The text messages that tell the inside story of how the National Enquirer ... trends now
It starts with a one-line instant message from a lawyer to an editor: 'I have a blockbuster Trump story.'
What follows is a blow-by-blow account of how a Playboy model sold her tale to the National Enquirer, casting a spotlight not just on chequebook journalism and supermarket tabloids but the case against Donald Trump as it unfolds in a cold, gloomy New York courtroom.
The details are laid out in a document presented at Trump's hush money trial last week, entitled People's Exhibit 176A.
It merited only a fleeting mention as 'tabloid king' David Pecker, the then publisher of the National Enquirer, explained how he agreed to help the Trump campaign in 2015 by buying up negative stories about the then candidate.
It was back before the jury on Tuesday when Karen McDougal's Hollywood lawyer appeared as a witness, describing how he negotiated a payday with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump's 'hush money' trial heard about how Karen McDougal's lawyer negotiated with the National Enquirer editor to buy her story of an alleged affair
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
It is a list of more than 500 messages exchanged between the two, arranged in a spreadsheet.
At first they show Keith Davidson demanding $1 million for his client's explosive kiss-and-tell story.
He is gradually talked down, amid jokes that he could get an ambassadorship in a Trump administration, and promises that his client will feature on magazine covers.
The talks take on fresh urgency as Trump clinches the Republican nomination and as other media organisations get a sniff of the story.
And the messages reveal moments of drama, as one side or the other ups the pressure, along with an episode of farce, when a conference call almost breaks down because they have swapped the wrong telephone number.
It all begins when McDougal, who has since described meeting Trump at a Playboy Mansion pool party in 2006, gets in touch with Davidson on the advice of a friend who worked in the adult movie industry.
Davidson messaged Howard on June 7, 2016, with the offer of a blockbuster.
'Talk first thing,' the Australian-born National Enquirer editor replied. 'I will get you more than anyone for it. You know why...'
The messages reveal that they spent the next days talking by telephone, before Howard suddenly sees even more potential in the story.
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
Davidson (left) and Howard swapped hundreds of messages as they negotiated
'Did he cheat on Melania?' he asks, before repeating the question two days later.
'I really can't say yet. Sorry,' is the response from Davidson.
Howard flies to meet the Los Angeles-based lawyer telling him in advance to advise McDougal that she will get a deal.
This is all part of a scheme that is at the center of the prosecution case against Trump. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office alleges that he worked with the National Enquirer and its parent company American Media Inc (AMI) to pay off women in exchange for their silence, before doctoring business records to hide the payments.
Trump denies the charges.
On Tuesday, he sat in court listening to some of text messages about an alleged affair being read aloud and shook his head slowly.
Back in the summer of 2016, a day after the meeting, Davidson has news that might sweeten the pending deal.
'My client has located her Blackberry,' he messages Howard.
'Well this is interesting,' replies the editor. 'What's on it?'
He must have been hoping for incriminating messages or evidence of an affair. For any tabloid editor, pictures are crucial to drawing in readers.
The spreadsheet of exchanges indicates that Davidson forwards an image file to Howard ... whose disappointment is clear.
After the Blackberry is recovered, Davidson forwards an image but Howard is unimpressed. pointing out that McDougal had already shared it on her Twitter account
The trial is in its third week now in courtroom 1530 of Manhattan criminal court
'She posted that on Twitter,' he replies. Instead of an exclusive picture corroborating her story, it is a photo of her in a strapless black dress alongside a grinning Trump in a dark suit and silver tie that she published to the world in September
