Trump and Stormy’s lawyers fought to control her amid silent news

• Text messages released during Donald Trump’s secret trial reveal lawyers’ difficulties handling Stormy Daniels.
• Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-lawyer, appeared frantically in her posts after the hush money story broke in 2018.
• Prosecutors say Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 days before the 2016 election on behalf of Trump.

Text messages presented as evidence in Donald Trump’s criminal trial show how Stormy Daniels’ former lawyers and the former president struggled to control the woman after the explosive news of the hush money scheme broke there is over six years old.

The series of messages between Trump’s personal lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen and Los Angeles lawyer Keith Davidson was presented to the Manhattan jury while Davidson was on the witness stand this week.

Davidson, Daniels’ former lawyer who negotiated the secret sexual relationship she says she had with Trump in 2006, testified how Cohen became “frantic” after the Wall Street Journal in January 2018 reported first published the story of the $130,000 payment. made to adult film actress.

Text messages between Cohen and Davidson during this period show this, with Cohen repeatedly begging Davidson to call him.

“The WSJ called stormy. She didn’t answer. They say they are publishing an article and they have until tonight for her to comment,” Davidson texted Cohen on January 10, 2018 , two days before the article was published, according to the messages.

Cohen quickly responded, “Write him a strong denial comment like you did before.”

‘It’s not good’

Days after the hush money story broke, Cohen texted Davidson to say he had scheduled Daniels — real name Stephanie Clifford — to appear “tonight” on the Fox show News from Sean Hannity.

Davidson responded that she couldn’t do it that day.

“She’s flying to LA tomorrow. I’m trying to convince her to commit to tomorrow,” Davidson texted.

Cohen responded: “It’s really important. Why?” and begged Davidson to call him.

“This is not good. We need it, because by doing it tomorrow you will only create another news cycle instead of ending this one,” Cohen wrote.

Minutes later, Cohen texted Davidson, “Please call me,” before texting again, “Come on!”

“Let’s forget about tonight. They’d prefer tomorrow so they can promote the show,” Davidson texted about a half hour later.

Posts show Cohen’s ‘pants on fire on stage’

More than two hours later, Cohen backtracked and sent Davidson a message: “The wise guys all believe the story is dying and don’t think it’s smart for her to do interviews. Let -do her thing, but no interviews with anyone.”

Davidson then responded “100%.”

“Thanks buddy,” Cohen responded, adding, “Just no interviews or statements except through you.”

In Davidson’s testimony Thursday about text messages regarding Daniels’ potential appearance on Hannity’s show, he said, “It was sort of in one of Michael Cohen’s pants on fire scenes , where he was sort of frantically trying to address the fact that Stormy’s story had seeped into public consumption and he – he was frantic.

“I was in a trial and – this is quite absorbing – and there were just many, many phone calls and many, many text messages and no regard for my schedule,” Davidson told the jury.

Davidson testified that he believed Cohen thought that if Daniels went on Hannity’s show it would “help him and his client in some way.”

“I understood that he thought she would further deny this interaction,” Davidson told the jury.

Daniels initially denied any involvement with Trump, including in written statements to the media after the hush money story broke. But months later, she said she actually had sex with the then-“Apprentice” star in 2006.

Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say Cohen made the hush money payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf to buy her silence about the affair she had with him – and that Trump lied on documents to conceal his reimbursements from Cohen.

Trump, who faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, has repeatedly denied having an affair with Daniels.

“Why is she attacking Kimmel after Sotu”

Text messages between Cohen and Davidson also show the internal chaos that ensued before and after Daniels’ appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on January 30, 2018, following Trump’s State of the Union address.

“Why is she going after Kimmel after Sotu,” Cohen texted Davidson a few days earlier. Davidson responded: “I don’t know, I was upset. She said it was her chance. I’m meeting with her this weekend to prepare her and get the statement.”

During Daniels’ interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she suggested that her signature under a statement denying having an affair with Trump had been forged.

“She simply denied the letter,” Cohen texted Davidson at the time. “Pretending it’s not his signature.”

“You said she did it in front of you,” Cohen added. Davidson responded: “She did it. No way – she posted it on her own Twitter page.”

Cohen then texted: “They showed her signature and she claimed it wasn’t hers on Kimmel.”

“Wtf,” Davidson replied.

Cohen sent a message a few minutes later: “The press is already starting to email me.”

Shortly afterward, Cohen texted Davidson to “please tell” Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’ then-manager, “to make sure that “Daniels” responds the same way as your statement tomorrow when ‘she will make the sight’.

“It’s not a comedy!” Cohen fumed.

“Gina is upset with Stormy because Stormy was making her out to be a liar,” Davidson told Cohen, referring to Daniels’ agent. “Gina says she’s going to have a LONG talk with Stormy on the plane to New York tomorrow. She assured me it would be taken care of.”

Davidson said Thursday that Daniels signed the widely circulated statement denying any affair with Trump, but that he wrote the statement himself.

The lawyer also said that “an extremely strict reading of this statement would be technically true.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever claimed that any interaction between her and Mr. Trump was romantic,” Davidson said.