The Latest | Witness testimony resumes as Trump’s hush money trial enters 15th day
NEW YORK — When testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money case resumes Friday, it will cap a feverish week that has seen porn actor Stormy Daniels take the stand, two failed defense attempts to get a mistrial declared, gag orders and more.
Daniels’ sometimes graphic testimony over two days captivated jurors and outraged defense attorneys who on Thursday described it as damaging and overly unnecessary. The prosecution defended Daniels’ interrogation and details of the alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump and ultimately the judge denied the motions for a mistrial — chiding the defense for not raising more objections during testimony.
Trump has denied that the two ever had sex.
Several others took the stand after Daniels, including a former Trump Organization executive assistant and an executive at HarperCollins Publishing.
It’s not yet clear who will take the next stand, but prosecutors are tracking down star witness Michael Cohen, who arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels and later went to prison for orchestrating the payments and other charges.
The trial is entering its 15th day. Prosecutors say Trump and two of his associates orchestrated a scheme to influence the 2016 election by buying and then burying stories that could harm his campaign.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal company records to cover up the hush money payments and instead recording them as legal fees. He has pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president and the first of four prosecutions against Trump to reach a jury.
Currently:
– Trump is limited in what he can say about his lawsuit. His GOP allies are showing up to help
– Here’s what happened Thursday: Stormy Daniels’ testimony, a denied mistrial, and an Oxford comma
– Holding Money, Capturing and Killing and More: Terms You Need to Know in the Trump Trial
– Key players: who’s who in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial
– The hush money case is just one of Trump’s lawsuits. Check out the others here
Here’s the latest:
Donald Trump’s attorney accused Stormy Daniels on Thursday of slowly changing details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump in an effort to convince jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president’s hush-money trial can be believed.
Susan Necheles accused Daniels on Thursday of slowly changing details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump in an effort to convince jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president’s hush-money trial could not be believed.
As the jury watched, the two women exchanged views about what Necheles said were inconsistencies in Daniels’ description of the meeting with Trump in a hotel room. He denies the whole story.
But despite all the talk about what might have happened in that hotel room, despite the adult film actor’s disturbing testimony that she consented to sex in part because of a “power imbalance,” the case against Trump is neither up nor down. whether her story is true or even credible. It’s a lawsuit over money changing hands – business transactions – and whether those payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election.
Karen McDougal is no longer expected to be called to the witness stand, according to a lawyer in Donald Trump’s hush money case.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche said late Thursday that prosecutors no longer plan to call McDougal, a former Playboy model who claimed to have had a yearslong extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump has denied that the affair took place.
The gag order that prohibits Donald Trump from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and several others related to his hush money case remains a thorn in the former president’s side.
On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers asked the mid-level appeals court in New York to expedite a decision on his silence order.
While the court took no immediate action, it did set deadlines for court filings in the next two weeks. If the court refuses to lift the silence order, his lawyers want permission to appeal to the state Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals.
A day later, attorneys tried to get Judge Juan M. Merchan to modify the silence order so Trump could publicly respond to Stormy Daniels’ testimony.
“He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people and the grounds for the silence order regarding Ms. Daniels are over. She is no longer a witness,” Todd Blanche said.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued that the gag order should not be changed to allow comments about Daniels because those comments could have a chilling effect on others.
Merchan rejected the request, saying his primary concern was not with Daniels or any witness who has already testified, but with “protecting the integrity of this proceeding as a whole.”
Donald Trump is expected to return to court on Friday when testimony in his hush money trial resumes, but it is unclear who will take the next step.
Porn actor Stormy Daniels completed her testimony on Thursday, after spending more than seven hours on the stand in two days. Daniels’ testimony was followed by that of a Trump Organization accountant who was previously an assistant to the company’s ex-finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, a HarperCollins publishing executive and Trump’s former personal secretary.
Prosecutors are building on testimony from star witness Michael Cohen, whose reimbursement of hush money payments to Daniels is at the center of the charges against the former president.