“You wanted to make more money, didn’t you?”: Donald Trump’s defense sought to discredit porn star Stormy Daniels on Thursday during the second day of a marathon and tension-filled testimony, at trial of the former president of the United States in New York.
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Already heard for five hours on Tuesday, the actress and director had delivered an unfiltered account of her meeting and the sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with the current Republican presidential candidate, on the sidelines of a tournament celebrity golf course in Nevada.
She was questioned again for three hours on Thursday, a tense face-to-face with Donald Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, during which she denied having lied and having sought to enrich herself with this history.
AFP
The sexual relationship, denied by Donald Trump, is at the heart of the matter, because it was to keep silent about this episode, ten years later, at the very end of the 2016 presidential campaign, that the actress had received $130,000. A sum paid by Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen as part of a confidentiality agreement.
The former American president, the first in history to appear in criminal proceedings, is on trial for the concealment in the accounts of his holding, the Trump Organization, from reimbursing the sums to his lawyer. He is appearing for 34 offenses of accounting falsification which could earn him a conviction and, in theory, up to a prison sentence.
Since April 15, Donald Trump, 77, has had to sit almost every day in the Manhattan courtroom and listen silently to the proceedings, an obligation that prevents him from campaigning as he pleases.
This trial in New York risks being the only one to be judged before the November 5 election, among the four criminal cases in which he is charged.
“Frankenstein”
When he arrived in court on Thursday, he denounced a “Frankenstein” file that “no one understands”.
Then, inside the courtroom with its dated wooden furniture and white neon chandeliers, Susan Necheles sought to push Stormy Daniels to her limits, portraying her as a woman hungry for money.
“You threatened to politically harm President Trump if he didn’t give you money for this story?” questioned the lawyer, while Donald Trump sat opposite the actress.
“You wanted to make money?” “You wanted to make more money, didn’t you?” she insisted, arguing that after negotiating a confidentiality agreement with Donald Trump, she told it all in a book, “full disclosure (full disclosure)” which would have earned him $800,000, according to the defense. Between the two, the whole affair had been revealed by the Wall Street Journalin 2018.
“I chose safety,” Stormy Daniels responded. “The best solution was to protect my story with a written record, so my family would not be in danger,” she added of the initial agreement.
The duel continued in a tense atmosphere. “You have also acted in and directed more than 150 pornographic films (…) so you have a lot of experience in the art of making fake sexual relations real,” said the lawyer.
“I didn’t need to write that one,” Stormy Daniels retorted.
“Unbalanced Report”
On Tuesday, the actress hid nothing about her meeting, in 2006, with the real estate mogul: from the “silk or satin pajamas” that he wore in his hotel suite to the secrets about his wife – “we don’t sleep in the same room” – right down to the fact that he hadn’t used a condom.
Stormy Daniels also described her feelings, upon finding, upon leaving the bathroom, the 60-year-old billionaire waiting for her on her bed. “I felt the blood leave my hands,” she said. If she did not feel threatened, she assures that the intention of the businessman “was quite clear” and that the “balance of power was unbalanced”.
“Because he was supposedly in a t-shirt and boxers, you were so upset that he wanted to have sex with him that you couldn’t refuse?”, the lawyer questioned again, before clearly say: “You made it all up, didn’t you?”
Stormy Daniels maintained her version. When her cross-examination ended at midday, she left the room, looking defiant, without looking at Donald Trump.
