Trump Trial: Stormy Daniels Crude Testimony

presidential election

A third week of debates concludes Friday at the trial of Donald Trump in New York, marked by the marathon testimony of former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, beneficiary of the hidden payments which are worth these unprecedented criminal proceedings against a former American president.

The week opened on Monday with a new warning shot from judge Juan Merchan, who after having imposed a series of fines on him for verbally attacking witnesses and jurors, threatened him with prison in the event of recidivism.

The other star witness in this trial, Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the actress $130,000 in the last days of the campaign for the 2016 presidential election, won narrowly by the Republican candidate, could be called to the stand as early as next week. Michael Cohen, who says he acted at his request, turned against his former boss.

In the midst of campaigning against outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, the Republican candidate is being tried for 34 counts of accounting falsification for concealing the reimbursement of sums to the lawyer in the accounts of his holding company, the Trump Organization. He risks conviction and potentially a prison sentence, with still incalculable consequences on the electorate.

Although the facts are less serious than those with which he is accused in the three other criminal proceedings against him, this trial is all the more important as it could be the only one to be held before the November 5 election.

Only Donald Trump's federal trial in Washington for illicit attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election could still begin before this deadline, provided that the Supreme Court quickly rejects the immunity he claims as a former -president.

- Accountant, editor, assistant -

Like every day, upon his arrival at the Mahattan court on Friday, he denounced a "horrible" trial intended, according to him, to prevent him from campaigning.

Since its opening on April 15, the trial has alternated moments of legal drama and dry, highly technical sequences.

Thus, after the extensive testimony Tuesday and Thursday of Stormy Daniels who recounted in great detail the fleeting sexual relationship she claims to have had with him in 2006, and fought step by step the defense's attempts to discredit her story.

An affair that Donald Trump, then already married to his current wife Melania, categorically denies.

After Stormy Daniels, an employee of the accounting department of the Trump Organization took the stand on Thursday, an editor questioned about the publication of one of the real estate mogul's books, then one of his direct assistants at the House Blanche, Madeleine Westerhout.

Will testify again Friday morning.

One of the challenges of the debates is to determine what Donald Trump knew about these behind-the-scenes negotiations to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels.

If he were elected again, once inaugurated in January 2025, he could order the abandonment of the two federal proceedings against him, in Washington but also in Florida (southeast), where he is being prosecuted for withholding documents. classified after his departure from the White House.

Trump's reaction in the courtroom

sexual trial

The alleged meeting took place while Trump was married to his current wife, Melania. Trump vehemently denies any sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels.

As Trump reaction related to sexual trial, was "passed" a note to his lawyer on Tuesday and appeared to close his eyes at times as he listened to the former porn star's testimony.

After a short break, Judge Juan Merchan told prosecutors to drop details of the alleged encounter. "The level of detail we go into is simply unnecessary," reasoned the high magistrate.

Merchan had previously ruled that Stormy Daniels was allowed to tell jurors that she had sex with Trump, despite the objections of Trump's legal team.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said the testimony was necessary to complete the story and establish Daniels' credibility during testimony in sexual trial.

What the prosecutors say

Trump reaction, who is running for another term in the White House in the Nov. 5 presidential election, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying accounting documents.

Prosecutors have shown that the former president's signature was on the payments at the heart of the case. They say Trump falsely labeled payments to his lawyer Michael Cohen in 2017 as legal expenses when they were actually reimbursements for a $130,000 payment made to buy Stormy Daniels' silence that Cohen had transferred to her the actress.

Prosecutors say this amounts to an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 election by buying the silence of people with potentially damaging information.

Trump's lawyers suggested that Stormy Daniels was aiming to land a role on Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump reaction faces jail time if he continues to ignore the judge's restraining order

Daniels testimony has been the target of some of Trump's scathing attacks on social media.

Judge Merchan, who is hearing the case, said some of those posts violated a gag order that bars Trump from talking about witnesses, jurors and others involved in the case if those statements are intended to influence proceedings.

Trump has so far been fined $10,000 for violating the restraining order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses. Merchan warned that Trump could be jailed if he continued his attacks durind sexual trial.

Trump has called the ban a violation of his free speech rights and says the lawsuit is an attempt to hinder his bid to win back the White House.

