Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

MSNBC Panel Says Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Was ‘Difficult’ Witness For Prosecution And ‘Helpful’ To Trump

MSNBC Panel Says Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Was 'Difficult' Witness For Prosecution And 'Helpful' To Trump

Members of an MSNBC panel on Thursday said porn star Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson was a challenging witness for the prosecution and benefited former President Donald Trump’s defense.

Davidson, who also previously represented Karen McDougal, testified Thursday in the trial where Trump faces 34 felony counts of allegedly falsifying business records pertaining to reimbursing his former attorney Michael Cohen for $130,000 paid to Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Former assistant New York State Attorney General Adam Pollock said his testimony was “difficult” for the prosecution while MSNBC legal analyst Catherine Christian said he was “helpful” to the defense because Trump’s attorneys will have more ammunition to allege that Daniels’ attorney exploited the then-presidential candidate.

WATCH:

“I think Davidson is one in a line of difficult witnesses that already come before and are going to be coming in this trial,” Pollock said in response to host Katy Tur asking about how his testimony impacted the prosecution’s case. “This is a messy trial, and sort of gives us all an insight, a crack into what this sordid world is about between the National Enquirer and selling stories. It’s not pretty to watch.”

“He was helpful in that he established that there was a payoff and he negotiated with Michael Cohen, but he was helpful to the defense because he has, particularly since the prosecution didn’t bring out some of his bad acts on their direct examination, he appears to be in the defense view, just a lawyer who shakes down people, whether it was Hulk Hogan or other people,” Christian said in response to the same question. “That’s what he did and maybe that’s what happened here. That’s what the defense will say. This was a shake down of Donald Trump. This wasn’t about paying someone as an illegal campaign contribution. This was a shake down, and Michael Cohen, it’s an understatement to say how difficult of a witness he is for the prosecution.

Davidson testified that he received a call from Cohen, who he thought was going to “kill himself” over Trump not placing him in his cabinet in December 2016.

A CNN panel on Thursday agreed there has not been substantial evidence of Trump’s “direct involvement” in the payments over which he is charged, saying there are not many “receipts” and the witness testimony has only yielded “tidbits” of evidence.