Stormy Daniels Delivers Intense Testimony in Trump’s Trial: 6 Takeaways
A long day on the stand put Ms. Daniels’s credibility to the test as defense lawyers challenged her motives.
![Stormy Daniels walking as her hair blows in the wind.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/05/07/us/politics/07trump-trial-takeaways/07trump-trial-takeaways-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
Kate Christobek and
“The people call Stormy Daniels.”
So began the intense and often uncomfortable testimony of Ms. Daniels, who spent almost five hours in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday recounting her story of a 2006 encounter with Donald J. Trump and the ensuing hush-money cover-up that has become the bedrock of the prosecution’s case.
Ms. Daniels spoke quickly and at length about her first meeting with Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament near Lake Tahoe in Nevada.
After the lunch break, Mr. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche moved for a mistrial, arguing that the prosecution’s questions had been designed to embarrass Mr. Trump and prejudice the jury.
The judge, Justice Juan M. Merchan of State Supreme Court, agreed that some of Ms. Daniels’s testimony might have “been better left unsaid,” but he denied a mistrial.
The former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels just before the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face prison time or probation.
Here are six takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 13th day on trial.
Prosecutors took a risk with their witness.
Jurors heard a vivid account of the Lake Tahoe encounter and met the woman who had received the hush-money payment. This could have presented a risk for prosecutors, depending on whether the jury viewed Ms. Daniels’s story as prurient or powerful.
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