Stormy Daniels may have squandered Democrats’ last chance to see Donald Trump jailed before the election by portraying herself as a victim in explosive testimony in his hush money trial, Bill Maher has claimed.
The HBO host unearthed footage of his 2018 interview with the former porn star in which she laughed off suggestions that she was forced to have sex during the alleged relationship 12 years earlier.
“It’s not a case of ‘me too,'” she told Maher at the time, “I wasn’t assaulted, I wasn’t attacked, I wasn’t raped, I wasn’t coerced, I wasn’t blackmailed.”
But she told her trial in New York this week that her hands were shaking and she “fainted” during the encounter, adding: “There was certainly an imbalance of power.” It was bigger and blocked the way.
—Do you really think he fainted? Maher asked. ‘A porn star is used to having sex with people she doesn’t know. That’s the job. She’s not a good witness.
Stormy Daniels with Donald Trump in 2006, at the time of the alleged sexual encounter
Daniels is at the center of claims that Trump paid hush money to prevent negative stories from emerging before the 2016 election. He denies 34 counts of falsifying business documents
Trump’s lawyers asked for a mistrial Tuesday after Daniels’ extraordinary testimony
The comedian gushed about the prospects of a conviction two weeks ago after magazine editor David Pecker revealed the “catch and kill” plan to keep stories about Trump’s alleged infidelities quiet while the billionaire was running. for president in 2016.
“If this goes down that path and Trump loses, it will change the entire election,” Maher said.
‘Several independents, a significant number and Republicans say their vote will change if they are a convicted felon. And he’ll look like a loser, not that he doesn’t already look like one.
But he said Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher that the three other criminal trials the former president was facing were going nowhere and that it was now “Storm or bust.”
“The Democrats have had four years to judge Trump and everything is disappearing. They ruined him at every turn,” Maher complained.
‘This is what happened this week. Georgia; They are going to take up Trump’s argument about Fani Willis. You know, she’s the prosecutor: she’s having an affair with the guy she hired.
‘I mean, it’s not really relevant to the case, but they left a vacancy. And now that one will be delayed.
—The one with the stolen documents? That will never happen because there is a Trumpy judge down there. So it’s a storm or nothing.
Stormy Daniels testified about her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006, revealing details of what she says they talked about with Trump, what he fights about and details of their alleged relationship.
In 2018, she told Maher: “They tried to put me in the ‘me too’ box as part of their own agenda and, first of all, I didn’t want to be a part of that because it’s not the truth and I’m not a victim in that.” sense.
But Daniels said at his trial Tuesday that his hands were shaking and he “fainted” during the encounter, adding: “There was certainly an imbalance of power.” It was bigger and blocked the way’
In the 2018 interview, Maher bluntly asked the Full Disclosure author: ‘Why did you fuck with Donald Trump?’
‘I have no idea!’ she exclaimed, causing laughter in the audience.
“Okay, but you’re saying it’s not a case of me too?” he answered.
“It’s not a case of ‘me too,'” he responded.
“They tried to put me in the ‘me too’ box as part of their own agenda, and first of all I didn’t want to be a part of that because it’s not the truth and I’m not a victim in that sense. ‘
But she said in court Tuesday that she couldn’t remember how she ended up in a Nevada hotel bed with Trump and how he allegedly didn’t use a condom.
Upon leaving the bathroom, she said she was surprised to find Trump in bed wearing only his boxers and his T-shirt.
Daniels said he “didn’t expect someone to be there without clothes.”
She said Trump stood between her and the door, adding, “He said I thought we were getting somewhere… If you ever want to get out of that trailer park.”
At one point, she says she “just passed out,” even though she wasn’t high and she and Trump were just drinking water.
When asked if the pair ended up in bed having sex, she replied simply: “Yes.”
When asked to briefly describe the event, he said: “The next thing I knew I was in bed, on the opposite side of the bed, I had taken off my clothes and shoes.” My bra was still on. Missionary position.’
He said he did not remember who took his clothes off but he did remember that the sexual encounter was brief.
The lurid testimony nearly derailed the case and Trump’s defense team demanded a mistrial.
“This is the kind of testimony that is impossible to go back from,” said defense attorney Todd Blanche.
“How can we get out of this in a way that is fair to President Trump?”
There was no need for her to mention that Trump didn’t use a condom, she said, except to “inflame” the jury.
Daniels admitted that he “hates” Trump in response to questioning by defense attorney Susan Necheles (left) during cross-examination.
The jury was shown the well-known photograph of Trump and Daniels, taken at a celebrity golf event in Lake Tahoe. She described their brief meeting and how he invited her to dinner.
Judge Manuel Merchán ruled that the trial was not null. But the defense was right, he added.
“There were several things that would have been better left unsaid,” he said.
In fact, he added that he had raised his own objection when the defense did not intervene.
“To be fair (to the prosecution), I think the witness was a little difficult to control,” he said.