New York: Donald Trump’s defense attorneys grilled Stormy Daniels Thursday on the transaction at the center of the former president’s hush money trial, pressing her on why she accepted a USD 1,30,000 payment to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump instead of going public.
“Why didn’t you do that?” attorney Susan Necheles asked, wondering why Daniels didn’t hold a news conference as she had planned to tell reporters about the 2006 encounter, which Trump denies ever happened.
“Because we were running out of time,” Daniels said.
Did she mean, Necheles asked, that she was running out of time to use the claim to make money?
“To get the story out,” Daniels countered. The negotiations happened in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, a critical point in the case against Trump because prosecutors are arguing that he and his allies snatched up these potentially damaging stories and buried them in an illegal effort to influence the November results. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
Daniels returned for more testimony Thursday, avoiding eye contact with the former president as she walked into the Manhattan courtroom and made her way to the witness stand. Trump’s lawyers have sought to paint the porn actor as a liar and extortionist who’s trying to take down Trump after drawing money and fame from her story about him.
Daniels was first called as a witness on Tuesday, describing what she said happened during their 2006 encounter in graphic detail. That testimony came after jurors heard others in Trump’s orbit testify that they saw Daniels around Trump Tower. The jury also heard nuts-and-bolts testimony about bank records and payments received.
Trump scowled and shook his head through much of Daniels’ description of their alleged sexual encounter after she met Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where sponsors included the adult film studio where she worked.