“The individuals name Stormy Daniels.”
So started the extraordinary and infrequently uncomfortable testimony of Ms. Daniels, who spent virtually 5 hours in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday recounting her story of a 2006 encounter with Donald J. Trump and the following hush-money cover-up that has change into the bedrock of the prosecution’s case.
Ms. Daniels spoke shortly and at size about her first assembly with Mr. Trump at a celeb golf event close to Lake Tahoe in Nevada.
After the lunch break, Mr. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche moved for a mistrial, arguing that the prosecution’s questions had been designed to embarrass Mr. Trump and prejudice the jury.
The decide, Juan M. Merchan, agreed that a few of Ms. Daniels’s testimony might need “been higher left unsaid,” however he denied a mistrial.
The previous president is accused of falsifying enterprise data to cowl up a $130,000 fee to Ms. Daniels simply earlier than the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the costs and says he didn’t have intercourse with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he may face jail time or probation.
Listed below are six takeaways from Mr. Trump’s thirteenth day on trial.
Prosecutors took a threat with their witness.
Jurors heard a vivid account of the Lake Tahoe encounter and met the lady who obtained the hush-money deal. This might current a threat for prosecutors, relying on whether or not the jury considered Ms. Daniels’s story as prurient or highly effective.
Ms. Daniels described assembly Mr. Trump on the golf occasion and accepting his dinner invitation after her publicist mentioned: “What may presumably go improper?”
She recalled that Mr. Trump was carrying pajamas when she met him at his lodge suite, and that she requested him to alter. They mentioned the porn business, and he requested about residuals, unions and S.T.D. testing.
She mentioned they talked about his household, together with his daughter, whom he likened to Ms. Daniels — “Individuals underestimate her as properly,” Ms. Daniels recalled him saying. Additionally they mentioned his spouse; Mr. Trump mentioned they didn’t “even sleep in the identical room.” He steered Ms. Daniels may seem on “The Apprentice.”
When she later emerged from the toilet, Ms. Daniels discovered Mr. Trump partially undressed, she mentioned. The intercourse was consensual, she mentioned, however there was an influence “imbalance.”
Trump obtained one other warning.
Justice Merchan has already held the previous president in contempt 10 occasions, fined him $10,000 and twice threatened to ship him to jail. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump once more drew the decide’s ire after Justice Merchan mentioned he had been “cursing audibly” and “shaking his head.”
The decide requested Mr. Trump’s attorneys privately to speak to their shopper, saying Mr. Trump’s actions may intimidate the witness, Ms. Daniels.
“It’s essential to converse to him,” the decide mentioned. “I received’t tolerate that.”
The motive for the payoff is some extent of rivalry.
Prosecutors requested Ms. Daniels a couple of 2018 assertion wherein she denied the sexual encounter. Ms. Daniels mentioned she had not wished to signal it and that it was not true.
Protection attorneys, capitalizing on what they appear to understand as Ms. Daniels’s shortcomings as a witness, got here out blazing. Certainly one of them, Susan Necheles, implied in her cross-examination that Ms. Daniels was making an attempt to “extort cash” from Mr. Trump.
Ms. Daniels replied sharply: “False.”
Daniels’s story bothers Trump.
Earlier than court docket even began Tuesday morning, Trump telegraphed his frustration with Ms. Daniels in an offended publish on Fact Social, saying he had simply realized a couple of coming witness and that his attorneys had “no time” to arrange. The publish was eliminated shortly thereafter, presumably due to considerations over violating the gag order.
Mr. Trump, who has spent a lot of the trial together with his eyes closed, remained attentive for a part of the day, usually with a bitter expression on his face. He frequently whispered to his attorneys and at one level mouthed an expletive.
However by the afternoon, he had returned to his behavior of closing his eyes, even throughout a combative cross-examination.
Daniels’s credibility is a hurdle for prosecutors.
Ms. Daniels’s motivations are a significant focus of the protection. In a pointy second, Ms. Necheles confronted her about her hatred of the previous president, and requested whether or not she wished him to go to jail. Ms. Daniels responded: “I would like him to be held accountable.”
Ms. Necheles additionally requested Ms. Daniels about earning profits by claiming to have had intercourse with Mr. Trump. Ms. Daniels responded, “I’ve been earning profits by telling my story,” later including, “It has additionally value me some huge cash.”
Trump’s phrases hang-out him.
Prosecutors have tried a number of occasions to make use of Mr. Trump’s prior statements in opposition to him.
Earlier than Ms. Daniels testified Tuesday, a witness learn aloud passages of books by Mr. Trump. Some spoke to his frugality. Others spoke to his penchant for revenge.
“For a few years I’ve mentioned that if somebody screws you, screw them again,” the witness learn. The passage continued: “When any individual hurts you, simply go after them as viciously and as violently as you’ll be able to.”
Not lengthy after, certainly one of his enemies — Ms. Daniels — took the stand. Her cross-examination resumes on Thursday.
