Court filings show Trump, Cohen contacts amid hush money payments

“Jay Sekulow’s statement is completely distorted and dishonest,” said Cohen. “As I stated in my opening testimony, I and members of The Trump Organization were directed by Mr. Trump to handle the Stormy Daniels matter; including making the hush money payment. The conclusion of the investigation exonerating The Trump Organization’s role should be of great concern to the American people and investigated by Congress and The Department of Justice.”

Davis suggested Trump could still be charged with criminal wrongdoing as soon as he leaves office. Justice Department policy states that a sitting president cannot be indicted. 

The filing states that Cohen, Trump and Hicks were all on one phone call on Oct. 8, 2016, that lasted about four minutes, and that Cohen and Hicks made a second call with just the two of them shortly afterward.

That revelation may conflict with what Hicks told the House Judiciary Committee in closed-door testimony last month, when she said she was never “present” when Trump discussed Daniels with Cohen.

“Were you ever present when Trump and Cohen discussed Stormy Daniels?” Hicks was asked by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

“No, ma’am,” Hicks replied.

The affidavit further alleges that Cohen was in contact with Pecker and Howard — the AMI executives — and then again with Hicks before calling Pecker another time.

“At 8:03 p.m., about three minutes after ending his call with Pecker, Cohen called Trump, and they spoke for nearly eight minutes,” the document reads.

Cohen then made two more calls to Howard, who later texted Cohen, “Keith will do it. Let’s reconvene tomorrow,” apparently referring to Daniels’s attorney at the time.

Howard texted both Cohen and Davidson the next morning, writing “Keith/Michael: connecting you both in regards to that business opportunity. Spoke to the client this AM and they’re confirmed to proceed with the opportunity. Thanks, Dylan. Over to you two.”

“Based on my participation in this investigation, I believe that when Howard wrote that the ‘client’ was ‘confirmed to proceed with the opportunity,’ he was referring to Clifford’s agreement in principle to accept money from Cohen in exchange for her agreement not to discuss any prior affair with then-candidate Trump,” the agent wrote.

Later that month, Howard, Cohen and Davidson reconnected in an attempt to finalize the agreement, according to the affidavit. The document states that the morning after Cohen spoke to Davidson, he also spoke with Trump for about five minutes.

The document also centered around a Nov. 4, 2016, article published in The Wall Street Journal that alleged the National Enquirer had buried a story on McDougal’s allegations of an affair with Trump.

“It appears that Cohen spoke frequently to Davidson, Howard, Pecker and Hicks around the time of this article’s publication — just days before Election Day — about the importance of preventing the McDougal and Clifford stories from gaining national traction,” the filing reads.

At one point — shortly before the story’s publication — Howard texted Cohen, “I think it’ll be ok pal. I think it’ll fade into the distance.”

Cohen replied, “He’s pissed,” to which Howard wrote, “I’m pissed! You’re pissed. Pecker is pissed. Keith is pissed. Not much we can do.”

“Based on my involvement in this investigation, I believe Cohen was referring to Trump when he stated ‘he’s pissed,’” the agent wrote.

“The communication records set forth above make evident that Cohen communicated with members of the Trump campaign about his negotiation with Clifford’s attorney and the need to preclude Clifford from making a statement that would have reflected negatively on the candidate in advance of the forthcoming election,” the document states.

The documents released on Thursday include hundreds of pages of search warrants, warrant applications and supporting affidavits tied to raids on Cohen’s hotel room, home and office in April 2018, in addition to those underlying searches of Cohen’s email, cellphone location data and other electronic devices.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley III ordered prosecutors to file the documents in largely unredacted form on Thursday, writing that investigators had completed their investigation into the campaign finance violations tied to the hush money payments.

“The campaign finance violations discussed in the Materials are a matter of national importance. Now that the Government’s investigation into those violations has concluded, it is time that every American has an opportunity to scrutinize the Materials,” Pauley wrote.

Redacted versions of the documents were already released in March, but details on the campaign finance charges were restricted from the public versions.

The National Enquirer appeared to be a crucial part of the federal probe on the hush-money payments arranged by Cohen, as Pecker reportedly received an immunity deal in exchange for his cooperation.