Reporter it has been quite a day to say the least. I want to talk quickly about the individual on the stand now. Someone of an Expert Witness. Its an important context if you think about the Expert Witness talking about how it is they went to come upon some of these secret phone calls in which Michael Cohen record. I think its important because it establishes how they were able to obtain the secret phone calls. They are putting this testimony, the last 60 minutes, 30 minutes until the end of kourlt, so making sure this witness testifies towards the end of the day for the jury to understand how it is they came upon this information. These receipts, per se, this evidence per se that has been admitted by the prosecution. Lets talk quickly through some of what we heard between both Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson. I think theres a lot of back and forth and kind of contentious behavior and interactions between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson. I want to read some, if i can, talking about why it was howard acted as an intermediate between Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen. At one point he says, he can be very aggressive guy, an aggressive to protect his client saying we would bankrupt her and Rain Legal Hell down on her. Dont mess with us you dont know who you are messing with. Much of the testimony that we heard today from Keith Davidson, and especially in the crossexamination from the attorneys, was all about discrediting the prosecutions witnesses. It was about discrediting Michael Cohen. It was about discrediting Keith Davidson and about discrediting Stormy Daniels in different ways. Its much of bha you talked about. It was about discrediting him writing kind of as an ambulance chaser, the celebrity culture. Clients like hulk hogan going after Lindsey Lohan when she was in rehab. Discrediting his testimony saying that Michael Cohen is being directed by donald trump to act, to obtain the hush money that was handed over to Stormy Daniels. Then Stormy Daniels seeming as if had an ax to grind because donald trump had not cast her in the apprentice saying she was going on jimmy kimmel because she wanted to advance her career. Kind of setting up how this was going to go when it comes to some of the testimony we will likely get from Michael Cohen, from Stormy Daniels as well. The one thing that i will say is that the prosecution successfully showed the receipts before the crossexamination. I say this because there was a moment in which they talked about David Dennison, the pseudonym used for donald trump that was revealed to be used for hulk hogan as well. And they asked whether or not David Dennison signed the agreement between Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels when the 130,000 was paid to Stormy Daniels. And the prosecution was the one who first revealed that to the jury. It was that which Donald Trumps attorneys ended their crossexamination with. But it was important for the prosecution to bring up and say, listen, we know this happened we know David Dennison did not sign this agreement. But scently it was what the prosecution ended their crossexamination on. It seems to be the strategy with david pecker and Keith Davidson to say these fwies are mixed up with shady characters. It wasnt just this way with donald trump when it came to pecker on the stand. Keith davidsons case, they seemed to try to durty him up. When these are people that donald trump was involved with, not alvin bragg. There was a point this morning and early this afternoon we were thinking what was going on here. I have to say they went much harder after Keith Davidson than they did david pecker. We can talk about that in a moment. We have been chatting about that. But i think where they are going, because on one hand youd think they would have stopped at Keith Davidson, have you ever met donald trump. No. Because they have to prove this conspiracy. When you distill this case, it comes down to theres going to be a conspiracy, but then you have to get to the falsification of the business records. It became apparent as they were going through the cross of Keith Davidson and how vicious it was that i think they are trying to make Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen out to be these two scoundrels that were conspireing and donald trump is the vitim. They got into this huge of what . Of an extortion plot, that he was being extorted. You got into this back and forth, it was incredible where he kept saying did you extort this person or that person . He finally said i had a civil agreement for which there was payment, im paraphrasing, but that kept coming up over and over. I think that was sort of the story line that emerged to me that this is potentially where they are going with this. Curious what andrew thought, but thats what we were landing on as we were talking. I agree. I was struck by if you think about sort of what happened today. It should have happened with david pecker. So the surprising thing was there was a very, very cross. It was fireworks in the courtroom. But you were like, to what end . I guess thats my point. So say you prove Beyond A Reasonable Doubt these guys are skuz sit. He says, yeah, we were intentionally defaming people. I was intentionally supporting a candidate. It was all secret and it was to get somebody elected. It was the most shocking you want to talk about sleaze factor. It was incredible. Your partner was, oh, trump. Hes the principle. Who did you have the deal with . Donald trump. But there was none of that. So it was interesting to me that the choice was made when there was an easy cross and a polite cross of davidson to say, you Department Deal with my client at all. Everything that you know came through Michael Cohen or Somebody Else. So you just dont have anything to add to the sort of false documents. So instead there was a lot of drama, which i agree is going to be used as a distraction in closing to say, look, they are really extorting him. Thats not a defense. Its a distraction defense. But just to focus on what was the import of davidson, it is how you started. To sum up the actual import of today, it was the, quote, what have we done . There