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Stormy Daniels returns to witness stand in Trump trial for more cross-examination



Adult film star Stormy Daniels is scheduled to return to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s criminal trial Thursday, when she’ll face more cross-examination by defense attorneys about her now-sworn allegation that she had a sexual encounter with the former president.

Daniels testified Tuesday about the 2006 tryst, which Trump has denied. Her testimony apparently got under Trump’s skin, prompting the judge to warn Trump’s attorney that he would not tolerate Trump’s cursing while Daniels is on the stand in Manhattan criminal court in New York City.

“I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually, and that’s contemptuous,” state Judge Juan Merchan told Todd Blanche in a sidebar, which took place out of earshot of most of the courtroom, according to a court transcript.

“It has the potential to intimidate the witness, and the jury can see that,” he said. “You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that.”

Blanche said he would talk to Trump about it.

In addition to the sexual encounter, which Daniels said happened after she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, she told jurors that Trump made a sexual advance in 2007, which she rejected. Four years later, she said, a mysterious man warned her to “leave Trump alone” after she gave an interview to a magazine about their first encounter. Daniels said the article never ran thanks to Trump’s then-“fixer” and lawyer Michael Cohen.

Cohen later paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her claim, getting her to sign a nondisclosure agreement during the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump’s reimbursement of that money to Cohen is at the heart of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against Trump, who is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the repayment. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles began her cross-examination of Daniels on Tuesday and asked her whether she hated Trump. “Yes,” Daniels answered, acknowledging she has repeatedly mocked him on social media. She also said Trump made fun of her first.

Necheles later suggested that Daniels had made up the sexual encounter and the incident involving the threatening man to shake down Trump.

“You were looking to extort money from President Trump, right?” Necheles said.

“False,” Daniels replied.

Daniels is testifying as the prosecution’s case nears its final set of witnesses. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass estimated this week that prosecutors would be done presenting their case by May 21.

Court is not in session on Wednesdays and there are no proceedings Friday of next week, so that would mean prosecutors have roughly six more days of witness testimony to present after Thursday.

While it’s not clear who will testify after Daniels, Cohen is expected to take the stand at some point.



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