Donald Trump’s defense attorney’s strategy was clear when she cross-examined adult film actor and director Stormy Daniels on Thursday: portray the witness as a greedy huckster who made a career out of inventing sex scenes.
Lawyers call it a “crazy and whore” defense.
It was a fight that Daniels (all shrug and steely indignation) was willing to take on.
“You have a lot of experience in making false stories about sex seem real,” said Trump lawyer Susan Necheles, referencing the 150 films Daniels has written and directed and comparing them to the night she said she had sex with him. future president. in a hotel in Nevada.
“Wow,” Daniels said quietly. —I wouldn’t say it like that.
“Sex in movies is very real… just like what happened to me in that room.”
“You have a lot of experience in making false stories about sex seem real,” Donald Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, said while cross-examining Stormy Daniels on Thursday.
Trump seemed delighted with the way the cross-examination went. He patted Necheles on the back of the elbow as if to say, “Good job” once he finished.
Trump, 77, denies committing 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Daniels, 45, for her silence before the 2016 election.
On Tuesday, the court heard Daniels’ unflattering account of her 2006 meeting with Trump. There were satin pajamas, a spanking, and the word “brief” was used to describe the sexual act.
During cross-examination that same day and Wednesday morning, Necheles embarked on a high-wire act, rooting out inconsistencies in Daniels’ oft-told story and turning his career against him.
It was a risky line of attack. Each time Necheles suggested that Daniels had simply made up a sex scene as part of a ruse to extort Trump, he reminded the jury that his client moved in circles that put him in contact with porn stars and strippers.
And anyway, the veteran porn writer had a cheeky response to the idea that her story was made up.
“If that story wasn’t true, I would have written it down to make it much better,” he said, drawing laughter from the public gallery.
The jury, made up of five women, remained absorbed throughout the process. No one was taking notes like they had earlier in the week.
One juror leaned forward as Necheles attacked, suggesting Daniels had used her notoriety to sell out during a ‘Making America Horny Again’ strip club tour.
Any hint of slut-shaming or victim-blaming could backfire on a metropolitan jury like this one.
It’s not that Daniels needs protection. She, as always, had a scathing response. “I wasn’t selling myself to anyone. I performed in clubs and whoever wanted to pay the entrance fee,’ she said.
Daniels’ attorney, Clark Brewster, posted an image of him and his client after the proceedings were over. “I couldn’t be prouder of my client,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Daniels is seen leaving Manhattan criminal court after cross-examination ended.
Necheles accused Daniels of trying to cash in on her notoriety with a ‘Making America Horny Again’ tour after details of her alleged tryst with Trump came to light.
She was a picture of defiance at all times, with her right elbow resting on the armrest of her seat, her chin tilted toward the defense attorney and her head tilted slightly back.
After more than six hours, his testimony ended. Trump seemed delighted with what he had heard under cross-examination.
He patted Necheles on the back of the elbow, as if to say, “Good job.”
And as he walked out for the lunch break, he smiled as he pointed to his friend and Newsmax TV host Greg Kelly, who was sitting among the rows of reporters.
His advisers worry that the long days without friendly faces are taking a toll on Trump’s mood. Unlike previous days, the former president arrived at the morning session accompanied, as an additional defense against the lewd and embarrassing details that were revealed as evidence.
Republican Senator Rick Scott sat on the bench directly behind Trump, with lawyer Alina Habba, wrapped in her coat, on one side and three Secret Service agents on the other.
Trump arrived with supporters Thursday morning, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott (center) and attorney John Coale (right), husband of Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren.
Scott emerged after an hour and a half to speak to the media outside the courthouse.
Behind them were lawyer John Coale, who is also Greta van Susteren’s husband, and real estate investor Steve Witkoff, along with regular assistants Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s legal adviser, and his assistant Natalie Harp (whose role is to print stories from the means for his boss).
Scott came out after an hour and a half. He didn’t go to go to the bathroom but for a press conference outside the courthouse.
“This is just a bunch of Democrats saying we want to make sure Donald Trump can’t speak,” he said, listing family complaints that prosecutors had made political donations and that the judge’s daughter is a political operative.
‘Now they have a gag order so they can’t campaign. They have him locked up in a courtroom.
That’s one way to get around a court order prohibiting Trump from attacking the judge’s family (among others): get political allies to do it for you.
Daniels’ story about the encounter has been public since 2018. She has given countless interviews, allowing Trump’s defense to analyze each account for inconsistencies.
There was a lengthy debate over whether she had dined with Trump, examining her claim that there was no sign of food (despite being invited to eat) and that her stomach had “growled” at times.
Daniels arrived at court Thursday morning for a second day of testimony.
Daniels said she was unhappy with the title of her tour and did not use the name.
Daniels gave his best during cross-examination. Rejecting assumptions about how she made money and how the adult film industry works.
However, in 2011 he told In Touch magazine a different story.
‘We ended up having dinner in the room. “I don’t remember what we ordered,” he said then.
Daniels tried to defend himself: “My story is the same.”
“I have maintained that I did not see any food,” he said. “It was dinner but we never got food.”
At another point, Necheles attempted to use his prolific career in porn films (he appeared in 200 and wrote or directed another 150) to undermine the part of his testimony in which he had said he was “surprised” to find Trump lying on the bed. in just underwear after going to the bathroom. She described the room going around.
Necheles asked: Weren’t you used to seeing naked men?
“If I came out of the bathroom and saw an older man in his underwear that I didn’t expect to see there, yes,” he said.
While Daniels’ testimony has garnered media attention around the world, the felony business fraud case really comes down to invoices, ledger entries and checks.
Once again, in attempting to undermine Daniel’s story, the jury was simply once again imagining the then-star of The Apprentice in his boxers and T-shirt.
At other times, Necheles harassed her with questions about her career and whether she was simply looking for a payday, with book deals, lucrative tours, and merchandise.
Examples shown to the jury include a ‘The Stormy Saint of Indictments candle with her image and a comic titled ‘Political Power: Stormy Daniels’.
It was all in good fun as the defense worked to undermine his credibility, with tweets dubbing Trump “little guy” or “orange poop,” and details of his new TV role apparently speaking to dead people.
But it was largely tangential to the alleged crime of falsifying business records… until Necheles got to his final round of questioning and tried to paint Daniel’s entire testimony as a red herring.
Did you know anything about Trump’s business records?
“I don’t know anything about his business records,” he said. ‘No. Why would there be?’