Donald Trump trial LIVE – ‘Did he cheat on Melania?’ Court hears bombshell text messages National Enquirer editor sent to Karen McDougal’s lawyer during deal over her ‘affair’ story

During Davidson’s testimony, the jury is shown a series of text exchanges between lawyer Keith Davidson and former National Enquire editor Dylan Howard.

The texts are about former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal’s story of an affair with Donald Trump as the ex-president looks on in court.

One text from Davidson reads ‘I have a blockbuster Trump story.’

‘Talk 1s thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…’ Howard responds.

During this portion of testimony, Trump shook his head in apparent disgust.

Davidson tells the court his text was meant as an ‘entree or a teaser’ for Howard to get his attention.

‘I knew Dylan’s boss David Pecker and Mr. Trump were longtime friends and M. Pecker published Trump magazine and AMI had announced explicitly they had endorsed Mr Trump’s candidacy,’ Davidson testifies.

Trump is also forced to listen as Davidson read out another text from Howard: ‘Did he (Trump) cheat on Melania?’

Trump did not appear to react to the text.

Another from Howard reads ‘Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania?’

Davidson told the court that he demurred from replying as he didn’t want to say at that stage.

Earlier, Davidson said he first met McDougal 25 years ago when she was dating his friend.

Donald Trump has taken down the seven social media posts violating the hush money trial gag order that landed him a $9,000 fine.

Judge Juan Merchan gave Trump and his legal team a deadline of 2.15pm to take them down and pay the fine by Friday May 3.

By around 1.45pm on Tuesday, links to the offending posts displayed either ‘Not found’ or a ‘404 error page’.

Trump faces another hearing Thursday on at least three additional comments and posts that prosecutors say violate the order.

Donald Trump exited the courtroom for a lunch break.

He did not acknowledge the reporters as he left or answer shouted questions about whether he is happy he will get to attend son Barron’s high school graduation.

Lawyer Keith Davidson testifies that he set up a meeting between Karen McDougal and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

That’s where she told her story about her relationship with Trump to the tabloid.

American Media Inc. first declined to buy the story because she lacked evidence.

Davidson texted Howard on June 27, 2016 ‘It’s a story (t)hat should be told…’

Howard responded: ‘I agree’

Davidson also confirms he was in talks with ABC News about McDougal’s story.

He says he went to ABC News because he was ‘trying to play two entities off of each other,’ Davidson says.

Davidson admits McDougal ‘did not want to tell her story’ which would be required in the ABC News deal.

The jury was shown a recording of a video of Trump speaking at a Greensboro, North Carolina, rally in 2016.

The former president watched himself intently on a TV in front of him as he said: ‘I have no idea who these women are, I have no idea…when you looked at that horrible woman last night you thought I don’t think so’.

Trump said in the video that the ‘stories are 100 percent made up’ and were ‘lies being pushed by the Clinton campaign to try and keep their grip on our country’

A female juror flitted her eyes between the monitor in front of her and Trump sitting at his defense table.

Another clip from 2017 was of a news conference where Trump praised Cohen as a good lawyer – before he turned on him.

The panel was also shown excerpts of a video deposition Trump gave in October 2022 at his Florida estate during a defamation case brought by journalist E Jean Carroll.

They were also shown parts of the transcript.

A jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll and he was fined more than $90 million.

The clips included Trump being asked what Truth Social, his own social network, was and him confirming that his current wife is Melania Trump.

The court also saw a transcript of Trump being played the Access Hollywood tape.

Keith Davidson was Daniels’ attorney when the hush-money transaction was made.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass will question him first.

He is expected to be the second major witness in the case, after former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker next week.

Prosecutors are calling their fourth witness, Dr. Robert Browning.

Browning is the executive director of the C-SPAN archives. His testimony will be used to get records of Donald Trump into evidence.

C-SPAN was subpoenaed to turn over recordings from its archives of the ex-president.

Judge Merchan arrived back in the courtroom before Donald Trump and his lawyers returned.

The judge criticized lawyer Todd Blanche and told him to ‘try to keep the breaks short.’

‘I don’t like to keep the jury waiting. Let’s do better,’ Merchan said.

The judge agreed with the prosecution request that Trump’s lawyers had opened the door to evidence about his comments regarding witnesses that prosecutors claimed were intended to intimidate.

Prosecutors could elicit testimony about how they were ‘not making as much money’ as Trump claimed, but they couldn’t address Trump’s ‘consciousness of guilt,’ the judge said.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo requested a hearing to allow them to cross-examine Trump on Judge Merchan’s contempt finding.

