Jimmy Kimmel wants to testify at Trump’s hush money trial
‘We are part of the official record of The People vs Donald Trump,’ hosts says after nemecheck in court
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Jimmy Kimmel made it loud and clear that he would be thrilled to testify at Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial after his talk show was name-dropped in court this week.
On the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the late show host announced he was “very excited, I’m very proud, I’m exhilarated even,” after prosecutors showed texts between lawyers about Stormy Daniels’ appearance on the show six years ago.
“From here on, we aren’t just following the Donald Trump drama in New York; we are part of it now,” Kimmel said reacting to his namecheck in court. “We are part of the official record of The People vs. Donald Trump.”
Trump has charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly concealing hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the presidential election, in order to stay quiet about an alleged affair in 2006.
In one of the latest developments, prosecutors brought up tests from 2018 between then-Trump attorney Michale Cohen to Keith Davidson, the lawyer who allegedly negotiated Ms Daniels’ hush money payment.
Mr Cohen asked Mr Davidson why she was going on Jimmy Kimmel Live after that year’s State of the Union address by Trump.
Kimmel explained that during the 2018 interview, he asked about a letter she’d released saying that she never had an affair with Trump, but the host questioned whether she actually signed the letter because the “signature looked suspect.”
In the interview, Ms Daniels dodged the question multiple times, with Kimmel saying she implied that she had not actually signed.
"She just denied the letter," Mr Cohen wrote to Mr Davidson, according to the texts shown in court. "Claiming it’s not her signature."
"You said she did it in front of you," he added.
CNN reported that Mr Davidson responded, "She did. It’s impossible—she posted it on her own Twitter page."
“I don’t want to brag, but it’s the first time a late-night talk show has been introduced into evidence at the criminal trial for a president of the United States,” Kimmel said.
“Johnny Carson didn’t get that with Nixon. We got it here!”
The show host added that it was “historic” that his talk show will forever be immortalised in the criminal court proceedings against the former president.
“When Ryan Murphy makes the nine-part miniseries about this for Fubo, I will be in it; I would assume someone like George Clooney or maybe Chris Hemsworth will be playing me,” he joked.
Despite Kimmel’s elation, he went on to explain that he thinks that while prosecutors had brought up references to this particular episode, they completely missed the “most important interview I did with Stormy.”
He then cut to another interview with Ms Daniels later in 2018, during which he displayed a row of orange mushrooms in front of her and asked which one “would most represent the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military.”
“This is why I need to be in court,” Kimmel declared on his Thursday show. “I’m sick of being out of the court, I want to be in it, why was I not asked to testify? It’s outrageous!”
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