How prosecutors are using evidence of Trump's 'penny-pinching' to prove the billionaire tried to disguise the payoff to Stormy Daniels

It was October 18th, 2016, less than a month before Election Day, and billionaire celebrity presidential candidate Donald Trump had a major 's*** show' on his hands. 

A porn star who says she once playfully smacked him on the backside with a rolled up magazine during a 2006 photo shoot had demanded a substantial sum to silence her claims of a sexual affair.

The electorate might not like it. Melania might not like it either. Incredibly, a team of lawyers and advocates had hammered out a way to make the problem go away.  

It was all set up – on a 'silver platter' as one party put it. But it nearly blew up, because the billionaire candidate was 'tight' with his cash.

It was one of many occasions when the billionaire with expensive tastes was loathe to part with money – only to face daunting repercussions. 

The terms of the deal had been hashed out over a series of frantic texts and phone calls, many involving the harried former Trump fixer Michael Cohen.  

The porn star who claimed she had sex with Trump in 2016 would sign away her rights to the alleged hookup for $130,000 just weeks before Election Day 2016.

Penny-wise: A deal to make Stormy Daniels' allegations of a sexual affair with Trump nearly blew up weeks before Election Day in 2016, because Trump was 'tight' with money, a lawyer for Daniels testified.

But then on the 18th, Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson suddenly cancelled the deal. Payment hadn't gone through.

He told National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard it was going to be a 's*** show' and that Daniels would take her claims public. That could be catastrophic for Trump's presidential campaign, which was in its final weeks.

'I just felt like it was going to be more than a flurry of activity. I felt it would be a tornado,' he testified in court in Manhattan Tuesday during the Trump trial.

It would be a 'full on blitz,' Davidson texted.

'I bet. All because Trump is tight,' Howard wrote back.

Davidson explained what he meant in court when prosecutors asked him about it.

'That Mr Trump was frugal. They had this deal there on a silver platter. It was there for the taking. The only reason it doesn't close is because it didn’t fund. The only reason it didn't fund is because they didn’t want to spend the money,' he said.

Stormy Daniels' former attorney Keith Davidson spoke about a critical period in October when the Stormy Daniels payoff fell apart and came back together. He testified Trump's 'frugality' was the reason

Trump might have saved himself thousands of dollars had he simply paid Daniels out of his own funds to suppress her claims of a sexual affair, which he denies

It is one of the most curious questions of the entire Stormy Daniels matter. Why didn't the billionaire candidate simply pay off the accuser himself? If he had, he might not be facing 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Instead, Cohen put up the money himself, in order to 'hush' talk of affair allegations that didn't pertain to him.

That followed a series of excuses Cohen had made for failing to come up with the money in an odd arrangement where the longtime Trump fixer was negotiating an agreement for two people identified only by psudonyms.

'God damn it, I’ll just do it myself,' he finally told Davidson, the lawyer recalled. 

Cohen wasn't rolling in dough at the time. He had to take out a home equity line of credit to finance it. 

And when he got reimbursed through checks from the Trump Organization – put down as 'legal expenses' as a key part of the alleged falsification chargers – he would require an even larger reimbursement to avoid having to take an additional tax hit on the 'income.'

So 'frugal' Trump would have actually saved considerable funds had he paid it himself. It also might have spared him charges on 34 counts of falsifying business records, although it is unclear if the disbursement would need to be disclosed as a campaign-related expense – another element of the case that landed Cohen in jail for a campaign finance violation.

Trump has denied having the affair, and shook his head in court when prosecutor Josh Steinglass described the outlines of the deal, including the 'assumption' of where the money would come from.

Back-and-forth during the trial reveals efforts by prosecutors to get the witness to speak about Trump's stinginess – his reputation for gold-plated plumbing on his private aircraft and repeated boasts about his luxury golf and real estate empire notwithstanding.

‘What about Mr Trump’s frugality is relevant’ Steinglass asked Davidson during questioning, in a question the judge wouldn't allow.

'My understanding was Mr Trump was the beneficiary of this contract and that the overwhelming majority of cases the beneficiary of the contract is the one who funds it,’ was his response.

Judge Juan Merchan allowed the leading question to be stricken.

‘To what did you attribute the lack of funding of this deal?' he asked again.

'Frugality,' Davidson replied.

All the talk of penny-pinching isn't frivolous. It is essential to the core case prosecutors sketched out on Day One of the trial. They are seeking to establish Trump's reputation for cheapness – in order to argue that he was trying to shroud payments meant to boost his campaign.

'Now, you will see evidence at trial that Donald Trump was a very frugal businessman,' said prosecutor Matthew Colangelo in his opening statement.

'He believed in pinching pennies. He believed in watching every dollar. He believed in negotiating every bill. It's all over all of the books he has written. He ran the Trump Organization with total control.

'You will hear testimony about his relentless focus on the bottom line. But when it came time to pay Michael Cohen back for the catch-and-kill deal, you will see that he didn't negotiate the price down; he doubled it. And he doubled it so they could disguise it as income.'

Prosecutors have plenty of time to expand on Trump's tightwad reputation as the trial goes on. He earned a reputation for stiffing contractors during his run as a casino magnate. He relied on cheaper non-union labor for his construction projects, the AFL-CIO noted. Trump has even been sued by some of the lawyers who have represented him – including one who sued to collect $5,000 in legal fees (the case resulted in a settlement).

Trump even listed 'contain the costs' as one of his principles in 'Art of the Deal.' He said his father Fred Trump – whose inheritance was the subject of an intra-Trump family lawsuit from relatives who claimed they got stiffed – taught him to never pay a penny more than you should.