3 hours ago
President Trump left the courtroom at the end of the day telling reporters the judge was “corrupt.”
He said he didn’t think he needed to do any explaining of that statement, and was “not allowed to anyway.”
“He’s a corrupt judge. This judge what he did, or what his ruling was is a disgrace,” he said, likely referring to Justice Merchan’s denying two motions after testimony ended for the day.
4 hours ago
Justice Merchan noted that Mr. Blanche denied there was a sexual encounter in the opening statement, thus the jury did not know whom to believe unless testimony addressed this question. He supported the prosecutors’ choices in eliciting testimony.
The judge also said that the defense had not objected to the “trailer park” comment and he struck it from the record himself. He added that he did not understand why Ms. Necheles did not object to the condom question and answer.
Justice Merchan denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial.
4 hours ago
Mr. Blanche then argued for a mistrial after the judge rejected a motion to amend the gag order.
He said there was “a whole host of questions that got way beyond what happened” in a case about business records, such as “Ms. Daniels having a hard time growing up” and a “spanking” anecdote she told.
“This is extremely prejudicial testimony… There was a question asked about what the inside of a bathroom looked like … ‘what was your reaction to seeing him like that?'”
4 hours ago
Justice Merchan said he did not see any new set of facts or new theory in the case to change his order.
“My concern is not just protecting Ms. Daniels,” he said. “My concern is with protecting the integrity of the proceedings as a whole.”
The judge defended his gag order.
4 hours ago
After court adjourned, Mr. Blanche raised issues with the judge.
He said that the government has disclosed to him they no longer plan to call Karen McDougal as a witness.
He also asked the judge’s permission for President Trump to comment publicly on what Ms. Clifford has said in court the last two days of trial, as her testimony has concluded.
5 hours ago
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that when she began working to help with the transition into office, she still did not really know Donald Trump.
She affirmed that the Access Hollywood tape rattled the RNC but that Mr. Trump kept working toward the presidency.
“And, so, the Access Hollywood tape blew over in a couple of days, right?” Ms. Necheles asked.
5 hours ago
Ms. Westerhout wrote a memoir titled “Off the Record” after she lost her White House position. Attorneys showed the cover in court.
She continued her testimony while audibly crying.
“I wrote the book to process what I had just been through, but I also wanted to document for myself and my family the incredible experience I had working in the White House,” she said.
5 hours ago
“Now focusing on early 2018, do you remember a story coming out about Trump and a woman named Stormy Daniels?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.
“Yes, I remember he was very upset by it,” she said. She affirmed she believed President Trump and Mr. Cohen had spoke around that time.
Ms. Hoffinger asked about President Trump’s relationship with his wife.
5 hours ago
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that she was more likely to patch a call through to the president if it came from someone on the list provided by Ms. Graff.
“Was it your understanding that Mr. Cohen and President Trump had a close relationship in 2017?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.
“At that time, yes,” Ms. Westerhout said.
5 hours ago
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that Trump Organization employees sometimes had questions for her and sometimes had questions for the president that she was asked to pass along.
“When I got to the White House, I naively assumed that the operators had everybody’s phone number, and that was not the case. So the president would often ask, call John Smith, call so and so, and I didn’t have their phone numbers,” she said. “So four days in, I asked Rhona to put together a list of people he called often, I thought that would be helpful.”
Attorneys showed an email exchange about this.
5 hours ago
Ms. Hoffinger asked about the @realdonaldtrump Twitter account. Ms. Westerhout said she knew that the president and his aide Dan Scavino had access to it.
“I didn’t see Dan or the president post every single tweet,” she said. “If there was a video recap of an event or something, it might have gone out without the president’s approval, but it was my understanding that the president liked to see tweets before they went out.”
“Once in a while if Dan wasn’t around, the president would dictate a tweet to me, and I would quickly scribble it and sometimes print it back out so he could look at it,” she said.
5 hours ago
Ms. Hoffinger asked whether the president used an automated signature or preferred to sign things himself.
“He preferred to sign himself,” Ms. Westerhout said. “My recollection is that he preferred to use Sharpies or a felt tip pen.”
