Donald Trump Prosecutors Obtained 'Key Admission' From Witness—Attorney

Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels, has told the Donald Trump hush money trial that he always believed the former president was behind secret payments to the adult film star.

A court transcript shows that Davidson made the comment after an objection by Trump's lawyer was overruled.

Davidson testified that he believed that Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, would not fund the payoff and that it would ultimately come from Trump or one of his companies.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has continually said that this case and other criminal and civil matters involving him are politically motivated.

The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, Daniels to not disclose an alleged affair they had. He denies the affair.

The trial evidence shows that Davidson always believed that it was Trump who was paying for Daniels' silence.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney and Davidson via email for comment on Wednesday.

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?"

Trump's lawyer, Emil 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."

Lawyer and MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday that prosecutors now have Davidson's "clean, key admission" that the money was coming from Trump.

"Sometimes, it's not clear how testimony shook out until the transcript is in. And now I see prosecutors did get a clean, key admission from Keith Davidson," she wrote. "Even after Cohen said he'd just pay Stormy himself, Davidson understood Trump or a Trump company would foot the bill."

Rubin also posted that section of the transcript on X.

Davidson eventually removed himself from the Daniels deal and texted National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, "I can't believe Cohen let this go. It's going to be a s***show."

He was referring to the negative publicity that Trump would endure when Daniels went public.

He texted Howard that Daniels planned to publicize the story and he expected more than just a "flurry" of responses: "There would be a tornado."

"They had this deal on a silver platter," Davidson wrote, adding that the only reason Trump's team didn't go for it was "because they didn't want to spend the money."

Asked what Howard meant when he texted Davidson, "I reckon that Trump impersonator I hired has more cash," Davidson told the court he meant "that Trump wasn't as wealthy as he stated."

"It was very frustrating—the entire matter was very frustrating—that it was on again and off again, that there were delays in funding, cancellations, disengaging from clients, reengaging with clients," Davidson said.