Stormy Daniels took the stand this morning, speaking rapidly and apparently nervously as she told of her initial meeting with Trump. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger handled the questioning by walking Daniels through many of the events of her life and up to the moment when she stepped into a hotel room to find Donald 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 stepped in twice to halt the testimony even without a defense objection—but it wasn’t at all amusing or titillating. It was clearly the story of a young woman (27) in a position where she was facing a much older man (60) in a position where she was concerned about her future.
When defense attorney Susan Necheles took over for a cross-examination, she at first spent a lot of time going after Daniels over legal fees she was ordered to pay after a failed defamation suit against Trump. Finally, in the last hour of court on Tuesday, Necheles began directly attacking aspects of Daniels’ story, directly accusing her of trying to extort money from Trump, a claim that Daniels directly and loudly denied.
Daniels will be back on the stand on Thursday morning as Necheles continues her cross-examination. Then Hoffinger is expected back for more questioning under redirect. Daniels’ remaining time on the stand is likely to be substantial.
At mid-day, Trump’s defense team moved for a mistrial, claiming that Daniels had gone through the “guardrails” that were supposed to define her testimony and that the statements she made about Trump “rang a bell” for the jury that could not be unrung, leaving the case “impossible.”
There’s not a lot of time remaining to find out if that’s true. On Monday, prosecutors said they expected to end their case within the next two weeks.