6 hours ago
She affirmed she was familiar with the way he interacted with others in the White House, with his family, and on social media.
“He liked speaking to people in person or on the phone. He took calls as early as six in the morning,” she said.
She described different ways callers would be connected to the president, such as through her desk phone versus on a secure line. Calls typically went to Ms. Westerhout after screening before they went to the president.
6 hours ago
Ms. Westerhout confirmed she was offered a job at the White House.
“My boss at the time came to me and said do you have any interest in sitting outside the Oval Office,” she said.
“I said yes, I do, that sounds like a very cool job,” she said. “I really didn’t care what my title was.”
6 hours ago
Madeleine Westerhout, former Director of Oval Office Operations, took the witness stand.
She outlined her background, including a role at the Republican National Committee.
Ms. Westerhout affirmed that she became aware of what was known as the Access Hollywood tape in 2016.
6 hours ago
Kristin Menzies with Harper Collins took the witness stand. She has been with the publishing company for 25 years and is the senior vice president of production and creative operations.
The company distributed the book “Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life” by Donald J. Trump and Bill Zanker.
Ms. Menzies testified that the sections in serif font are written by Donald Trump and the sections not in serif font are by Bill Zanker.
8 hours ago
Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper who has worked at The Trump Organization for 11 years, took the witness stand. In 2021 her role changed to executive assistant.
She sat outside former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weiselberg’s office.
“I did not pay bills. I put checks with their backup together and gave them to Mr. Weisselberg to sign,” Ms. Manochio said.
8 hours ago
Prosecutors questioned Ms. Clifford about the social media posts, eliciting testimony that they were largely in response to other social media users criticizing her with foul language.
“I was defending myself,” Ms. Clifford said.
Prosecutors showed President Trump’s Truth Social post that read, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU,” tying them to a lawsuit he filed in Florida over the money Ms. Clifford owes him.
9 hours ago
Ms. Clifford affirmed that she was not in contact with President Trump about the non-disclosure agreement she signed wherein she was paid $100,000 for her story.
“You understand that in this case, President Trump is charged with how the payment is listed,” Ms. Necheles said. “Even though you tweeted and celebrated about his indictment, you don’t know what he’s indicted for?”
“There’s a lot of indictments,” Ms. Clifford said.
9 hours ago
After a break, Ms. Necheles continued to question Ms. Clifford about details she shared in previous interviews about the encounter versus ones she shared in the testimony this week.
Ms. Clifford described the layout of the hotel suite and the distance between the bedroom and front door.
“Is your testimony that one of the things that went through your mind about why you couldn’t just leave was that Keith Schiller was outside the hotel suite?” Ms. Necheles said, referring to President Trump’s bodyguard.
10 hours ago
Ms. Necheles said that Ms. Clifford said in her 2011 interview that Donald Trump himself asked her to dinner, whereas she testified that it was his bodyguard who invited her. Ms. Clifford pushed back saying that a “his handler speaking on his behalf is the same.”
“It’s an entertainment magazine, it is an abbreviated, entertainment version of the event,” Ms. Clifford said.
Ms. Necheles also noted that Ms. Clifford said multiple times in her testimony that she never actually ate dinner after she went to see Mr. Trump, and that was a “big point,” but she said the opposite in her 2011 interview.
10 hours ago
Ms. Clifford confirmed that she has acted in some 200 adult films and written and directed some 150 adult films, and Ms. Necheles asked whether she had a lot of experience making up stories, including the story about President Trump.
“If that story was untrue, I would have written it a lot better,” Ms. Clifford said.
Ms. Necheles pointed to Ms. Clifford’s testimony earlier this week when she gave extensive detail about the foyer of Mr. Trump’s hotel suite. The prosecuting attorney had asked if she noticed anything about the floor, and Ms. Clifford mentioned symmetrical black and white tiling.
10 hours ago
“When President Trump was indicted on this case, you celebrated on Twitter by repeatedly tweeting and pushing merch you were selling in your store, right?” Ms. Necheles asked.
“I tweeted about his being indicted, yes,” Ms. Clifford said.
Some of the posts were shown in court.
10 hours ago
Ms. Clifford confirmed she received $100,000 as part of the payment she was owed for an NBC documentary about her.
