LFormer porn star Stormy Daniels, a central figure in Donald Trump’s politically charged trial in New York, began testifying Tuesday and telling the story of her meeting with the former president of the United States in court .
A little nervous, the 45-year-old actress began to detail in great detail that day in 2006 when, on the sidelines of a golf competition, she met Donald Trump, then a figure in the business and political world. the jet set.
“It was a very brief meeting,” then security “told me Mr. Trump would like to know if I wanted to have dinner with him,” she said, in front of jurors visibly absorbed by her story, and Donald Trump, who remained impassive as she entered the courtroom.
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims to have then had sexual relations with the billionaire in his hotel suite, which the Republican categorically refutes. During her testimony, prosecutors showed a now-famous photo of her and Donald Trump posing together.
The actress detailed the conversation they had in the hotel suite, “a hotel room that was three times the size of my apartment,” where she found Donald Trump “dressed in pajamas silk or satin,” which she remembered being made fun of. She talks about a rather playful conversation, during which Donald Trump took an interest in her, while confiding to her, she says, that with his wife Melania “we don’t sleep in the same room”.
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Reality show
Then, as she has already said, Donald Trump would have dangled an appearance on his famous reality TV show, “The Apprentice”.
The meeting is at the heart of the matter.
Ten years later, at the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Stormy Daniels received $130,000 to keep quiet about this episode, a payment hidden at the center of the file.
The money was paid by the billionaire’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, via a shell company. He was reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s business group, the Trump Organization, for expenses recorded as “legal fees” which are at the center of the lawsuits.
Since April 15, the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election has appeared before a jury for 34 falsifications of accounting documents, which could earn him the first criminal conviction of a former president of the United States and, in theory, a sentence of prison.
Even if convicted, he could still run on November 5 against Joe Biden.
The payment itself is not disputed, but Donald Trump’s lawyers deny any criminal wrongdoing.
Stormy Daniels is expected to testify for several hours and will likely face intense cross-examination from the defense.
Message deleted
One of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Susan Necheles, pleaded from the outset Tuesday morning that Stormy Daniels could not discuss a sexual relationship with her client. “It’s excessively damaging,” she added.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger responded that the details could be left out but that it was “important to establish that there was a sexual act and what she felt.”
Since the payment was revealed by the Wall Street Journal in January 2018, in the middle of Donald Trump’s presidential mandate, the latter has always denied a relationship with the former American pornographic film star.
He attacked her credibility and called her “horse face.”
A few hours earlier Tuesday, a post on Donald Trump’s account on his Truth Social network was deleted. The former President of the United States complained, without naming him, about the witness expected in the morning, protesting the lack of time given to his lawyers to prepare for this moment.
The judge banned Donald Trump from publicly attacking witnesses or jurors outside the courtroom and has already imposed ten fines of $1,000, the maximum amount, for as many violations of this ban.
On Monday, he threatened for the second time to incarcerate him if he did it again.
