Trump trial: Stormy Daniels to testify about hush money, alleged sex with ex-president

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Porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
is
expected
to
testify
Tuesday
in
the
New
York
criminal
hush
money
trial
of
Donald
Trump,
NBC
News
reported.

Daniels
is
at
the
center
of
the
historic
case
in
which
Trump
is
charged
with
falsifying
business
records
related
to
a
payment
made
to
keep
Daniels
from
speaking
before
the
2016
presidential
election
about
alleged
sex
with
Trump
in
2006.

Trump’s
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen
paid
Daniels
$130,000
less
than
two
weeks
before
that
election,
which
Trump
went
on
to
win.
The
scheme
by
Trump,
who
reimbursed
Cohen
while
he
was
president,
amounted
to
an
attempt
to
unlawfully
influence
the
election,
according
to
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg.

News
of
Daniels’
expected
appearance
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
came
after
Trump
posted
—
and
then
quickly
deleted
—
a
statement
raging
about
the
witness
schedule
and
the
judge
in
his
trial.

Trump
sent
that
Truth
Social
post
less
than
one
day
after
Judge
Juan
Merchan
threatened
the
former
president
with
jail
time,
for
repeatedly
violating
the
gag
order
that
bars
him
from
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
in
the
trial.

Trump
fumed
that
prosecutors
are
not
telling
defense
attorneys
which
witnesses
they
plan
to
call
until
the
day
before
the
witness
testifies.

“I
have
just
recently
been
told
who
the
witness
is
today.
This
is
unprecedented,
no
time
for
lawyers
to
prepare,”
Trump
wrote
in
the
post.

Prosecutor
Joshua
Steinglass
told
Merchan
on
Monday
the
Manhattan
District
Attorney’s
office
is
keeping
its
witness
schedule
hidden,
in
order
to
stop
Trump
from
targeting
people
right
before
they
take
the
stand.

But
Steinglass
noted
that
while
they
are
keeping
the
order
of
witnesses
close
to
the
vest,
Trump’s
attorneys
have
had
the
witness
list,
and
the
list
of
exhibits
they
will
present
in
the
case,
for
months.

Steinglass
blamed
Trump
for
forcing
the
move,
pointing
out
that
he “has
been
violating
the
order
restricting
extrajudicial
speech,
and
we
did
not
want
to
have
the
witnesses’
names,
the
next
witnesses’
names
out
there.”

Earlier
Monday,
Merchan
held
Trump
in
contempt
of
court
once
again
for
his
10th
violation
of
the
gag
order.
He
fined
Trump
the
maximum
$1,000
for
the
latest
violation,
adding
up
to
$10,000
in
fines
for
the
10
separate
infringements.

But
the
judge
noted
that
those
fines
were
hardly
a
deterrent
for
Trump,
a
multibillionaire.

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

Trump’s
since-deleted
post
from
Tuesday
morning
also
slammed
Merchan
at
length,
accusing
him
of
political
bias.

“No
Judge
has
ever
run
a
trial
in
such
a
biased
and
partisan
way,”
Trump
claimed.

“He
is
CROOKED
&
HIGHLY
CONFLICTED,
even
taking
away
my
First
Amendment
Rights.
Now
he’s
threatening
me
with
JAIL,
&
THEY
HAVE
NO
CASE
–
This
according
to
virtually
all
Legal
Scholars
&
Experts!”
Trump
wrote.

Trump’s
attorneys
have
failed
multiple
times
to
get
Merchan
to
recuse
himself
for
what
they
claim
is
a
conflict
of
interest
stemming
from
his
daughter’s
work
for
a
Democratic
political
firm.

The
gag
order
bars
Trump
from
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
in
the
case,
and
from
making
certain
statements
about
other
related
figures
including
lawyers,
court
staff
and
their
respective
family
members.
Merchan
expanded
the
gag
order
after
Trump
targeted
the
family
members
of
the
judge
and
the
D.A.