Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s secret trial concluded Thursday’s proceedings with testimony from a digital data analyst who works for the Manhattan district attorney.
Douglas Daus said he extracted data from two iPhones belonging to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and so-called “fixer.”
“I haven’t seen as much contact on the phone,” he said. Daus, who works in the high-tech analysis unit of the New York County district attorney’s office, said he has analyzed “perhaps thousands” of phones, according to the Associated Press.
Hope Hicks, a former Trump adviser who testified before the jury on Friday, as well as Trump Organization accountant Allen Weisselberg, First Lady Melania Trump and Trump himself were all listed in his directory (there were 10 pages of contacts linked to Trump). , by deadline.
Forensic sketch of Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst in the district attorney’s office. Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
One of the phones contained a recording of a September 2016 phone call Cohen made to his client, Trump, which first became public in 2018. The call was played for the jury.
On the call, Trump can be heard responding to Cohen by saying he needed to open a business and that he had spoken with the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, about how to put it all together. This company was to facilitate the payment of $150,000 to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.
“I have to open a company for the transfer of all this information regarding our friend David,” Cohen said, referring to David Pecker, then CEO of American Media. This tabloid editor bought McDougal’s story for $150,000, intending to bury it.
Cohen, who allegedly paid hush money at the heart of the affair, was once a fierce ally of Trump. Today, he openly opposes the former president and testifies against him.
Cohen has often mocked Trump on his podcast and on his social media account he testified.
One of Cohen’s favorite moves was the subject of further arguments for violation of the gag order during Thursday’s trial.
Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, complained that Trump had to keep witnesses and jurors silent while his opponents could say “whatever they wanted” — citing Cohen, whose insult favorite for the former president is Donald “Von ShitzInPantz”.
Donald “Von ShitzInPantz” has now officially entered the public record.
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