Stormy Daniels Testifies She Hates Ex-President, Wants Him Jailed If Guilty – NBC Connecticut

• Porn star Stormy Daniels testified at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
• Trump deleted a social media post railing against prosecutors in his secret criminal trial, refusing to disclose the schedule of planned witnesses.
• The Truth Social post was posted and deleted less than a day after Judge Juan Merchan threatened the former president with prison time for repeatedly violating his order of silence.
• Trump’s since-deleted post also accused Merchan of political bias.

Porn star Stormy Daniels said Tuesday she hated the former president. Donald Trump and wants him to be thrown in prison if convicted at his criminal trial on hush money charges.

Daniels’ blunt comment came as Trump lawyer Susan Necheles began cross-examination of the key witness, whose story of having sex with Trump years earlier is at the heart of the landmark criminal case.

“Am I right that you hate President Trump?” Necheles asked in Manhattan Supreme Court.

“Yes,” Daniels replied.

Necheles continued, “You want him to go to jail, don’t you?”

“If he’s found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels testified.

Daniels is expected to return to the witness stand Thursday morning.

Earlier, Judge Juan Merchan denied a request for a mistrial from Trump’s lawyers after prosecutors finished their direct questioning of Daniels.

They argued that Daniels’ detailed testimony about this alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006 was “damaging.”

“The only reason the government asked these questions, other than pure embarrassment, is to inflame this jury,” defense attorney Todd Blanche told Merchan as he argued for dismissal of the trial.

“There’s no way to ring the bell in our opinion,” Blanche said.

But Merchan said: “I don’t believe we’re at the point where a mistrial is justified.”

The judge, however, granted Trump’s lawyers’ request to strike certain testimonies from the record.

Prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying business records related to a secret $130,000 payment to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. The payment was made by Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer, to prevent Daniels from speaking about the alleged sexual relationship before Election Day, prosecutors say.

But the judge had warned prosecutors earlier Tuesday not to disclose specific details about Daniels’ history of having sex with Trump. As Daniels dove into the details of that night, Merchan at times angrily supported the defense’s objections.

Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006 and then having dinner with him in his hotel room.

Daniels testified that she felt no red flags about being alone in the room with Trump. He asked her about the adult film industry and raised the prospect of a role for Daniels on his wildly popular reality show, “The Apprentice,” she said.

After using the bathroom, Daniels said he saw Trump in boxers and a T-shirt on the bed. At that moment, she felt “the room go into slow motion.”

Then Trump told him, “I thought you were serious about what you wanted.” » Daniels interpreted this to mean that having sex with Trump could benefit her career.

Daniels said she had sex with Trump on the bed. Testifying that she didn’t feel threatened at all, Daniels noted, “There was definitely an imbalance of power.”

Before the jury entered the courtroom Tuesday morning, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles argued that Daniels should not be asked to testify “on details of sexual acts.”

There is “no reason” that details of the alleged gender “should be included in a case involving books and records,” Necheles told Merchan.

A prosecutor countered that it was very important to delve into the story of the alleged affair, including the conversation that led Daniels and Trump to have sex.

It won’t include “descriptions of genitals or anything,” the prosecutor said, “but it’s important for us to know whether she had sex with him and how she felt about it.” .

Merchan said that was fine, but there was no need to disclose details of the encounter in court.

The first witness called to the stand Tuesday was Sally Franklin, senior vice president of Random House Publishing Group. Franklin read aloud a number of passages from Trump’s books, including “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.”

Trump deletes posts about judge and witnesses

Before arriving in court, Trump released — then quickly deleted — a statement raging about the witness schedule and the judge in his trial.

Trump sent this message from Truth Social less than a day after Merchan threatened the former president with prison time for repeatedly violating the gag order that bars him from speaking about likely witnesses at trial.

Trump fumed that prosecutors don’t tell defense attorneys which witnesses they plan to call until the day before the witness testifies.

“I was recently told who today’s witness was. This is unprecedented, the lawyers have no time to prepare,” Trump wrote in his message.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Merchan on Monday that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is keeping its witness schedule secret to prevent Trump from targeting people just before they speak.

But Steinglass noted that even though prosecutors keep the order of witnesses close to the vest, Trump’s lawyers have had the witness list for months.

Steinglass criticized Trump for forcing the decision, noting that he “violated the order restricting extrajudicial speech, and we did not want the names of the witnesses, or the names of the next witnesses, to be released.”

Earlier Monday, Merchan again charged Trump with contempt of court, for his 10th violation of the silence order. He fined Trump a maximum of $1,000 for the latest violation, bringing the total to $10,000 in fines for the 10 separate offenses.

But the judge noted that those fines were hardly a deterrent for Trump, a multi-billionaire.

“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” Merchan told Trump. But “I will, if necessary,” he said.

Trump’s deleted post Tuesday morning also attacked Merchan at length, accusing him of political bias.

“No judge has ever conducted a trial in such a biased and partisan manner,” Trump said.

“He is TWISTED AND VERY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment rights. Now he is threatening me with jail, and THEY HAVE NO CASE – This according to virtually every legal expert and expert!” Trump wrote.

Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly failed to convince Merchan to recuse herself for what they claim is a conflict of interest stemming from his daughter’s work for a Democratic political firm.

The silence order prohibits Trump from speaking about likely witnesses in the case and from making certain statements about other related figures, including attorneys, court staff and members of their respective families. Merchan extended silence order after Trump targeted family members of judge and prosecutor