Colangelo also said he wanted to raise the issue of whether they could address Trump’s attempt to ‘dissuade witnesses’ through a ‘pressure campaign’ about ‘retaliation.’

Trump shook his head in response to indicate he disagreed.

Colangelo said that the defense ‘opened the door’ with its opening statements, so this should be allowed in.

They were ‘precisely the kind of arguments that would open the door for the people to elicit efforts to keep (witnesses) in the fold followed by subsequent harassment online,’ Colangelo said.

This evidence would ‘offset the claim these witnesses are somehow benefiting from their willingness to testify,’ the jury was told.

They were also ‘evidence of the defendant’s consciousness of guilt,’ Colangelo said.

Colangelo pointed to the change in Trump’s public comments as a sign of his ‘consciousness of guilt.’

He cited comments about Cohen in early 2018 after the FBI raid on his homes, saying things like ‘Some people may flip if they’re put under pressure but Michael Cohe s not that kind of person’

Yet after Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance laws and other crimes, Trump said in a post online that ‘if anyone is looking for a good lawyer’ then they shouldn’t ring Cohen.

At this, Trump laughed at his own joke and nodded in approval.

Witness Gary Farro is off the stand as court takes a short break.

During cross-examination, Farro said he never spoke with Donald Trump and confirmed nothing in the way Michael Cohen’s account was set up raised red flags at the time.

Just before recess, cross-examination wrapped up, and prosecutor Rebecca Mangold stepped back up for redirect.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton walked into the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday to support Donald Trump.

The Republican has been one of the former president’s most loyal supporters and recently survived an impeachment attempt.

The prosecutor showed a wire transfer authorization form that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen filled out the morning after making a transfer into the new account.

The transfer amount was for $130,000 from the Essential Consultants to a trust account of lawyer Keith Davidson.

Davidson previously represented Stormy Daniels.

Farro notes that the opening of the account, funding of the account and transfer to Davidson all took less than 24 hours.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is showing emails to and from former Trump fixer Michael Cohen confirming a bank transfer of $131,000 for his home equity line of credit into a checking account.

The transfer was made 23 minutes after Cohen opened the new Essential Consultants LLC account.

The emails shown to the jury about the transfer are labeled ‘high’ importance.

Farro is testifying about the paper trail in the hush money case. He says it was a second mortgage in this scenario.

He testified that bank paperwork would not indicate the account was used to pay someone in the adult film industry.

That would have required additional scrutiny.

Witness Gary Farro is a former senior managing director at First Republic Bank.

He is back on the stand to resume testifying after having first been called to the stand Friday.

Donald Trump has been found in contempt of court for violating the hush money trial gag order and fined $9,000.

Judge Juan Merchan also warned the former president he could face jail if he does it again in a stern warning to start the third week of the case.

There was some good news for the 77-year-old, as Judge Merchan ruled he could attend Barron’s high school graduation next month.

Trump was fined $1,000 each for a serious of social media posts that targeted witness Michael Cohen and questioned the bias of the jury.

Merchan has also ordered Trump remove the seven ‘offending posts’ from Truth Social and the two ‘offending posts’ from his campaign website by 2:15pm Tuesday.

The order also stated the court ‘will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders’ and warned of possible jail time stating ‘if necessary and appropraite under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.’

The order took into account Trump is a candidate for office.

‘At the same time, this Court is keenly aware of, and protective of, Defendant’s First Amendment rights, particularly given his candidacy for the office of the President of the United States,’ it reads.

‘It is critically important that Defendant’s legitimate free speech rights not be curtailed, that he be able to fully campaign for the office which he seeks,’ it continues.

Trump did not react to the contempt order while sitting in court.

Donald Trump will be able to go to his youngest son Barron’s high school graduation.

Judge Merchan said he does not think that May 17 is a problem.

Donald Trump slammed all the cases against him as hoaxes after entering the Manhattan criminal court and blasted the judge in the hush money case as conflicted.

‘This is a case that should never have been brought,’ Trump said with his lawyer beside him. The ex-president called it a ‘disgrace to the New York City court system.’

Trump also addressed the protests taking place on college campuses. He claimed the protests are all caused by President Biden.

‘Charlottesville is peanuts compared to what you’re looking at now,’ Trump said referencing the march by White supremacists. ‘This whole country is up in arms.’

He called protesters taking over a building a ‘big deal’ and questioned whether there will be anything ‘comparable to what happened to J6.’

The ex-president questioned whether those protesters will get the ‘same kind of treatment as J6.’

Before he walked inside the court, he blasted the temperature by comparing it to an ‘ice box’ and thanked Time magazine for their ‘very nice’ cover story.

