I guess Stormy went to Trump’s room expecting dinner and instead got just a snack.
Off-Topic and fairly inappropriate. Please refrain in the future.
I’ll hide this under a Details Spoiler. Please no one reply to it.
Moderating
Blanche is asking for a mistrial because of Stormy’s testimony. They (team Trump) will definitely appeal on this if they lose this case.
We move for a mistrial based on the testimony of this witness," said Trump attorney Todd Blanche says following this morning’s testimony from Stormy Daniels.
He says the court set “guardrails” and her testimony went over them.
“A lot of the testimony that this witness talked about today is way different than the story she was peddling in 2016,” Blanche says.
Todd Blanche says Stormy Daniels is telling a different story.
“She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell. … and that’s not the story she told today,” the attorney says.
He says that the judge was aware there would be an issue establishing “guardrails” for the testimony.
“But now we’ve heard it. And it is an issue. How can you unring the bell?” Blanche says.
They can deal with that on cross. Still, a lot of the salacious details seemed unnecessary to me.
The judge took the Defense to task for not objecting enough. They have to take responsibility.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger says Stormy Daniels’ testimony was necessary to show Donald Trump’s motive for the hush money scheme and cover-up.
Daniels’ salacious story “is precisely what the defendant did not want to become public,” she says.
Hoffinger said Trump’s team “opened the door” to this by introducing into evidence a text message that referenced the threat Daniels said she received in 2011.
“It was incumbent upon us to bring out those details in the direct” to rehabilitate her testimony after the defense attacked her credibility with previous witness, attorney Keith Davidson.
Hoffinger says the prosecution was "extremely mindful about not eliciting too much detail about the initial act.”
Judge merchan said the witness was a little difficult to control. Judge Juan Merchan said, “As a threshold matter, I agree Mr. Blanche, that there were some things that probably would’ve been better left unsaid.”
“Having said that, I don’t believe we’re at a point where a mistrial is warranted,” Merchan said.
Said he’s surprised there weren’t more objections, laughter in court.
“The defense has to take some responsibility for that,” he says.
“When you say ‘the bell has been rung,’ the defense has to take some responsibility for that,” Merchan adds, referring to Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s argument for a mistrial in which he asked “how do you unring a bell?”
Judge Juan Merchan reiterates that he will give a limiting instruction to the jury about Stormy Daniels’ testimony of being threatened in 2011.
Judge to defence: “I believe you have the remedy of cross examination.”
Is the movement for a mistrial and all the subsequent discussions done after removing the jury? How much do they see and hear?
They did not hear that.
The jury is not in the room. This all happens before they come in.
Thanks, that was my assumption.
Judge Juan Merchan says it will take some more time to hash out the language of the limiting instruction for the jury.
“With consent of defense counsel,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger stepped out to give instruction to the witness to stay focused while answering questions, Merchan says, referring to Stormy Daniels.
Stormy Daniels walked in and looked at the back of Trump’s head. He was facing forward. She is seated as we wait for the jury.
Trump glanced over in her direction as she walked past him.
And back to testimony
Per cnn update:
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Stormy Daniels to read an email her then-attorney Keith Davidson sent Michael Cohen on October 17, 2016.
The email demands payment by 5 p.m. PST that day. Jurors saw this email before during Davidson’s testimony
Daniels says she authorized Davidson to cancel the deal “because the funds hadn’t been sent.”
In the email, Davidson told Cohen that his client deemed the settlement deal canceled and that Davidson no longer represented her.
Stormy Daniels is now describing how the deal was revived, saying she signed a new nondisclosure agreement with the date changed.
She signed the NDA and side letter on October 28, 2016, she says.
The side agreement says that Donald Trump is referred to as David Dennison. Daniels confirms she understood the agreement to be with Trump.
Stormy Daniels testifies she signed the new hush money deal.
After attorney Keith Davidson and her agent Gina Rodriguez took their fees, she ended up with “approximately $96,000,” she said.
Stormy Daniels says Wall Street Journal reporters reached out to her again in January 2017 as they were about to publish a story about her $130,000 payment.
Daniels says she didn’t respond to them because she was under the non-disclosure agreement.
“I was respecting that and didn’t want to comment,” she says.
Stormy Daniels is now addressing the January 10, 2018 statement denying the sexual encounter with Donald Trump. Daniels said she didn’t want to sign it because it wasn’t true.
She was asked if it was “not true in details.”
“Correct,” Daniels says.
After the Wall Street Journal story ran on January 12, 2018, Stormy Daniels said her life turned into “chaos.”
“Suddenly I was front and foremost everywhere,” she says. “People on the front lawn.”
“Blew my cover, I guess, for lack of a better way of explaining it,” she says.
Stormy Daniels says Donald Trump has called her “sleazebag” and “horseface” multiple times.
The prosecutor has displayed Trump’s “‘Horseface’ case” post on Truth Social from March 15, 2023.
She’s now reading Trump’s post aloud.
Daniels says the post, in which the former president says he hadn’t seen or spoken to Daniels since a photo on a golf course 18 years ago, is false “because I met with him numerous times after that and spoke to him on the phone countless times.”
Now on to cross, Susan necheles doing the cross.
She is asking Daniels about “rehearsals “ with prosecutions. Rehearsals and prep is a normal procedure.
Defence: am I correct that you hate pres. trump?
Daniels: yes.
Defence: you want him to go to jail.
Daniels: if he is found guilty, yes.
Stormy Daniels says Donald Trump has called her “sleazebag” and “horseface” multiple times.
The prosecutor has displayed Trump’s “‘Horseface’ case” post on Truth Social from March 15, 2023.
She’s now reading Trump’s post aloud.
Trump is not as engaged in the cross-examination as he was before lunch, when he appeared to be telling his attorneys to object. He’s reading documents as they come on the screen but otherwise sitting back in his chair.
Stormy Daniels is sitting with her arms crossed.
Is there any chance the defense didn’t object out of some misguided hope they could leverage this into a mistrial?
They did try for the mistrial…so perhaps?
Every chance.
Hail Mary’s abound.
“Isn’t it true that you are hoping that if Donald Trump is convicted, you’ll never have to pay him?” Trump attorney Susan Necheles asks Stormy Daniels, referring to the legal fees Daniels owes Trump.
“I hope I don’t have to pay him no matter what happens,” Daniels says.
After a brief trip by the attorneys to the bench, Trump attorney Susan Necheles confirms that Stormy Daniels didn’t fill out her spouse’s income on the form.
“I won’t fill out information that endangers my family or my daughter,” Daniels says.
Necheles then asks:
“Do you have bank accounts?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell that on the form?”
“I didn’t fill out this form.”
Daniels says the form went to her attorney who’s been handling it and didn’t send it to her to sign.
Prosecutor Susan Necheles is questioning Stormy Daniels about her finances related to Trump.
“You’ve been making money by claiming to have had sex with President Trump for more than a decade,” Necheles asks.
“I’ve been making money by telling my story about what happened to me,” Daniels says.
Trump is leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.
“That story has made you a lot of money, right?” Necheles asks.
“It’s also cost me a lot of money,” Daniels says.