The former president faces three other criminal charges, but the Stormy Daniels case is the only one that is certain to go to sexual trial before the November election. In the other cases, in which he has also pleaded not guilty, Trump is accused of trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and of improperly handling classified documents after he left office.

Famous Figures: The tears of Hope Hicks, the faithful communicator in Trump trial in New York

trial testimony

The youngest communications director at the White House, who was also the former president's confidante, gave trial  testimony that was sometimes damning, sometimes useful for her ex-boss.

The young woman stops, leans over, grabs a handkerchief, bursts into tears while dabbing her eyes. "Miss Hicks, do you want to take a break?" » asks Judge Merchan. “Yes,” she whispers, and the jury is escorted out of the courtroom while she regains her senses.

Hope Hicks was a key witness in Donald Trump's trial over cover-ups to hide payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. She said she had a sexual relationship with him in 2006 and, ten years later, when Trump was running for presidential election, she threatened to write about it in the newspapers.

At the Trump trial, account of a political “crisis” linked to his vulgar comments about women

The first ex-member of his bodyguard to testify at Donald Trump's criminal trial, his former adviser Hope Hicks recounted on Friday how the revelations about his vulgar and outrageous remarks towards women had plunged his presidential campaign into "crisis " in 2016.

“Very nervous” in her own words, even bursting into tears during her trial testimony, Hope Hicks, who was White House communications director from 2017 to 2018, described a candidate “very involved” in all aspects of his presidential election campaign , to whom she reported directly.

In this trial with enormous political stakes, the former President of the United States, who dreams of returning to the White House, is being prosecuted for 34 falsifications of accounting documents linked to a payment to avoid a sex scandal a few days before the won election on the wire against Hillary Clinton, in November 2016.

“It was going to hurt.”

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo questions him especially about an episode which precedes the payment to Stormy Daniels. A month before the election in 2016, the Washington Post broadcast a video where we hear Donald Trump bragging in crude terms about having offensive behavior with women, such as "grabbing them by the pussy".

“I was worried, very worried,” she remembers, when the prosecution produces the email sent to her, on October 7, 2016, by the Washington Post journalist. And when she heard the extracts for the first time, "I was a little stunned (...) there was a consensus on the fact that it was going to hurt and that we were facing a crisis", adds -She.

For the prosecution, this episode encouraged Donald Trump to do everything to avoid a new scandal before the November 2016 election, even if it meant buying the silence of Stormy Daniels.

On October 28, 2016, a confidentiality contract was signed with the former pornographic film star.

The $130,000 was paid by Michael Cohen, via a shell company. He was reimbursed in 2017 by the billionaire's holding company, the Trump Organization, for expenses disguised as "legal fees", hence the prosecution for falsification of accounting documents.

“Break to repair”

Former US President Donald Trump (c) attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 3, 2024 in New York

Hope Hicks trial testimony painted an unflattering portrait of Michael Cohen, the prosecution's key witness, who has yet to take the stand to say that he acted at the candidate's request.

“He liked to call himself a ‘repairer’”, but first “he broke things in order to be able to repair”, she says. “I didn't know Michael to be a charitable or selfless person,” she adds, of the idea that he could have made the payment to Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket.

As for Donald Trump, she describes him as worrying about the reaction of his wife, Melania, when the Wall Street Journal reported a first payment to buy the silence of a Playboy model, Karen McDougal.

In this case, the whole issue will be to determine what Donald Trump knew about the behind-the-scenes dealings with Stormy Daniels and the concealment of the payment.

Three years after leaving the White House in chaos, the Republican enters the presidential election campaign being indicted in four cases, including that before federal justice in Washington for accusations of illegal attempts to reverse the results of the presidential election won by Joe Biden in 2020.

But due to appeals and procedural questions, the trial in New York, of a smaller scale, could be the only one tried before the November 5 presidential election.

If he were elected again, Donald Trump could, once inaugurated in January 2025, order the abandonment of the two federal proceedings against him, in Washington but also in Florida (southeast), where he is being prosecuted for allegedly managing casual access to classified documents after leaving the White House.

The debates in New York will resume on Monday.

Donald Trump accused opponent Biden of inaction in the face of the pro-Palestinian college protests

trump accused opponent

Joe Biden said Thursday that “order must prevail” in the face of a wave of demonstrations in American universities in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, which puts him in a politically delicate position six months before the presidential election. “Anti-Semitism and threats against Jewish students have no place on campus or in America,” the American president said.