was no question that he was saying, and it wasnt just his testimony. Everything he said today was in a document. It was in an email or a text or a written agreement. So there was no way to attack him in terms of his direct tail light. Everything was in writing. What did the Prosecution Need from him . What they got out of him was this was about the election. And even on cross where they said you knew that you needed the leverage and you had leverage before the election and not after, and he goes, absolutely. Thats not a cross point. That is a conspiracy. And the piece about the time ing of the affair was something Vaughn Hillyard reminded me of. I think the affair was in 2006. It was well before the election. The variable is post Access Hollywood, preelection day. That text is really powerful when Keith Davidson says, what have we done to dylan howard. Hes like, i hope im going to get a president ial pardon out of this. Those sort of things came out, but i think today it really did i was wondering how the jury was processing a lot of this stuff and Keith Davidson dealing with sex tape brokers. Pfs it was tantalizing, but i get they were trying to muddy them up. I want to hear more about the atmosphere, but just as a trial 101, does the prosecution at some point have to lean in and say, yes, these are tawdry characters. You have to understand this is the cast of characters youre dealing with. In setting the stage for your arguments, when youre on summation, youre going to acknowledge that. Youre going to say, no one here is a saint or nun or priest for that matter. But seldom do we have that in the criminal element to begin with. So you make that sort of par the course and normalize it to the jury. Then you make your arguments from there and make sure you connect the dots. You asked the question earlier to what end as far as donald trump being the victim. It doesnt matter to what lets all keep in mind, Donald Trumps defense team is looking for one person to hold out. They are looking to distract one juror enough with all of these antics and slight of hand and muddying different witnesses up to a degree that allows them to say, i dont know how much this has to do with donald trump. Im not convinced Beyond A Reasonable Doubt that donald trump is guilty of of the things that hes charged with. It doesnt really matter whether they have established this notion of extortion. Thats not really a defense. Its just enough where in the imagination of the jurors, have they done enough to distract them in terms of these characters seeming like they were in cahoots with each other, or con ly, have we created enough distance between donald trump and the situation where im not certain how involved donald trump actually was. Which is where the normalcy of a cross would come in and say, i never met my client. I think those are two strategies that the defense are using. And the prosecution is going to have to figure out a way to make those connections more clearly as we go forward. Thats what the documents and another corroborating evidence. Its too bad they have Phone Recordings of david pecker. Today was a little bit about i felt i thought Keith Davidson laid the tracks for what he needed to. A lot of this was a side show. When you think not a the lot of today was connected to donald trump, we still have a lot connected to him. And they did Start Playing some of the Phone Recordings that Michael Cohen, the many that he made started coming into evidence. They were very hard to understand from where we were, even in the courtroom. Some werent played out loud. Those are now starting to roll in. I think well get a better understanding of twaktly what they were in the days to comp. But its hard when you step back and you think, david pecker was very powerful and he was david pecker talking to donald trum about the conspiracy part. In the coming week, were going to get to the falsification of the business records. Right now, were in that first phase. They are creating the motive. I think as someone who covered every one of these news cycles here on the coverage side, to take a jury back in time to make clear that while Stormy Daniels had a relationship with trump in 2007, the release of the access Hollywood Tape changed the ecosystem. How effective do you think they have been with all the witnesses they put forth in showing how come pressed the time was for trump . I think that came out loud and clear. Stormy daniels went from a story that she couldnt sell to suddenly this is the window of opportunity. I do think its important to focus on a key thing that has come up that the defense is going to argue. Im not say there arent substantial answers to it, but today the jury saw the agreement that is between donald trump and even the side letter that made it clear its donald trump and Stormy Daniels. But on the signature page, there are four signatures that are supposed to be there and Donald Trumps is not there. You also have Michael Cohen saying because there was a short window. They were trying to basically say, hey, maybe we dont have to pay until after the election, meaning we dont have to pay at all, or even if we win, it doesnt really matter. It wont affect the votes. And now that seems Acquaint Wauz he doesnt have to worry about what the votes are. It seems like a quaint thing to worry about. In 2016 people still cared about that. Just porn stars and play mates. In addition to not signing, they are going to say Michael Cohen is saying to davidson, you know what, maybe im just going to have to pay on my own. We know he does. He pays the 130,000. So the issue is there reasonable doubt . Did donald trump know in advance that this was going to be the agreement, or did he ratify it later opposed to this is Michael Cohen doing this. They will have to explain why there was a reimbursement, like how that happened without his knowing what the deal was. Thats one of the challenges. But thats going to be isnt that on tape also . Trump writes those checks from the oval office. The New York Times published one of those. I dont think the reimbursement for this is on tape. The Karen Mctoog Doog the is. But the selled checks are a matter of public record. I suspect they are going to have e