“They paid me $100,000 for back footage,” she said.
“And you’ve been hosting viewing parties at bars, and selling tickets,” Ms. Necheles said.
11 hours ago
Ms. Necheles walked Ms. Clifford through the non-disclosure agreement she signed, and she affirmed she signed it understanding the terms.
Ms. Clifford also confirmed she signed the 2018 statement denying a relationship, adding that “I did not write it.”
“There was no election in 2018. He was already president. But you understand he was concerned about his family, and you understood also that President Trump as a brand, right?” Ms. Necheles asked.
11 hours ago
Ms. Clifford confirmed she was “furious” when Mr. Cohen failed to pay the money he agreed to.
“And didn’t you scream at your lawyer Keith Davidson and call him … and say that if it didn’t come out before the election, your story would be worthless?” Ms. Necheles said.
Ms. Clifford asked to review the transcript.
11 hours ago
Ms. Clifford confirmed that in 2016, while her attorney was negotiating the non-disclosure agreement, she was also talking to a reporter from Slate.
“He was my backup in case the NDA fell through and we ran out of time,” Ms. Clifford said. “Everyone wanted to publish the story. I could have had anybody publish the story.”
“But they weren’t willing to give you money, right?” Ms. Necheles asked.
11 hours ago
Ms. Clifford pushed back on the idea that she willingly entered a non-disclosure agreement, and said she ultimately believed it was the safer decision.
“I was asking to sell my story to a publication, to get the truth out,” Ms. Clifford testified.
“But you entered into a negotiation over an NDA, right?” Ms. Necheles asked.
11 hours ago
Ms. Necheles began by addressing a E Online interview Ms. Clifford gave in 2011, prompting immediate objections. The parties conferred with the judge, who sustained the objection.
“At this point, you wanted money from President Trump,” Ms. Necheles said.
“No, I never asked for money from President Trump,” Ms. Clifford said. “I never asked for money from anyone in particular. I asked for money to tell my story.”
11 hours ago
Defense attorneys sought to introduce Stephanie Clifford’s (Stormy Daniels) arrest record and prosecutors objected.
“Your honor, her then-husband accused her of assaulting him,” said defense attorney Susan Necheles.
“Your honor, it has nothing to do with credibility,” said prosecuting attorney Rebecca Mangold.
11 hours ago
Justice Merchan is no longer allowing photographers in the courtroom.
“It’s not happening today,” court clerk Al Baker told pool reporters.
11 hours ago
President Trump announced that the defense filed a new motion in the appellate division about the gag order.
“I’m not allowed to talk to you about anything meaningful in the case, many good things are coming in the case,” he said.
He read from legal commentary, attacking the charges in the crime and not referencing any witnesses.
11 hours ago
President Trump greeted the press this morning and started off by criticizing President Joe Biden’s recent statement about potentially withholding weapons from Israel.
“If any Jewish person voted for Biden they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “Totally abandoned Israel, nobody can believe it.”
12 hours ago
The pending cross-examination of Stormy Daniels in the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump draws international attention and fosters fervent anticipation about the revelations to come this morning.
Turnout is very high this morning. Lines of reporters and curious members of the public extended all the way from the entrance to the park opposite 100 Centre St. to the very back of the park, and court officers came out twice to tell those waiting that no one else would be admitted to the line and anyone who left the line would not be allowed back on it.
14 hours ago
On May 7, key witness Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, testified about her encounter with former President Donald Trump nearly 20 years ago, which became the subject of an alleged “hush money” agreement.
Ms. Clifford was deemed a difficult-to-control witness by Justice Juan Merchan, who interrupted her testimony at Manhattan criminal court in New York City multiple times to instruct her to only answer the questions posed. Ms. Clifford has shared extensive detail beyond the scope of what was asked, to the point that defense counsel argued she had colored her testimony with “extreme prejudice” against President Trump in a way that would distract the jury from core facts tied to charges in the case.
Justice Merchan said he agreed with the defense that Ms. Clifford had gone into more detail than necessary but rejected the motion for a mistrial. He found that the prejudice issue could be remedied through cross-examination.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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