The lawyer who negotiated a hush money deal to prevent a Playboy model’s alleged affair with Donald Trump from going public reacted with shock to the former president’s victory in 2016, according to text messages revealed Thursday.
Keith Davidson, a former attorney for Karen McDougal, was testifying in Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial when prosecutors introduced as evidence text messages he sent to Dylan Howard, then the editor in chief of the National Enquirer. The tabloid had agreed to pay $150,000 for the rights to McDougal’s story, which it buried as part of an effort to assist Trump’s campaign, according to testimony from former publisher David Pecker.
Immediately following Trump’s shock victory in 2016, Davidson picked up his phone and sent a 3 a.m. text to Howard.
“What have we done?” he wrote as it became clear that Trump was going to win enough electoral votes to become president.
“Oh my god,” Howard responded.
Testifying Thursday, Davidson, who also represented adult film star Stormy Daniels, explained that the texts were a form of “gallows humor,” NBC News reported.
“There was sort of surprise amongst the broadcasters and others that Donald Trump was leading in the polls, and there was a growing sense that folks were about ready to call the election,” Davidson said, adding that he and Howard understood that “our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