“We are not an authoritarian country that silences people,” Joe Biden nevertheless assured during a short speech. “As president, I will always defend freedom of expression and I will defend the law just as forcefully,” he said.

“Vandalism, forceful intrusion, breaking windows, blocking campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes or graduation ceremonies, none of this falls within the scope of peaceful demonstration,” however listed the Democrat 81 years old. “It’s against the law.”

Accused of inaction

In the morning, his opponent and Republican predecessor Donald Trump accused him of inaction in the face of the pro-Palestinian college protests. “They are radical left-wing weirdos and we must stop them now because it will last and get worse,” he said upon his arrival at the New York court where he is being tried in an unprecedented trial for a former American president.

Joe Biden also said that he was not in favor of sending the National Guard, an army corps that depends on the states on the front line, to campuses.

A delicate political position vs presidential election

The American president, who will seek a second term against Republican Donald Trump in November, has until now remained silent in the face of the wave of mobilization and the police interventions to dislodge demonstrators, at Columbia University in New York or at the University of California (UCLA) for example.

Six months before the presidential election, in a polarized United States, the Democratic president finally committed to this issue likely to undermine his campaign.

This mobilization places the democrat in an extremely delicate political position. His policy of support for Israel has earned him strong criticism from young, progressive voters of Arab-American origin, while Republicans accuse him of allowing anti-Semitism to flourish on campuses. Joe Biden also assured that “no”, this protest movement would not change his strategy in the Middle East.

United States Presidential Election: in the middle of campaign, pro-Gaza campus protests divide universities and the country

campus protests - presidential election

Started more than two weeks ago, campus protests in favor of Palestine are now violently repressed by the American police. 

Joe Biden was forced to step in and toughen his stance for fear of appearing as the President of domestic chaos. Presidential election seems to be a second target.

The grass suffered a lot, but it will soon green again, protected by the dozens of New York police officers who, on Broadway, block the entrances to Columbia University, closed until the graduation ceremony scheduled for May 17. Some agents still wear the helmets and ninja outfits of the NYPD shock battalions, the same ones who stormed Tuesday, April 30 in the evening on the campus of the prestigious university to dislodge the tent camp of 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators installed for two weeks on the central lawn of the university.

Close to presidential election, American universities in turmoil,noted the press this morning related to campus protests. Student anger in support of the Palestinians has been spreading in the United States for two weeks now. And with them, the images of clashes between barricaded demonstrators dislodged by riot police.

The newspapers' editorials speak this morning of “the healthy rebellion of American students”. They draw a parallel between this student mobilization and those against the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa. 

It doesn't matter, "if the students leave the auditoriums, if they abandon their classes, it is a last resort, desperate by the inaction and the powerlessness of politicians to put an end to the horror in Gaza ."

Joe Biden as a tightrope walker

 What impact this mobilization will have on the American election?. Should Joe Biden fear student anger? General opinion is Joe Biden is in a bad situation and this mobilization could cost him his re-election, noting that he has completely lost the youth vote.

Opposite, the Republicans are unleashing themselves against what they describe as “campus chaos”. Under the pretext of denouncing anti-Semitism, Republican elected officials are in reality attacking Democrats and the Biden administration. “It’s all Joe Biden’s fault,” they explain, accusing the American president of “blowing on the embers of anti-Semitism.”

While Joe Biden seeks a position of balance, defending freedom of expression while denouncing hateful acts and remarks, the Republicans do not bother with nuances. According to them, campuses have simply fallen into “tyranny and anarchy”.

Biden says 'order must prevail' on campuses

Joe Biden said Thursday that “order must prevail” in the face of a wave of demonstrations in American universities in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

“Violent demonstrations are not protected, peaceful demonstrations are,” said the American president, who will seek a second term against Republican Donald Trump in November.

“Vandalism, forceful intrusion, breaking windows, blocking campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes or graduation ceremonies, none of this falls within the scope of peaceful demonstration,” listed the Democrat from 81 years old. “It’s against the law.”

“As president, I will always defend freedom of expression and I will defend the law just as forcefully,” he said. “But anti-Semitism and threats against Jewish students have no place

Pro-Palestinian manifestation picket White House Correspondents Dinner, as Biden ribs Trump

Biden attacked Trump

US President Joe Biden showed self-irony and attacked his competitor in the presidential election, at the annual Dinner Gala organized by the White House Correspondents' Association, an event.that provoked a demonstration against Israel's War in the nearby Gaza Strip.

