image source, Reuters
Caption, A drawing of Daniels while testifying this Tuesday.Article information
- Author, Editorial
- Scroll, BBC News World
- 7 mayo 2024
Updated May 8, 2024
It was one of the most anticipated moments of the trial being held these days against former US President Donald Trump in a New York court.
Trump is accused of falsifying documents to hide an alleged payment to porn actress Stephanie Cliffords, known as ‘Stormy Daniels’, in order to buy her silence about an alleged relationship they had and thus protect his 2016 election campaign, something he denies.
Daniels, 45, took the stand for the first time this Tuesday to give her testimony about what the alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump was like and about the payment she received not to talk about it.
The trial centers on a $130,000 payment that Trump made to Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, who in turn claims that with that money he bought Daniels’ silence. For New York prosecutors, this was an attempt to “illegally influence” the 2016 election.
The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The former adult film star, dressed in baggy black clothing and with her hair up, did not look at Trump for most of the day, except when she was asked to point to his dark blue suit.
In addition to testifying this Tuesday about his alleged meeting with Trump in 2006, with details that the judge warned him on several occasions were unnecessary, Daniels had a heated exchange with the former president’s defense.
Trump, for his part, was serious listening to the statements of Daniels, whom in the past he had described as a liar and to whom he even gave her the nickname “horseface.”
word crossing
image source, Reuters
Caption, Trump denies having had a meeting with Daniels.
BBC journalist Madeline Halpert was at the hearing and recounted how at times there was great tension between Trump’s defense and Daniels.
Attorney Susan Necheles began by trying to portray Daniels as a woman “motivated by money” in many aspects of her life and who lies constantly.
“Am I right that you hate President Trump?” he asked. “Yes,” Daniels responded firmly, which was a preamble to the tone the exchange took on.
Discussing a pending payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars that the actress has to transfer to Trump in a defamation lawsuit she lost, a tense moment ensued.
Necheles cited a Twitter message from Daniels in which she said she would not pay Trump: “I don’t owe him [improperio] and I will never give a cent to that orange jackpot.”
“You insult him all the time, right?” Necheles questioned her.
“Yes,” Daniels responded defiantly.
“You despise him and make fun of his appearance,” the lawyer said.
“Only because he made fun of me first,” Daniels responded.
The exchanges escalated – almost reaching shouts – when Necheles accused Daniels of trying to extort Trump with the agreement so that he would not talk about their alleged relationship.
“False,” Daniels responded. “That’s what you did, right?” Necheles said. “False!” Daniels repeated.
This seemed to be part of a defense strategy to question the actress’s credibility as a witness, using her own words and statements to try to prove that she is lying.
image source, Reuters
image captionTrump said the case against him was “falling apart”
Listening to these tense exchanges, jurors seemed unfazed, occasionally taking notes, like any other day of the trial, Halpert said.
Shortly after, there was a pause in the hearing and after it resumed, Judge Juan Merchant closed the session.
At the end of the hearing, Trump said the case was “completely falling apart” and called it a “disaster” for the district attorney.
The meeting, according to Daniels
Before defense questioning, Daniels provided a detailed account of the alleged meeting with Trump at the request of the prosecution.
Before the jury, Trump and prosecutors, the actress said she met Trump in a hotel suite in Lake Tahoe in 2006.
He said Trump was wearing silk pajamas and asked him several “business” questions about his family, his education and his work in the adult film industry.
At one point, the businessman told her that he found her similar to his daughter Ivanka, Daniels testified, telling her that people underestimated them both because they were beautiful.
“Ms. Daniels, please be brief in your answers,” Judge Juan Merchan told the witness.
In her testimony, the porn actress provided such lurid details about the alleged encounter that the former president’s lawyers asked for the trial to be annulled.
The details, which she had previously divulged, included the claim that they didn’t use a condom or that she spanked him with a magazine, as well as the answers she allegedly got from the former president about his wife.
Judge Juan Merchán acknowledged that there were “some things that would have been better left unsaid” and asked prosecutors not to ask for specific details of the personal nature of the encounter.
image captionStormy Daniels was reprimanded several times by judge Juan Merchan.
According to Daniels, in 2016, after Trump launched his presidential campaign, he learned that the businessman and his lawyer wanted to buy his silence.
The agreement would be beneficial to everyone, Daniels declared, because he did not want his then-partner to find out about his alleged meeting with Trump.
He also explained how the agreement was reached to receive the money. She claimed that she was first interested in selling her story when she learned that someone else was planning to do so.
“I’d rather make money than have someone else make money at my expense,” he said.
But Daniels later claimed she wasn’t particularly motivated by money, saying on the stand that she “didn’t care” about the amount she was ultimately paid by Michael Cohen, who was then Trump’s lawyer.
Most of what Daniels stated this Tuesday is not new information, since it had been shared by the actress in a series of interviews and in a book. But her story now has greater weight, being told during a criminal trial against Trump, who is the first president to face a trial of this type in US history.
Daniels is expected to return to the stand later this week.
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