Defense attacks Stormy Daniels’ credibility as she returns to the stand in Trump’s hush money trial
NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand Thursday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial as the defense tries to undermine the credibility of the porn actor’s salacious testimony about their alleged sexual encounter and the money she was paid to keep her mouth shut.
The former president’s trial gets underway with attorneys questioning Daniels, whose account is crucial to the prosecution’s case accusing Trump of plotting to illegally influence the 2016 presidential campaign by suppressing unflattering stories about him .
Trump watched in court as Daniels spent hours Tuesday describing an unexpected sexual encounter she said she had in 2006. Trump denies they ever had sex. Yet a decade later, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid her to remain silent during the final weeks of the presidential campaign.
Daniels’ testimony was an extraordinary moment in what could be the only criminal case against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to go to trial before voters decide in November whether to return him to the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty, denies any wrongdoing and has portrayed himself as the victim of a politically tainted justice system seeking to deny him another term.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to portray Daniels as a liar and extortionist who is trying to take down the former president after she made money and fame from her story about him. Daniels sometimes delved into pointed questions and vigorously denied the idea that she had tried to extort Trump.
“Am I right that you hate President Trump?” attorney Susan Necheles asked Daniels.
“Yes,” she acknowledged.
Trump frowned and shook his head at much of Daniels’ description of their alleged sexual encounter after she met Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in 2006, where sponsors included the adult film studio where she worked. At one point, the judge told lawyers during a side conversation — out of earshot of the jury and audience — that he could hear Trump “audibly cursing.”
“I’m speaking to you here in court because I don’t want to embarrass him,” Judge Juan M. Merchan told Trump’s lawyers, according to a transcript of the proceedings.
For the first time in the trial, the defense pushed for a mistrial Tuesday because of Daniels’ detailed testimony, calling it “extremely damaging.” The judge denied the request, partly blaming the defense for not objecting more forcefully when she was testifying to keep her from giving more details than she should have.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal corporate records of the Trump Organization. The charges stem from items such as invoices and checks that were considered legal fees in the Trump Organization’s administration, while prosecutors say the payments were largely refunds to Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels.
Testimony to date has clearly shown that at the time of the payment to Daniels, Trump and his campaign were reeling from the October 2016 release of the never-before-seen “Access Hollywood” footage from 2005 in which he bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without their genitals. permission.
Prosecutors have argued that the political firestorm over the “Access Hollywood” tape prompted Cohen to pay Daniels to prevent her from going public with her claims that could further damage Trump in the eyes of female voters.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.