Numerous high-profile guests, journalists and celebrities, arrived at the Hilton Hotel in the federal capital, while around 100 demonstrators gathered at the entrance. Some demonstrators shouted slogans like "Shame on you!".

Protest organizers said they aimed to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel's military since the war began in October. More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.

"You have a particular responsibility to tell the truth to the powerful and uphold journalistic integrity. it is unacceptable to remain silent, out of fear or for career reasons, when journalists in the Gaza Strip continue to be arrested, tortured and killed for doing their jobs," wrote about 20 Palestinian journalists.

Joe Biden mocks Donald Trump at this White House Correspondents' Dinner. US President attacks his rival Donald Trump: “The 2024 election is in full swing. Yes, age is a subject. I am an adult running against a six year old child. Age is the only thing we have in common. »

"The 2024 elections are in full swing, and age, yes, is a topic," declared Joe Biden. Biden, self-ironies and ironies addressed to Trump: "Joe the sleeping one is still standing", "I am running against a six-year-old child"

Pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to disrupt the event.

Far from the laughter of the assistance that echoed in the hall, a demonstration took place in front of the hotel, where, from a window on the top floor, protesters suspended a Palestinian flag several meters long. Others gathered down in the street with placards and megaphones.

For months, every time the American president travels, demonstrators gather in protest against Israel's support of those who call him "Joe the Genocide" and who demand an end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

Several Palestinian journalists have called on their American colleagues in an open letter to boycott this highly publicized event, which is the culmination of a week of worldly receptions.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an association based in New York, at least 97 journalists have been killed since the Gaza War began on October 7 between Israel and Hamas - 92 of them Palestinians.

Anthony Blinken : China is trying to influence election results

Blinken with Jinping in Beijing

Anthony Blinken says the US has seen evidence that China is trying to influence the upcoming presidential election

US State Secretary said the US had found evidence of Chinese attempts to "influence and possibly interfere" with the upcoming US election, despite leader Xi Jinping's earlier pledge not to do so. 

Blinken made this comments in an interview with CNN on Friday at the end of a three-day trip to China, where the top US diplomat spent hours meeting with senior Chinese officials, including Xi, while the two countries cross a series of controversial issues. from US control of technology to Beijing's support for Moscow.

Blinken said he repeated a message that President Joe Biden conveyed to Xi during their summit in San Francisco last November not to interfere in the 2024 US presidential election. At that time, Xi promised that China will not do so, according to CNN.

"We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and intervene, and we want to make sure that this is stopped as quickly as possible," Blinken stressed when asked if China had so far violated its commitment Xi to Biden.

"Any interference by China in our election is something that we watch very carefully and it's totally unacceptable to us, so I wanted to make sure I heard that message again," Blinken said, adding that there was concern about to China and other countries that exploit the existing social divisions in the US in influence campaigns.

On the other hand, Beijing has repeatedly said it does not interfere in US elections, based on its principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. 

Compete Agreement : Biden Ready To Debate With Trump

United States Presidential Election

United States Election : President Jo Biden ready to debate with Trump without knowing when

This is the first time that Joe Biden has clearly declared that he is ready to debate with his Republican rival as part of the 2024 presidential election campaign. The American president affirmed on Friday, April 26 in an interview that he is ready to public debate Donald Trump, whom he will face in the November presidential election.

Asked by host Howard Stern whether he would participate in a public debate with his predecessor, the 81-year-old Democrat, running for a second term, said: "I will, somewhere. I don't know when. I look forward to doing it."

In his reply, former President Donald Trump also said he is now ready to debate his Democratic opponent Joe Biden "anytime, anywhere." 

“I propose Monday evening, Tuesday evening, or Wednesday evening, during my campaign rally in Michigan,” launched the former president on his Truth Social network.

Close related to American presidential election

The Trump-Biden duel will take place, both candidates guaranteed to obtain their party's nomination

“We must fire the crook”: Trump violently attacks Biden and focuses his speech on immigration

Donald Trump, who is currently on trial in New York in a historic trial, then suggested holding the debate "tonight, at the courthouse". And says: “I’ll stick around!”