Former U.S. President Donald Trump and attorney Susan Necheles attend his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 7, 2024.
Win Mcnamee | Via Reuters
This is developing news. Check back throughout the day for updates.
Porn star Stormy Daniels took the witness stand just feet from Donald Trump on Tuesday to testify that she had sex with the former president and later received $130,000 to keep quiet about it.
Daniels is at the center of the historic case in which Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to a payment to keep Daniels from discussing alleged sex with Trump in 2006 before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 less than two weeks before the election, which Trump ultimately won. According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump’s plan, which paid compensation to Cohen during his time in office, amounted to an attempt to improperly influence the election.
Before the jury entered the courtroom Tuesday morning, Trump attorney Susan Necheles argued that Daniels should not be asked to testify “about details of any sexual conduct.”
There is “no reason” that details of alleged gender “should come into play in a books and records case,” Necheles told Judge Juan Merchan.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in New York City, U.S., on May 7, 2024, during his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to hide money he spent in 2016 for keeping quiet the porn star Stormy Daniels had paid continues.
David Dee Delgado | Reuters
A prosecutor countered that it was very important to delve into the history of the alleged affair, including the conversation that led to Daniels and Trump having sex.
There will be no “descriptions of the genitals or anything like that,” said the prosecutor, “but it is important to us to hide the fact that she had sex with him and how she felt about it.”
Merchan said that was fine, but it was unnecessary to release details of the encounter in court.
The first witness called to the stand on Tuesday was Sally Franklin, senior vice president of Random House Publishing Group. Franklin read a number of passages from Trump’s books, including “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.”
Trump deletes posts about judges and witnesses
News of Daniels’ expected appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court came after Trump released – and then quickly deleted – an angry statement about the witness schedule and the judge in his trial.
Trump sent the Truth Social post less than a day after Merchan threatened the former president with prison time for repeatedly violating confidentiality rules that prohibit him from discussing likely witnesses in the trial.
Enlarge symbolArrows point outwards
Trump was angry that prosecutors wouldn’t tell defense attorneys which witnesses they planned to call until the day before the witness’s testimony.
“I was only recently told who today’s witness is. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare,” Trump wrote in the post.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Merchan on Monday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is keeping its witness schedule secret to prevent Trump from targeting people just before they take the stand.
But Steinglass pointed out that Trump’s lawyers have had the witness list and the list of exhibits they will present in the case for months, while keeping the order of witnesses highly secret.
Read more about Trump’s hush money trial
Steinglass accused Trump of forcing the move, pointing out that he “violated the order restricting extrajudicial expression, and we didn’t want the names of the witnesses, the names of the next witnesses, to be released.”
Earlier Monday, Merchan again accused Trump of contempt of court for his tenth violation of the gag order. He fined Trump a maximum of $1,000 for the most recent violation, bringing the fine to a total of $10,000 for the 10 separate violations.
But the judge noted that these fines were hardly a deterrent for Trump, a multibillionaire.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” Merchan told Trump. But “I will if necessary.”
Trump’s now-deleted post from Tuesday morning also criticized Merchan extensively and accused him of political bias.
“No judge has ever conducted a trial with such bias and bias,” Trump claimed.
“He is crooked and deeply conflicted, even taking away my First Amendment rights. Now he’s threatening me with prison and they have no case – that’s what virtually all legal scholars and experts say!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly failed to persuade Merchan to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest they say arises from his daughter’s work for a Democratic political firm.
The gag order prohibits Trump from discussing likely witnesses in the case and making certain statements about other related people, including attorneys, court staff and their respective family members. Merchan expanded the silence order after Trump targeted the judge and prosecutor’s family members
Source link
2024-05-07 14:53:25
www.cnbc.com