Stormy Daniels Provides Detailed Testimony of Alleged Encounter with Donald Trump
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In a riveting courtroom drama, adult film star Stormy Daniels delivered a vivid account on Tuesday of the night she claimed to have engaged in sexual activity with former President Donald Trump – at times, a bit too detailed for the judge in the secretive trial of the ex-president. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan angrily overruled defense objections as Daniels described the evening she spent with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe back in 2006.
Daniels testified she felt no alarm bells about being alone in a hotel room with Trump. The former president inquired about the adult film industry and floated the prospect of a role for Daniels on his popular reality show, “The Apprentice.” After using the restroom, Daniels claimed she saw Trump in boxer shorts and a T-shirt on the bed. At that point, she felt “the room spin in slow motion.”
Trump then allegedly said to her, “I thought you were serious about what you wanted.” Daniels interpreted this as meaning that having sex with Trump could benefit her career. Daniels testified to having sex with Trump in bed. Noting that she did not feel threatened, Daniels observed, “There was certainly a power imbalance.” Daniels is at the center of the landmark case in which Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to a payment made to prevent Daniels from speaking out before the 2016 presidential election about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 less than two weeks before the election, which Trump ultimately won. Trump’s scheme, which reimbursed Cohen while he was president, amounted to an illegal attempt to influence the election, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Before the jury entered the courtroom on Tuesday morning, Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, argued that Daniels should not be allowed to testify “about any details of any sexual acts.” “There’s ‘no reason’ that details of the alleged sex ‘should come into a case about books and records,'” Necheles told Merchan.
A prosecutor responded that delving into the history of the alleged encounter, including the conversation that led Daniels and Trump to have sex, is crucial. This will not include “descriptions of genitalia or anything,” the prosecutor said, “but it’s important for us to find out that she did have sex with him and how she felt about it.” Merchan said it was fine but unnecessary to disclose the details of the encounter in court. The first witness called to testify on Tuesday was Sally Franklin, senior vice president of the Random House Publishing Group. Franklin read aloud several passages from Trump’s books, including “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.”
Trump Deletes Posts About Judge and Witnesses
The news of Daniels’ anticipated appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court came after Trump posted – and quickly deleted – a furious statement about the witness lineup and the judge in his trial. Trump sent that post from Truth Social less than a day after Merchan had threatened the former president with jail time for repeatedly violating the gag order barring him from discussing likely witnesses in the trial. Trump was irked by prosecutors not informing defense lawyers of which witnesses they plan to call until the day before the witness’s testimony. “I was just told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, there is no time for the lawyers to prepare,” Trump wrote in the post.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Merchan on Monday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is keeping its witness schedule under wraps to prevent Trump from targeting people just before they testify. But Steinglass noted that while they keep the witness order secret, Trump’s lawyers have had the witness list and the evidence list they’ll present in the case for months. Steinglass blamed Trump for forcing the measure, pointing out that he “has been violating the order restricting extrajudicial speech, and we didn’t want to have the names of the witnesses, the names of the next witnesses out there.” On Monday morning, Merchan found Trump in contempt of court once again for his tenth violation of the gag order. He fined Trump a maximum of $1,000 for the latest breach, totaling $10,000 in fines for the ten separate infractions.
But the judge noted that these fines would hardly be a deterrent to Trump, a multibillionaire. “The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” Merchan told Trump. But “I will if necessary.” Trump’s deleted post on Tuesday morning also extensively criticized Merchan, accusing him of political bias. “No judge has ever conducted a trial in such a biased and partisan manner,” Trump claimed. “He is TWISTED AND HIGHLY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment rights. Now he’s threatening me with jail, and they have no case – this according to virtually every legal scholar and expert!” Trump wrote. Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly failed to get Merchan to recuse himself over what they allege is a conflict of interest stemming from his daughter’s work for a Democratic political company.The gag order prohibits Trump from talking about likely trial witnesses and from making certain statements about other related figures, including lawyers, court officials, and their respective family members. Merchan expanded the gag order after Trump attacked the judge’s and prosecutor’s relatives.