Trump walked into court wearing a navy suit and a bright red tie.

His son Eric Trump was with him and sat in the front row of the public gallery.

Trump waved to somebody in the public gallery and pursed his lips together. 

Trump talked with Eric and waved to a woman sat next him.

After a week away from the trial, Donald Trump’s loyal communications aide has returned to the Manhattan court.

She was spotted by DailyMail.com getting into the former president’s motorcade alongside his son Eric, fellow aide Natalie Harp and senior advisor Dan Shapiro.

They then loaded into the SUVs to make the downtown trip from Trump Tower.

Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan criminal court.

Outside the courthouse, a group of pro-Trump protesters have gathered for week three of the hush money trial.

A friend of adult film star Stormy Daniels told CNN Daniels is ready for her appearance in the hush money trial and look Trump dead in the face and call him out.

‘Stormy is an incredible woman. She’s been steadfast through this entire process,’ said adult actress Alana Evans.

‘She’s been very solid, so honestly, I would imaging that she’s ready for this. We have all been waiting for some sort of justice to come out of this situation,’ she added.

Evans told CNN’s Abby Phillips that Daniels has been honest since day one as soon as she was allowed to speak out and will be a strong witness on the stand.

‘I think what’s going to be going through Stormy’s mind is this is the moment that she has to look him dead in the face and call it out for what it is and finally be able to put her voice to the truth in a way that we’ve all been waiting for.’

Donald Trump’s communications aide Margo Martin shared an image of the former president doing an interview with a local TV station in Michigan before heading to court.

‘No one works harder,’ she wrote alongside the photo on X.

Donald Trump departed Trump Tower to head to the Manhattan criminal court for his hush money trial.

It is day five of testimony in the case.

Trump waved to cameras but did not speak to reporters as he walked to his motorcade.

Sports stars, news channel anchors from MSNBC and Fox News, media moguls and casino owners.

A Trump Organization contacts list of phone numbers introduced in court last week offers an unparalleled insight into how Donald Trump moves through the world, rubbing shoulders with the rich, the glamorous and the merely useful.

And the Fox News anchors like Brett Baier and Sean Hannity whose evening shows are where the former president likes to make news by telephoning in live.

Their boss, Rupert Murdoch, is in there too, alongside sporting icons such as tennis champion Serena Williams and golfing great Jack Nicklaus.

There are also more surprising reminders of Trump’s past as a New York liberal.

Gary Farro says he was assigned to work with Michael Cohen based on his ‘ability to handle individuals that may be a little challenging.’

He says he didn’t find him that difficult, but when he did call, it was always something ‘urgent.’

Farro says he worked with Cohen from 2015 through 2018 or 2019, and Cohen held personal accounts and entities with First Republic Bank.

Farro testifies that Cohen ‘was very excited’ to be working for Trump and spoke about it frequently.

Farro says he didn’t open any accounts for the Trump Organization.

Gary Farro was a senior managing director at First Republic Bank in 2016.

Michael Cohen allegedly wired hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford, using the bank.

Someone at the bank reported the wire transaction as suspicious to the Treasury Department.

On October 26, 2016, an employee of the bank whose name is publicly redacted confirmed to Cohen his wire to Daniels’ lawyer was successful.

First Republic Bank was seized and sold by regulators last year.

President Joe Biden used his speech to a crowd of 2,600 at the Washington Hilton on Saturday to jab his rival.

The 81-year-old has been out campaigning while Trump has sat in a courtroom in Manhattan.

The president had a laugh at the case where his likely 2024 opponent is accused of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair.

Biden said: ‘I’ve had a great stretch since the State of the Union. Donald has had a tough few days lately — you might call it stormy weather.’

Donald Trump’s longtime assistant told his hush money on Friday trial she recalled seeing porn star Stormy Daniels in the lobby on the 26th floor of Trump Tower before the 2016 election.

Rhona Graff, 64, who worked for Trump for 34 years until 2021, said she assumed Daniels was there to discuss being a contestant on The Apprentice.

Graff also confirmed she had entered contact details in the Trump Organization system for Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Daniels and McDougal, a former Playboy model, have both claimed they had affairs with Trump, which he has denied.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to buy the silence of Daniels.

Donald Trump returns to Manhattan for the third week of the hush money trial.

The former president will be sat in the courtroom while prosecutors carry on questioning Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro.

He testified on Friday that he helped Trump’s disgraced former fixer open accounts, including the one used to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000.

Trump is also facing a fine of up to $10,000 for contempt of court for violating the gag order in the case.

Judge Juan Merchan has scolded his social media activity and could rule as soon as Tuesday.