Donald Trump's Lawyer Pressed Stormy Daniels – The New York Times
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A lawyer representing Donald Trump in his criminal trial in Manhattan spent more than two hours today attempting to undermine the credibility of one of the prosecution’s most high-profile witnesses.
“You made all this up, right?” the lawyer, Susan Necheles, asked Stormy Daniels, whose account of a sexual encounter with Trump spurred the hush-money agreement at the heart of the charges against the former president. Daniels responded with a forceful “No.”
Daniels’s two days of testimony, which concluded this afternoon, was in all likelihood the most dramatic chapter of the first criminal trial of an American president. Over nearly eight hours, she recounted under oath the graphic details of a one-night sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. And today she shot back at suggestions that she was in it for the money: “Not unlike Mr. Trump,” she said.
Prosecutors intended her testimony to bolster belief in the alleged tryst, which Trump has denied, and that it led to the payoff and the documents at the heart of the case. The defense unearthed inconsistencies, noting that she had denied the fling at various points.
The verdict could hang on the testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer. Daniels testified that she “accepted an offer” from Cohen in the waning days of the 2016 campaign — the $130,000 hush-money payment prosecutors have accused Trump of falsifying documents to cover up. Cohen’s testimony is expected in the coming days.
Entourage: Trump’s advisers discussed the need to have supporters in the courtroom. Allies have included Eric Trump, the only Trump family member to attend the trial; Senator Rick Scott of Florida; and Natalie Harp, “the human printer,” who often carries a device to provide Trump with hard copies of mood-boosting articles and social media posts.
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