Adult film star Stormy Daniels faced a tempestuous cross-examination by Donald Trump's defense attorney, Susan Necheles, during the former president's criminal trial in Manhattan. Necheles attempted to discredit Daniels and portray her as money-driven and unreliable, suggesting that her career as a porn actor made her experienced in selling fictional stories about sex.
Throughout the three-hour questioning spanning two days, Necheles accused Daniels of changing her story about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump that sparked the hush money payment at the center of the trial. The defense attorney insinuated that Daniels's work in the adult film industry made her ready to cash in on the allegations.
"You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real, correct?" Necheles asked Thursday. Daniels responded with an indignant laugh, retorting, "I have experience memorizing dialogue, not how to have sex. ... Pretty sure we all know how to do that." She added, "And if that story was untrue, I would've written it to be a lot better."
Necheles also pushed back on Daniels's account of her alleged encounter with Trump in 2006, claiming that she had previously told a gossip magazine and "60 Minutes" that she had dinner with him. Daniels maintained that although it was "dinner time," they did not eat, stating, "All these interviews, I would've talked about the food. I'm very food-motivated."
Despite the intense questioning, Daniels appeared more collected on Thursday compared to her first day of cross-examination, pushing back against defense assertions she disagreed with while maintaining composure. Necheles repeatedly tried to trap Daniels into saying that her alleged encounter with Trump was fabricated, but the adult film star stood her ground.
The defense also portrayed Daniels as having an axe to grind against Trump, to whom she now owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees after losing a defamation lawsuit against him. Jurors were shown Daniels's repost on social media, where she referred to herself as the "best person to flush the orange turd down" in an apparent reference to the trial.
When asked whether she hates Trump, Daniels responded "yes" to Necheles. However, when questioned about whether she wants him to go to jail, the porn actor replied, "I want him to be held accountable."
Jurors appeared more engaged with the cross-examination on Thursday than when it began Tuesday, sometimes exchanging looks during heated exchanges or when objections were raised. Trump is standing trial on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
In the final moments of cross-examination, Necheles brought up the actual documents that correspond to Trump's criminal counts, attempting to convince jurors that Daniels's testimony, while salacious, is legally irrelevant. Daniels conceded that she never spoke to Trump about her hush money and has no personal involvement in the repayment scheme that the former president is charged over.
After Daniels left the stand, prosecutors called a Trump Organization bookkeeper, shifting the storyline away from the hush money deal underpinning the case. As prosecutors approach the end of their case in chief, they are expected to call Cohen, their star witness who paid Daniels the $130,000.
Following Daniels's testimony, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche moved again for a mistrial, arguing that she had changed her story and been allowed to testify about matters irrelevant to the case. He also asked the judge to waive Trump's gag order to allow him to respond to her testimony publicly. State Judge Juan Merchan denied both requests, citing concerns about protecting the integrity of the proceedings as a whole.
Trump, who sat with his eyes closed for parts of Daniels's testimony, blasted the judge's actions, calling them "a disgrace" and claiming he was being held in court with a "corrupt judge." Meanwhile, Daniels took to social media with a not-so-subtle dig at Trump, writing, "Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh...wait. Nevermind."
