Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump have been locked in a years-long public battle over an alleged sexual encounter, a hush-money deal paid by the former president’s fixer, and their respective efforts to own the very public narrative.

Those tensions – and the salacious details that surround them – spilled out in court on Tuesday when Ms Daniels took the stand in Mr Trump’s historic criminal trial and faced the former president in court for the first time.

The adult-film star wore loose-fitting black clothes and her blonde hair pinned back in a clip while seated in the wood-panelled Manhattan courtroom. She did not look at the former president for most of the day, except when she noted his dark blue suit after she was asked to point him out.

Ms Daniels spent much of her time on the stand recounting the sexual encounter that she claims to have had with Mr Trump – an act that sparked the allegations at the heart of the case – and pushing back at the former president’s legal defence team.

Mr Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from an alleged attempt to conceal a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels aimed to keep her quiet about the purported tryst.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies any sexual encounter with her, though he has acknowledged that his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid her a sum to keep quiet about her claims.

As the woman who received the money, Ms Daniels was expected to appear in court at some point. But her testimony on Tuesday brought the most dramatic day of the trial yet.

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