Attorney Keith Davidson, a witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, enraged one of the former president’s lawyers while being cross-examined in court on Thursday.
Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to reimbursement payments made to ex-attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in a criminal case brought on by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The hush money payment was made to silence Daniels about an affair she claimed she had with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. Trump has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Davidson, who was Daniels’ lawyer at the time of the hush money payment, was cross-examined by Trump’s attorney Emil Bove on Thursday.
During the cross-examination, Bove grew frustrated with Davidson’s answers after he replied to several questions with “I don’t recall,” according to Newsweek‘s Katherine Fung who was reporting inside the courtroom.
“He’s raised his voice a couple of times and at one point asked the witness, ‘It’s your testimony that you don’t even know what I’m talking about?'” Fung wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
After several “I don’t recall”s, Bove seems frustrated with Davidson’s answers. He’s raised his voice a couple of times and at one point asked the witness, “It’s your testimony that you don’t even know what I’m talking about?”
— Katherine Fung (@katherinekfung) May 2, 2024
As the interaction between the two continued to get heated, Bove asked Davidson, “Is it fair to say your memory seems a little fuzzy around these periods?” To which Davidson snapped back: “I’ve had 1,500 clients.”
Bove then told Davidson, “I’m not here to play lawyer games with you,” adding that he was just looking for “truthful answers.”
“You’re getting truthful answers, sir,” Davidson barked back.
Earlier this week, Davidson revealed in court that he believed the hush money payment was coming from Trump, rather than Cohen.
When a prosecutor asked, “Did you ever believe that Michael Cohen was going to be the ultimate source of the funds?” Davidson replied, “Never, never prior to funding, no.”
The prosecutor then asked: “Even after [Cohen] said: ‘I’ll just do it myself,’ where did you understand the money would be coming from?”
Bove objected to the question and was overruled by Judge Juan Merchan.
Davidson then replied that he believed the money was coming “from Donald Trump or some corporate affiliation thereof.”
Eduardo Munoz-Pool/Getty Images
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