Stormy Daniels clashes with Trump attorneys during 2nd day of testimony – PBS NewsHour
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The adult film actress at the center of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial finished her testimony after more than seven hours in total on the stand. Stormy Daniels was questioned by the former president’s defense attorney in a tense cross-examination that tried to paint her as an opportunist. William Brangham reports from New York.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Amna Nawaz:
The adult film actress at the center of former President Trump’s criminal hush money trial finished her testimony today after more than seven hours on the stand.
Stormy Daniels spent the morning being questioned by Trump’s defense attorney in a tense cross-examination that tried to paint her as an opportunist. She was just one of several witnesses who appeared in court today.
Our William Brangham has been covering this. He joins us now from New York.
So, New York, Ms. Daniels — rather, William, Ms. Daniels finished her second and her last day on the stand today. We’re saying she’s at the center of this trial, but she’s not really involved in any of the hush money repayments that Mr. Trump is accused of trying to conceal here.
So tell us a little bit about what she did testify to today.
William Brangham:
No, that’s exactly right, Amna.
She has testified that she has no direct knowledge of the charges that are at the center of this falsifying business records case, but yet, as you said, she is also at the very center of this case. And her testimony continued today with her finishing telling the story of this alleged one-time sexual encounter she had with Donald Trump at a celebrity golf tournament years ago in Lake Tahoe, and the then $130,000 that she negotiated to get paid to silence that story and make sure it never came out.
And Trump’s legal team today, led by Susan Necheles, tried to poke holes in inconsistencies that she has given over the years, trying to say that she’s not told a consistent story. There were lots of little examples of this.
Like, one example, they spent a good deal of time trying to parse out whether Stormy Daniels ever said that she ate dinner, literally ate a meal with him in that room that night of this alleged affair.
Necheles also tried to paint her, as you mentioned, as solely being out for money and said, how much money were you making on the documentary and the book and the interviews that you have given over the years?
I mean, it was very testive — testy, very combative. And there were times where Daniels seemed extremely defiant, and there were times where she seemed to actually enjoy the jousting back and forth. In contrast to how she was Tuesday, where she seemed much more nervous, today, she seemed much more eager for the fight.
In fact, there was one point at which Necheles was trying to show all the merchandise that she sells on her Web site and through her Instagram page, where she is promoting appearances at strip clubs, where she makes some mention of her relationship with Trump.
And Necheles was saying, you know, you’re trying to capitalize on this. And Daniels said, in essence, yes, that’s my job, merchandising myself and selling things with my name on it, not too dissimilar from what Trump does, she said.
So, a very, very combative day today.
Amna Nawaz:
(audio gap) for a moment. There were some witnesses who did have a more direct relationship to those repayments at the center of this trial. What did they have to testify to?
William Brangham:
That’s right.
There was a junior bookkeeper from the Trump Organization who testified this morning who test — who told basically about how checks were cut from the Trump Organization and sent to Washington, D.C., to the White House for Trump to sign them and then send them back to New York.
Some of these checks are at the core of this case of the alleged repayment to Michael Cohen. Another former executive assistant from the White House, a woman named Madeleine Westerhout, testified about receiving some of those checks and seeing Donald Trump sign some of them in the Oval Office.
She also detailed scheduling a very crucial meeting where Michael Cohen came to meet Donald Trump at the White House while he was president, and, allegedly, they discussed the White House — this repayment scheme that’s the center of this case.
So those were the other witnesses we heard from today.
Amna Nawaz:
And, William, we know Mr. Trump’s lawyers took issue with some of the details that Stormy Daniels testified to. They again asked for a mistrial and for a change to Mr. Trump’s gag order. What happened there?
William Brangham:
That’s right, the — two things.
Modifying the gag order, trump’s lawyers argued that all of these details that came out today, now that Daniels is off the witness stand, that Trump should be freed from his gag order and be able to directly try to rebut her publicly on social media.
The second one is, they argued for this mistrial, as you mentioned. And they were alleging, Trump’s lawyers were alleging that Daniels was somehow telling a different story about this alleged sexual encounter, implying that she was saying that there was some level of coercion going on there, and that Trump — that this is completely unfair, that this is a new story they had never heard before, and that all of these details that she testified to over seven hours are prejudicial to the jury, and they need to have the trial thrown out.
The judge in both of these cases said — denied the motions by Trump’s lawyers. And Trump was quite, seemingly, visibly angry towards the end of the day today. And at the end of the day’s proceedings, he went out into the hallway, as he often does and today, in a particularly angry way, lashed out at the judge.
Let’s hear what he had to say.
Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: This judge, what he did and what his ruling was is a disgrace. Everybody saw what happened today. He’s a corrupt judge, and he’s totally conflicted.
William Brangham:
Both of those motions were denied by his team.
Testimony resumes tomorrow. And, again, as is always the case, we don’t know who will be on the witness stand tomorrow.
Amna Nawaz:
All right, that is William Brangham covering the legal cases around former President Donald Trump joining us in New York tonight.
William, thank you.
William Brangham:
Thanks, Amna.
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William Brangham William Brangham
William Brangham is an award-winning correspondent, producer, and substitute anchor for the PBS NewsHour.
Ali Schmitz Ali Schmitz
Ian Couzens Ian Couzens
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