Calls between Michael Cohen and Trump and requests for more fines: 10th day of trial against the former president

This Thursday, Donald Trump faced the 10th day of his criminal trial in the case of alleged secret payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. The day was marked by more requests for fines and new information that could complicate the situation for the prosecution.

The session began with the prosecution asking Judge Juan Merchán to once again declare the former president in contempt and apply a fine of $4,000, arguing four additional violations of the gag order. However, the judge did not grant the requests, having already imposed a fine of $9,000 earlier in the week.

Interrogation of Keith Davidson

The judicial process continued with Keith Davidson taking the stand. He was Daniels' and McDougal's lawyer in 2016 and a key figure in the negotiation of the payments, who denied that the payment of $130,000 to the porn star was “hush money.”

"Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false. I don’t believe that Stormy ever alleged that any interaction with Trump was 'romantic,'” he said .

Davidson testified that the payment was a “consideration,” a legal term that refers to something offered as part of a contract.

During this cross-examination, Trump's lawyer Emil Bove got Davidson to admit that he had never met Trump personally and managed to slightly damage his reputation with jurors by exposing his history of tactics to obtain money from famous people using stories damaging to them.

Recorded telephone conversation between Trump and his former lawyer

Another key moment of the day was when a recording of a telephone conversation between Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen from September 2016 was played. In it, Cohen discusses a plan to prevent disclosure of the then-Republican candidate's alleged extramarital affair.

“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen is heard telling Trump, referring to American Media CEO David Pecker, who had bought the rights to the story.

Pecker previously said he struck a deal with Cohen and Trump to buy the rights to politically compromising stories about the former president, with no real intention of publishing them.

Trump's discomfort with the payment

In another recording presented to the jury, Cohen is heard informing Davidson that Trump expressed, "I hate the fact that we did it," regarding the $130,000 payment, to which Cohen claimed to have responded that it was the right thing to do.

The trial will resume Friday morning, as new revelations and testimony continue to shed light on the case.