Adult film star Stormy Daniels riles Trump lawyers at hush money trial
BBC | Stormy Daniels, the adult film star whose alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump is at the centre of the hush-money trial in New York, detailed her relationship with the former president on the stand Tuesday.
Speaking quickly, Ms Daniels provided a salacious, detailed account of her purported interactions with Mr Trump as he looked on a few feet away.
A star witness for the prosecution, Ms Daniels repeatedly was reprimanded by the judge for meandering answers.
"Ms Daniels, please just keep the answers short," Justice Merchan said.
The testimony also created tension in the court as lawyers for Mr Trump objected to nearly every question prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Ms Daniels, seeking details about the alleged encounter. Justice Merchant mostly sustained the objections, siding with the defence.
Mr Trump has denied that the sexual encounter with her occurred.
Her claim - that she received $130,000 from Mr Trump's personal lawyer in 2016 in exchange for her silence about having sex with him 10 years earlier - is at the centre of the historic New York trial, the first criminal trial of a former US president.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the payment to Ms Daniels to hide the alleged sexual encounter. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Courtroom sketch of Stormy Daniels on the stand in New York talking about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Donald Trump
On the stand Tuesday, Ms Daniels walked jurors through her alleged encounter with Mr Trump inside his Lake Tahoe hotel suite in 2006.
Mr Trump was wearing silk pyjamas, she said, and asked her several "business-like" questions about her family, her upbringing and her work in the adult film industry.
At one point, he compared Ms Daniels to his daughter Ivanka, Ms Daniels said, saying that people underestimated both women because they were beautiful.
Ms Daniels also explained how the hush-money deal came to be, saying she first became interested in selling her story once she heard someone else was planning to.
"I'd rather make the money than someone making the money off of me," she said.
By 2016, after Mr Trump had launched his campaign for president, Ms Daniels learned Mr Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, wanted to buy her story.
The deal would be a win-win, Ms Daniels testified, because she did not want her then-partner to find to about her alleged encounter with Mr Trump.
But Ms Daniels claimed she was not particularly motivated by the money, saying on the stand she "didn't care" about the sum she was eventually paid by Mr Cohen.
