The messages that declare Trump tried to silence Stormy Daniels in 2012
- Court exhibit reveals messages between National Enquirer editor and publicist
- ‘He threatened that I would never do business again in entertainment’
- READ MORE: The text messages that reveal National Enquirer deal with model
Donald Trump threatened to put a celebrity publicist out of business if she helped Stormy Daniels sell her story in 2012, according to messages entered into court evidence this week.
The bombshell claims come in instant messages between Gina Rodriguez and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
At the time of their exchange, interest in Trump had reached fever pitch.
He was the clear frontrunner for the 2016 Republican nomination and Howard’s then boss last week explained how he had agreed to hunt out negative stories in what prosecutors claim was a ‘catch and kill’ agreement to help his campaign.
‘I also had Donald Trump call my office 4 years ago when Stormy Daniels was going to do the Trump mistress story,’ Rodriguez wrote in April 2016.
‘He threatened that I would never do business again in entertainment.’
In messages presented to the court hearing Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial, publicist Gina Rodriguez claims the Apprentice star telephoned her office in 2012 when Stormy Daniels was first shopping around her story to magazines
A hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is at the heart of the business fraud case against Trump which is playing out in Manhattan court
The publicist’s name is redacted from the exhibit, but Wednesday’s court transcript and the title of the document refer to Rodriguez.
Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to the porn star.
He denies all the charges and insists the prosecution is part of a witch hunt to keep him from winning back the White House in November.
Far from being a dry case about invoices and wire transfers, evidence so far has illuminated the murky world of chequebook journalism and Trump’s celebrity lifestyle.
The exchanges documented in People’s Exhibit 171A describe the alleged role played by the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc, in buying up Daniels’ story.
Rodriguez explains why her client did not go public in 2012.
‘So we killed the story because I thought he would sue me,’ she writes.
‘But Stormy was his mistress.’
She agrees to send Howard more information about her story by email.
‘InTouch was going to do it before she passed a [redacted by court] but he scared all of and now Stormy won’t do anything,’ Rodriguez writes on April 7, 2016.
The latest batch of messages to be entered into evidence were between publicist Gina Rodriguez and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard
Rodriguez and Howard swapped dozens of messages as they closed in on a deal
The trial is in its third week now in courtroom 1530 of Manhattan criminal court
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Wednesday is a day off for the court. On Tuesday, jurors heard celebrity lawyer Keith Davidson describe messages swapped with Howard as he did a $150,000 deal for the rights to Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story.
And last week, David Pecker, the then publisher of National Enquirer and a stable of supermarket tabloids, said in 2015 he had offered to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Trump campaign, seeking out negative stories about the candidate.
At the heart of the case is a deal with Stormy Daniels for the story of what she claims was an affair with Trump.
Prosecutors allege that Trump fiddled business records to show that fixer Michael Cohen was paid a retainer for his legal services rather than for a ‘hush money payment’ reimbursement
The messages between Rodriguez and Howard set out the terms wanted by Daniels, whose real name is Stefanie Clifford.
Lawyer Keith Davidson, who represented former Playboy model Karen McDougal, was in court on Tuesday to answer questions about his correspondence with former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, who asked him whether Trump cheated on his wife Melania
David Pecker testified that he had been friends with Trump for decades, and had helped stamp out negative stories during the 2016 election after a key meeting at Trump Tower
‘She doesn’t want to go on record about it but will tell the story through a source,’ writes her publicist. ‘She will take [redacted by court].
‘She’s had sex with him. She wants 100k.’
Howard wants to know more. ‘Once or ongoing relationship,’ he asks.
Rodriguez answers: ‘A couple times and he promised her a condo, a spot on Apprentice.
‘She went to the Miss American pageant. He got her in.’
But Trump didn’t make good on his promises, she adds in another message.
Eric Trump arrived with his father on Tuesday morning as the trial entered its third week
People’s exhibit 176A lists hundreds of messages between lawyer to the stars Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard, who ran the National Enquirer and served as head of content for tabloid king David Tucker’s American Media Inc
The exchanges are a reminder that this is no ordinary business documents case. Prosecutors accuse Trump of trying to hide negative stories ahead of the 2016 election in what amounted to a election interference.
And evidence entered so far has revealed the inner workings of the tabloid media world and even Trump’s phone book.
The trial is due to resume on Thursday.
Trump was back on the campaign trail Wednesday, with visits to the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan.
His comments will be under close scrutiny after Judge Juan Merchan fined him $9000 a day earlier for breaching a gag order in the case.
He warned Trump he was ready to ‘impose an incarceratory punishment’ for any future breaches.
