On Tuesday, Daniels (45) took the witness stand in New York for the first time in the so-called bribery case.
Trump (77) stared straight ahead when Daniels entered the courtroom. As she approached the witness box, he turned his head slightly in her direction.
Some time later, the prosecutor had arrived at the main theme of the trial: the money that Daniels allegedly received for not going to the media with her claim that she and Trump had had sex.
– They were very interested in paying for the story, Daniels said of Trump and his lawyer David Cohen, according to CNN.
– Threatened by an unknown man
Trump denies that he had sex with Daniels in a hotel room in 2006. But Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, insists that this happened.
She also claims to have been threatened by an unknown man in a parking lot in Las Vegas in 2011. He allegedly told her not to tell anyone about the meeting with Trump at the hotel.
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Allegedly, this contributed to Daniels being happy to be offered money not to go to the media again just before the 2016 US election.
– It was the best thing that could have happened. Because then I would be safe, Daniels said in court.
Daniels is said to have received 130,000 dollars, just over NOK 1.4 million, from Michael Cohen. In return, she signed an agreement not to speak publicly about her relationship with Trump.
A court photo of Stormy Daniels in court in New York on Tuesday. Photo: Elizabeth Williams/AP
Trump refuses
The former president is charged with breaching the Accounting Act in connection with the payment from Cohen.
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Trump denies any wrongdoing, and he also rejects Daniels’ description of their encounter during a golf tournament in 2006.
Daniels was present at the tournament as a representative of a porn company. In court on Tuesday, she joked that the company sponsored one of the holes on the golf course – but the jurors did not laugh.
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At the tournament, Trump and Daniels met, and according to her, she was afterwards invited up to Trump’s hotel room by his bodyguard.
Here they are said to have first had a normal conversation, before Trump allegedly suddenly lay partially undressed in a bed. Daniels claims she agreed to sex even though she didn’t really want to.
– I tried to think about everything other than what happened, she told the court.
Not known invalid
All of Daniels’ descriptions of the events in the hotel room are denied by Trump.
Earlier in the certificate, Daniels talked about a difficult upbringing and how she became a nude model at the age of 21 and later an actress in a number of pornographic films.
Later, after the court had adjourned, Trump’s lawyer demanded that the entire trial be dismissed. The reasoning was that Daniels’ testimony allegedly exceeded limits set by the court.
However, the petition was quickly dismissed by Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump is the first former president in US history to stand trial in a criminal case. In addition to the bribery case, several other indictments have also been brought against him, including for attempting to change the result of the presidential election in 2020.
