Trump did not react while watching the testimony from the witness table
Adult film star Stormy Daniels testified in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday that he told her “this is the only way out of the trailer park” before having sex with her in a hotel suite in 2006.
Daniels told the New York jury that she was the daughter of a low-income single mother who spent many days away from home and began working in strip clubs and pornography before meeting Trump at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Then a New York real estate mogul, Trump was the host of a popular reality show called “The Apprentice.”
In testimony this Tuesday, Daniels said she “blacked out” after Trump prevented her from leaving her room, although she had not consumed drugs or alcohol. She said she woke up in bed without any clothes.
“I was looking at the ceiling and I didn’t know how I got there, I was trying to think about anything but what was happening up there,” Daniels said in testimony describing sex with Trump. ”
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she did not ask Trump to stop. “I didn’t say anything,” he said, adding that he left the hotel room immediately after the incident.
Trump, President of the United States between 2017 and 2021 and the Republican nominee for president in this year’s presidential election, did not react as he watched his testimony from the witness table.
Trump has denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels, now 45. The former president’s defense team argued that she was merely looking for a role on “The Apprentice.”
The alleged meeting resulted in a criminal prosecution, the first for a former US president.
Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence during the 2016 election. The Republican politician has pleaded not guilty and said the lawsuit is an attempt to disrupt his campaign to recapture the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election.
Daniels said in his testimony that Trump’s bodyguard had invited him to dinner with Trump.
Daniels is said to have responded, “No f—.”
He said he changed his mind after a public relations staffer reassured him that the dinner could become a big story.
When she reached her suite, Trump welcomed her wearing only satin pajamas.
“I said, ‘Does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pajamas?'” Daniels recalled, referring to the Playboy manager.
He said Daniels asked Trump to make the change and he politely complied.
Daniels, wearing black and glasses, said she was uncomfortable with Trump’s repeated interruptions and asked, “Are you always this arrogant and pompous?”
She also said that Trump challenged her to kill him and he did so.
“This is nonsense,” Trump appeared to say as he watched from the defendants’ table.
The alleged encounter occurred when Trump was married to his current wife, Melania.
Trump passed a note to his defense attorney on Tuesday and closed his eyes several times while listening to the testimony.
After the break, Judge Juan Merchan asked prosecutors to minimize details about the encounter. “The level of detail we’re going into is completely unnecessary,” he said.
Prosecutor Susan Hoefinger said the testimony was necessary to complete the story and establish Daniels’ credibility.
“In terms of the sexual act, it would be very basic. It wouldn’t include details of genitals or anything like that, Hoffinger said.
Prosecutors demonstrated that the payments at the center of the case bore the former president’s signature. They say Trump incorrectly labeled payments to his lawyer Michael Cohen in 2017 as legal expenses, when they were actually reimbursements for a $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels for her silence.
Prosecutors say it’s an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 election by buying the silence of people with potentially damaging information.
Trump, who is running for president again in the November 5 election, has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.
Daniels has been the target of Trump’s attacks on social media.
Merchan, who is prosecuting the case, said some of those posts violate an order that prevents Trump from speaking about witnesses, jurors and others if those statements are intended to influence the proceedings. .
To date, the former president has been fined $10,000 for violating the order. Merchen warned that Trump could be arrested if he continued his attacks.
The case is widely seen as less consequential than the three other criminal cases against Trump, but it is the only case that is certain to go to trial before the election.
