1 week ago
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Adult film actor and director Stormy Daniels will be back on the stand Thursday morning in Donald Trump’s trial for 34 counts of falsifying documents to hide his relationship with Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Trump’s defense team is expected to continue its cross-examination, and prosecutors have already announced there will be questions under redirect when Trump’s team is finished.
Daniels took the stand on Tuesday, speaking rapidly and apparently nervously as she testified about her initial meeting with Trump. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger handled the questioning by walking Daniels through many of the events of her life up to the moment when she stepped into a hotel room to find Trump waiting for her in silk pajamas.
The description of the sexual encounter was detailed—certainly more detailed than Judge Juan Merchan wanted, as he at one point halted the testimony even without an objection from the defense—but it wasn’t at all amusing or titillating. It was the story of a young woman in an unexpected, deeply uncomfortable situation with an older man who could greatly affect her future.
During defense attorney Susan Necheles’ cross-examination, she asked Daniels about legal fees owed to Trump after a failed defamation suit. In the final hour of court on Tuesday, Necheles attacked aspects of Daniels’ story, accusing her of trying to extort money from Trump, a claim that Daniels denied.
