An attempt by Donald Trump's lawyer to suggest adult film star Stormy Daniels wanted to extort the former president with a hush-money payment may end up backfiring, a legal expert has said.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor, reacted to questions Emil Bove, Trump's lawyer, asked Keith Davidson, an attorney who used to represent Daniels, about her apparent motive in seeking money to keep secret an alleged affair she had with the former president.
On May 2, during proceedings at Trump's trial on charges of falsifying business records, Bove questioned Davidson about a recorded conversation he had with Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump, in which Davidson said Daniels would "lose all f*****g leverage" if the Republican lost the 2016 election. Daniels is also said to have urged Davidson to settle the negotiations for the hush money quickly over fears she would lose leverage if Trump lost the election.
Eliason said on X that the attempts by Trump's legal team to suggest Daniels wanted the payment before the 2016 election to maintain leverage over Trump could also help the prosecution set out to the jury why the former president wanted to pay it.
"The defense bringing out that Daniels would lose all 'leverage' if the story wasn't purchased before the election is supposed to make it sound like extortion," Eliason wrote. "But it actually helps the prosecution: the story had value to Trump only [because] of its ability to influence the election."
Expanding on his remarks, Eliason told Newsweek: "Everyone involved recognized that suppressing the story only had value to Trump prior to the election; after that he wouldn't care and wouldn't pay.
"The purpose of the hush money was not to avoid public embarrassment or keep the story from Melania—which could be done at any time—it was to influence the election. That is the prosecution's primary theory of the case, and the defense cross of Davidson helped reinforce it."
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to $130,000 he arranged for Cohen to pay Daniels to keep an alleged affair she had with Trump secret in the run-up to the 2016 election, which was later listed in company records as Cohen's "legal fees." Prosecutors suggested the payment was part of an unlawful attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential race.
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump's legal team for comment via email.
The defense bringing out that Daniels would lose all “leverage” if the story wasn’t purchased before the election is supposed to make it sound like extortion. But it actually helps the prosecution: the story had value to Trump only b/c of its ability to influence the election.
— Randall Eliason (@RDEliason) May 2, 2024
George Grasso, a former judge at the New York City Criminal Court in Kings County, said Davidson "produced some fireworks" during his testimony, with Bove also conducting a "fiery" cross-examination.
"All told, while the witness had to endure some uncomfortable moments, his testimony appeared to hold together regarding his key role in facilitating the 'hush money' payments at the heart of the People's case," Grasso told Newsweek.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, said he reimbursed the $130,000 payment to Cohen but denied having an affair with Daniels.
In April 2023, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office released a statement of facts about its investigation that said Trump instructed Cohen to delay paying Daniels the $130,000 sum for "as long as possible" in the hope that after the 2016 election they could "avoid paying altogether, because at that point it would not matter if the story became public."
Elsewhere during Thursday's proceedings, Bove suggested Davidson approached breaking the law when he sought money from celebrities to stop potentially embarrassing stories about them from becoming public, including an alleged attempt to seek cash from wrestler Hulk Hogan in exchange for a sex tape.
"You were pretty well-versed in getting right up to the line without committing extortion, right?" Bove asked.
Davidson denied ever committing extortion, saying the settlements he reached with public figures were fair and legitimate.
Update 5/3/24, 10:53 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further comment from Randall Eliason.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
