Trump trial: Stormy Daniels cross-examination ramps up

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is
developing
news.
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updates
throughout
the
day.

Porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
will
face
cross-examination
Thursday
by
lawyers
for

Donald
Trump,
after
her
first
turn
on
the
witness
stand
drew
an
angry
reaction
from
the
former
president.

Trump’s
attorneys,
who
began
questioning
Daniels
on
Tuesday
afternoon,
will
likely
continue
their
efforts
to
undermine
her
credibility
and
raise
doubts
about
her
account
of
having
sex
with Trump.
The
alleged
one-night
stand
is
a
key
component
of
the
criminal

hush
money
trial
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court.

Judge
Juan
Merchan
warned
Trump’s
attorneys
Tuesday
that the
former
president
had
to
stop
cursing
and
shaking
his
head
during
Daniels’
testimony,
because
he
might
intimidate
her
or
influence
the
jury.

“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,”
Merchan
said
during
a
break
in
Daniels’
testimony.

“It
has
the
potential
to
intimidate
the
witness
and
the
jury
can
see
that,”
Merchan
said,
according
to
a
court
transcript
shared
Tuesday
evening. “You
need
to
speak
to
him.
I
won’t
tolerate
that.”

The
judge
delivered
that
warning
at
the
bench,
out
of
earshot
from
reporters
in
the
courtroom,
because
he
said
he
did
not “want
to
embarrass”
Trump.

The
former
president’s
flashes
of
anger
came
as
Daniels
testified
—
in
vivid
detail
—
about
her
alleged
sexual
encounter
with
Trump
in
2006
shortly
after
meeting
him
at
a
celebrity
golf
tournament
in
Lake
Tahoe.

Trump
is
charged
with
falsifying
business
records
related
to
a
$130,000
hush-money
payment
made
to
Daniels.
Prosecutors
say
the
money
was
part
of
an
unlawful
scheme
to
benefit
Trump’s
2016
presidential
campaign.

Trump’s
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen
paid
Daniels
for
her
silence
about
the
alleged
sex
less
than
two
weeks
before
that
election.
Trump
reimbursed
Cohen
after
becoming
president.

The
hush
money
case,
while
often
considered
the
least
serious
of
the
four
criminal
indictments
Trump
faces,
is
increasingly
likely
to
be
the
only
one
to
make
it
to
trial
before
the
Nov.
5
presidential
election.

On
Wednesday,
a
Georgia
appeals
court
potentially
delayed
a
state-level
election
interference
case
against
Trump
by
agreeing
to
take
up
his
request
to
disqualify
his
prosecutor,
District
Attorney
Fani
Willis.

On
Tuesday
evening,
federal
Judge
Aileen
Cannon
indefinitely
postponed
Trump’s
trial
on
charges
that
he
illegally
took
classified
documents
and
then
tried
to
conceal
them
from
authorities.

A
federal
election
interference
case
against
Trump
in
Washington,
D.C.,
meanwhile,
is
on
hold
while
the
Supreme
Court
considers
whether
Trump
is
immune
from
the
charges
because
they
he
was
president
at
the
time
the
alleged
crimes
occurred.