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.

Popflex Skirt - What is the “Stormy Daniels” case in which Donald Trump was indicted? (I)

The former president was indicted Thursday evening by the courts of the State of New York, notably due to a financial agreement made with a former porn actress so that she would not reveal their affair, which he disputes. existence.

Historical. Donald Trump became the first former American president to be criminally indicted on Thursday, March 30, by a citizen grand jury in Manhattan. If the precise indictment will remain secret until next Tuesday, the day of Trump's appearance in New York, the case concerns a financial agreement with an actress and director of pornographic films, "Stormy Daniels", with whom the real estate mogul allegedly had an affair in 2006.

What is the Stormy Daniels affair?

The affair was made public in 2018 by revelations from the Wall Street Journal on a possible $130,000 non-disclosure agreement between Donald Trump and Stephanie Clifford, actress and director of pornographic films known under the stage name Stormy Daniels. She allegedly had a sexual relationship with him in 2006, on the sidelines of a golf tournament which they both attended. Trump had then been married for a year to his third wife, Melania.

The actress first mentioned this affair in 2011 in an interview with In Touch magazine, which canceled publication after threats of prosecution from Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer. The interview would not be made public until seven years later, the day after the Wall Street Journal revelations. Meanwhile, in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign, the actress would have sought to monetize her story to the media. Alerted by an official from the National Enquirer tabloid – which had shortly before purchased the story of a similar adventure with the model Karen McDougal, to better bury it – Michael Cohen contacted Stephanie Clifford and concluded an agreement with her, just ten days before Election Day.

What can Trump be accused of?

If such an agreement is not illicit in itself, Trump and his company (the Trump Organization) are suspected of having falsified the documentation of the reimbursement of the sums incurred to his lawyer, in order to pass them off as simple legal expenses. A maneuver which would then amount to a disguised donation to an electoral campaign – much higher than the authorized legal ceiling – since the challenge was then to prevent the predictable scandal from damaging the chances of candidate Trump.

The content of the proceedings brought against the ex-president, as well as their classification as an offense or crime, cannot however be precisely determined until they have been formalized by the Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg. It was the latter who reactivated this case at the beginning of this year by convening a grand jury, while the investigations by the New York justice system had long remained in limbo. If the indictment were to lead to a trial – probably not for several months, or even a year – Donald Trump could face up to four years in prison for illegal campaign financing.

The former head of state denies any affair with Stephanie Clifford and her involvement in the transaction concluded to stifle what he describes as an “extortion” campaign. Denials contradicted for years by Michael Cohen, who broke with his former boss in 2018 to become one of his most virulent critics. He himself pleaded guilty to violations of electoral law, bank and tax fraud, and perjury, which earned him a three-year prison sentence at the end of 2018. He then notably revealed a recording of a conversation with Trump in the middle of the 2016 campaign, attesting to his involvement in paying Karen McDougal to buy her silence.

(to be continued)