Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Karen McDougal, testified about the meeting he arranged between McDougal and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
“Ms. McDougal alleged that she had had a romantic affair with Donald Trump some years prior,” Davidson said, referring to what McDougal shared during the meeting.
Asked on the stand whether the affair was sexual, Davidson replied: “That’s what she expressed.”
Howard told them he wanted to “return to New York and run it up on the flag pole” before making a decision about whether to purchase McDougal’s story.
“It’s a story that should be told,” Davidson texted Howard on June 27, 2017, regarding the alleged affair.
“I agree,” Howard responded.
Jurors then saw text messages from about a month after the Howard-McDougal meeting.
“Let’s talk … tomorrow. I think this is the entree for me to go back to them,” Howard texted Davidson.
“Better to be quick,” replied Davidson, who said on the stand that he was trying to play the National Enquirer against another media outlet to create a “sense of urgency.”
“You were trying to convey that there was some urgency and Dylan Howard should act quickly?” prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked Davidson.
“That’s fair,” Davidson said.