 |
| sexual trial |
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.
