Stormy Danielsthe adult film actress at the center of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, testified Tuesday about a disturbing sexual encounter she says she had with him, prompting angry and profane mutterings from the former president that alarmed the judge.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan called Trump lawyer Todd Blanche into a chat during a midday recess to say that Trump was “audibly cursing” and possibly intimidating Daniels, who had begun testifyingaccording to a transcript of the trial.
“I understand that your client is upset right now,” Merchan told the defense attorney, according to the transcript, “but he is audibly cursing and visually shaking his head and that is derogatory. Has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see this”.
Blanche assured the judge that she would talk to Trump.
“I speak to you here on the bench because I do not want to embarrass you,” Merchan said. “You have to talk to him. “I won’t tolerate it.”
The exchange marked a day of anger, sometimes whispered from the defense table, sometimes declared loudly by Daniels from the witness stand.
It was one of several surreal moments on day 13 of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, including Daniels’ descriptions of his alleged sexual encounter in 2006 that were so detailed that defense attorneys demanded a mistrial.
Although Merchan rejected his request, Daniels at times appeared to be describing non-consensual sexual relations that could be considered highly prejudicial to the jury, which in turn could give Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, strong grounds to appeal if he is found guilty.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly disguising financial transactions related to a $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels in 2016 to keep her quiet about what she said happened between them. She denied the charges and denied having sexual relations with Daniels.
Speaking quickly and often punctuating her answers by pointing her finger in the air, Daniels insisted that there was nothing about the years of bad blood between her and Trump that made her story false. Still, her distaste for the defendant was palpable in the courtroom.
Daniels described meeting Trump at a golf event in Lake Tahoe, California, and being invited to his hotel suite that night.
When she got there, she had dinner and talked to the reality TV star for a couple of hours, but then, to her surprise, she came out of the bathroom to find him wearing a T-shirt and boxers and posing on the bed, Daniels said.
“That’s when I had that moment where I felt like the room was spinning in full motion. And I felt blood coming out of my hands and feet, almost like you got up too quickly,” she testified. Trump “stood between me and the door, not in a threatening way,” although he said he felt a power imbalance, particularly with Trump’s security guard outside.
“I think I blacked out,” Daniels said, adding that there were many details she didn’t remember, but insisted she wasn’t high or drunk.
“The next thing I knew I was in bed.”he testified. “I was looking at the ceiling. She didn’t know how I got there.”
Said the meeting was brief.
Before Daniels testified, Trump’s lawyers had argued that it would be unfair to tell the jury salacious details about an alleged sexual encounter that is not part of the charges against him.
Merchan warned prosecutor Susan Hoffinger not to go into too many details about the alleged encounter, but the prosecutor obtained not only a lengthy description of a sexual experience that often seemed nonconsensual, but also a host of other details, up to the mark of shampoo in your bath, Pert Plus.
Trump’s lawyers complained bitterly that Daniels’ account of a possible sexual crime had irreparably tainted the jury against them and they requested a mistrial.
“All of this has nothing to do with this case, it is extraordinarily damaging, and the only reason the government asked those questions, other than sheer embarrassment, is to inflame this jury into not looking at the evidence that matters,” Blanche said.
Prosecutors said the jury needed to know the underlying details of Daniels’ alleged meeting with Trump to understand why he would be motivated to pay money to keep it secret. And the details, they said, would increase their credibility after being attacked by Trump’s lawyers.
Merchan rejected the defense’s request for a mistrial, saying that while Daniels had spoken too quickly and gone into more detail than he would like, that was partly the defense’s fault for not objecting more forcefully.
“There are some things that are probably best left unsaid,” Merchan said. “I think there were some things that I think the witness was a little difficult to control. … It was not easy.”
The judge defended his own role during testimony, saying he had done “everything I could do to protect both sides.”
Before Daniels testified again, she ordered the prosecutor to speak to her and make it clear that she needed to speak more slowly and only answer the questions she was asked.
The fight over Daniels’ testimony comes weeks after the same prosecution suffered a tough defeat when New York’s highest court threw out its 2020 conviction against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, saying the trial judge had allowed inappropriately too many testimonies about uncharged sexual misconduct. In the Trump case, Merchan has insisted that the ruling has no bearing on the current trial.
While Tuesday’s testimony could provide Trump with an important appeal issue if he is convicted, that process typically takes years and would have far less political value than a trial victory.
Outside the courtroom, Trump told reporters that Daniels’ testimony blew up in prosecutors’ faces.
“This was a very important day, a very revealing day, since It looks like your case is completely falling apart.“, said. “They have nothing on books or records and even something that should have very little bearing on the case. “It’s just a disaster for the DA…this whole case is just a disaster.”
Trump’s angry remarks from the defense table were not the first time he has upset a trial judge. The federal judge who oversaw his civil trial earlier this year threatened to throw him out of the courtroom after he audibly disparaged his sexual assault accuser, E. Jean Carroll, who successfully sued him for defamation.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, questioned Daniels’ changing accounts of what happened.suggesting that she was willing to say anything to get paid. In 2011, Daniels acknowledged, she had tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the story of his meeting with Trump for $15,000.
At times, she has publicly denied that the two had sex, but on the witness stand, Daniels insisted they were lies told to comply with the terms of the confidentiality agreement that paid her $130,000.
Necheles suggested that the main lesson Daniels learned from the 2011 experience was that she would have to make up a story about having sex with Trump if she wanted to make money.
“Am I right that you hate President Trump… and want him to go to jail, right?” Necheles asked, pointing to an old social media post in which Daniels said he would dance in the street if he got locked up.
“I want him to be held accountable.”Daniels responded.
“You are looking to get money from President Trump to extort him, right?” the defense attorney asked.
“False,” Daniels responded, though she later admitted she was interested in making money and insisted there was nothing wrong with that.
“To be honest, if I had the opportunity to publish the story and make some money, yes,” she said.
He also acknowledged that, as a result of losing some civil cases against Trump and having to pay his legal fees, he owes Trump more than $660,000.
Necheles wondered if that debt was the motivation for Daniels to publicly accuse Trump. Daniels admitted to tweeting that he would go to jail before paying Trump.
“Have you decided to disobey a court order?” Necheles asked Daniels. “I have chosen not to pay,” Daniels said.
(c) The Washington Post
