Trump trial latest: Ex-president calls judge a ‘disgrace’ after second bid to get trial thrown out fails; witness breaks down in court | US News

The court has adjourned and will return tomorrow.

We finished hearing from Stormy Daniels today, and several other witnesses took to the stand.

Judge Merchan also denied a second mistrial motion by the defense team as well as a request to alter Trump’s gag order.

If you are just joining us, or looking for a recap of today’s proceedings, here’s a quick breakdown of the other things we learned:

Daniels is cross-examined

Defense lawyer Susan Necheles resumed cross-examination of Stormy Daniels by pressing her on why she decided to take money to keep silent about her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump.

She accused Ms Daniels of trying to profit off the story.

As Ms Daniels was negotiating her non-disclosure agreement with Michael Cohen, she testified, she was also speaking with other journalists, including an editor at Slate as a “backup” plan.

While Ms Daniels said she was most interested in getting her story out and ensuring her family’s safety, Ms Necheles accused her of refusing to share the story with reporters because she wouldn’t be paid for it.

“The better alternative was for you to get money, right?” Ms Necheles said.

“The better alternative was to get my story protected with a paper trail so that my family didn’t get hurt,” Daniels replied.

Daniels denies shouting that former lawyer

Ms Daniels conceded that she was angry when Michael Cohen was slow to pay her the $130,000 he’d promised in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter with Trump.

“I’ve never yelled at Keith Davidson on the phone,” Daniels testified.

She also underlined several times that she received no compensation for a “60 Minutes” interview she gave in 2018.

But Ms Necheles contended that the publicity from the TV appearance led to other moneymaking opportunities, including a book deal and a strip club tour.

The tour was named Make America Horny Again, but Ms Daniels denied naming it herself.

Daniels had experience ‘making phony stories about sex’

The defense continued to insinuate that Ms Daniels was not credible, and took aim at her career as a porn star in an attempt to make their point.

Defense lawyer Susan Necheles said: “You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex.”

Ms Daniels replies: “Wow. That’s not how I would put it.

“The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room.”

Seeing Trump in T-shirt and boxers was a ‘shock’

Ms Necheles tried to poke holes in Ms Daniels’s story about seeing the former president in his T-shirt and boxers.

Ms Necheles said Ms Daniels has previously spoken about feeling light-headed and almost fainting after seeing Trump that way.

Ms Daniels told the court: “Yes it was a shock, a surprise.”

She was also asked more about her claims that she had sex with Donald Trump in his hotel suite in 2006, where she gave details about the alleged interaction.

“I remember we were kissing and he was on top of me,” she said.

Madeleine Westerhout

One of the other witnesses we heard from was Madeleine Westerhout, who served as Trump’s executive assistant at the beginning of his term, which is when he met Michael Cohen in the Oval Office.

She told the court there was talk of replacing Trump as the Republican candidate after the infamous Access Hollywood tape was released in 2016.

She also revealed that Trump would dictate his tweets and she would write them down.

She confirmed a contact list belonging to the former president as well, which included people previously mentioned in the trial as well as a number of celebrities such as Tom Brady and Serena Williams.

Ms Westerhout broke down in tears on the stand as she explained the reasons for resigning from her role.

She also praised Trump as a “really good boss”.