NY v Trump: Remaining alleged gag order violations hang in balance as trial resumes

Former President Trump’s unprecedented trial in Manhattan resumes for its 11th day on Friday, when the presiding judge could rule on the former president's remaining alleged gag order violations, and the court is expected to hear continued testimony from a computer forensics expert.

Trump is expected back in court at 9:30 a.m. Friday for the final day of the third week of his trial.

Judge Juan Merchan held a hearing Thursday morning to consider the remaining alleged gag order violations against Trump. The 45th president was fined $9,000 on Tuesday for violating the order — which bans him from speaking publicly about witnesses and family members of court officials — on nine separate occasions. The district attorney's office argued Trump violated the gag order on 14 separate occasions.

Merchan did not deliver a ruling on the remaining alleged violations Thursday but could issue a decision Friday. In his initial gag order ruling, Merchan warned that Trump could face jail time if there are "continued willful violations" of the order.

Trump said he would appeal the gag order during remarks after the trial adjourned Thursday evening.

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During the trial on Thursday, the jury heard continued testimony from Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, as well as the trial's seventh witness, Doug Daus, a computer forensics expert with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. 

Daus is expected to resume testimony Friday morning under cross-examination. The computer expert testified on Thursday about the "unusual" number of contacts on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's cellphone, which totaled nearly 40,000 contacts, and confirmed the metadata for audio recordings on Cohen's phone, at least of of which appeared to be a conversation between Cohen and Trump.

The New York v. Trump case focuses on Cohen paying Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony. 

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Davidson testified Thursday that the $130,000 payment to Daniels was not a "payoff" or "hush money," as it is frequently called in the media, but a "consideration" payment. Consideration is a legal term for what someone gives in return for the promise to abide by a contract. In the case of Daniels, money was given in return to abide by the contract.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass pressed Davidson about a 2018 statement Daniels released denying any affair with Trump, detailing that her interactions with the former real estate mogul only included "a few public appearances and nothing more." Davidson prepared the statement for Daniels.

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"I don’t believe that Stormy ever alleged that any interaction with Trump was ‘romantic,‘" Davidson said Thursday, but he added that, to his understanding, Daniels had a sexual encounter with Trump.

Davidson’s testimony also focused on Cohen, who Davidson said became "despondent and saddened" following the 2016 election, allegedly lamenting he did not lock down a White House job under the Trump administration. 

"Can you f--ing believe I’m not going to Washington after everything I’ve done for that guy? I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington … I’ve saved his a– …," Davidson recounted of a conversation he had had with Cohen in December 2016.

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Davidson testified that Cohen had been hoping to land a position as White House chief of staff or attorney general in the lead-up to Trump’s inauguration. 

The lawyer's testimony Thursday stands in contrast to Cohen’s remarks to Congress in 2019.

"Sir, I was extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the United States of America. I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs," Cohen told Republican Rep. Jim Jordan in 2019 during a House Oversight Committee hearing. 

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"I did not want to go to the White House," Cohen added later in his testimony to Congress. "I retained, I brought an attorney in, and I sat with Mr. Trump, with him for well over an hour, explaining the importance of having a personal attorney, that every president has had one in order to handle matters like the matters I was dealing with."

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and he has slammed the case as a "scam" promoted by the Biden administration and led by a "conflicted judge."

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Court proceedings on Friday are expected to wrap up by 3:45 p.m., earlier than the usual 4:30 p.m. end time, because a juror has an appointment.

Fox News Digital's Brianna Herlihy and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.