With scandal-plagued former President Trump’s infamous Manhattan Hush Money trial fully underway now, new, never-before-made-public details are being exposed in the courtroom and are expected to be ruled admissible in the case — and political onlookers and experts are expecting this newly uncovered information to not only be extremely revealing, but absolutely damning for the ex-president.
New York Times investigative reporter Sue Craig spoke with MSNBC after the news broke, stating that she was “struck” by the “new information” that came out in Monday’s round of opening statements in the Manhattan courtroom. Among these bombshell new revelations was a series of text messages sent by National Enquirer reporters who were involved in the publication’s efforts to investigate the stories of adult film star Stormy Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal — both of whom have claimed to have extramarital, sexual affairs with Donald Trump and were subsequently paid off in some way during the 2016 election cycle to remain silent about those affairs, as to protect Trump’s chances at securing the presidency… Leading to the criminal trial he is embroiled in as we speak.
According to Craig, one of the text messages read, “What have we done?”
We first saw jury selection for the criminal hush money trial that is now officially underway, as both the prosecution and the defense recently delivered their opening statements to Judge Juan Merchan and the jury of Donald Trump’s peers in the courtroom, where the disgraced former president stands trial on 34 felony counts related to the hush money payments.
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“We’ve heard about text messages that went back and forth with the National Enquirer when they went out to see Karen McDougal, one of the women who had a relationship with Donald Trump,” Craig said.
“They were trying to confirm if the story was true.”
The NYT investigative reporter goes on to note that one of Karen McDougal’s attorneys was involved in a text message conversation with someone at the National Enquirer tabloid on the night of the presidential election — a previously unknown fact.
“We’ll see a lot of that come through. And David Pecker was not on the stand for very long, but just hearing the details that we got, the idea that … reporters were given about $10,000 to get that story,” Craig said of yesterday’s happenings in court.
“And I wasn’t clear if that included payment to somebody or expenses and payment, but anything above that, he would have to sign off on it. What that told me was the payments that went to Karen McDougal, that went to Stormy Daniels, were unusual. They were high.”
Craig goes on to reference an alleged $30,000 payment made to a Trump doorman in exchange for their silence regarding a possible Trump love child. Ultimately, McDougal was $150,000, while Daniels was given $130,000.
During the second half of the MSNBC segment, Lawfare’s Anna Bower agreed with Craig’s assessment that new information was brought forward in court yesterday and went on to add that she expects more to come to light.
Ultimately, there is some conversation and speculation as to what portions of the new information will and will not be deemed admissible in court.
“We heard a lot about phone records the prosecution intends to introduce,” Bower explains. “So, I think that we certainly will see new evidence. But the question is — there were these questions about whether it would be admissible for hearsay reasons.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
