#RhonaGraff testifies that she saw #StormyDaniels at #Trump Tower, in the waiting area of the 26th floor, where Trump’s office is located.
Susan #Hoffinger, the prosecutor, wraps up. Susan #Necheles is now cross-examining #Graff for the defense.
Trump cracks a small smile as Graff speaks glowingly of her time working for Trump. She says she never had the same day twice & called Trump “fair” as a boss.
#Trump did not answer reporters’s questions about his morning Truth Social post.
One of Trump's lawyers, Susan #Necheles, appears to be taking her seat to Trump’s right— suggesting she will be the one to cross-examine #StormyDaniels.
Show’s about to start, doubt Trump will be sleeping today.
#Necheles is still trying to make #StormyDaniels look like a liar by bringing up her book excerpts, making it seem as if she has changed her story of having had sex w/ #Trump.
Daniels continues fighting back & providing more context.
The jurors are paying close attention and the courtroom is, to use the word of the day, tense.
Necheles does get Daniels to say that one thing she described in the book was incorrect, but sticks to other parts of her story.
Susan #Necheles, the #Trump defense lawyer, has lodged objection after objection. Objections are meant to either cut off testimony or have it stricken from the official record. Her rate of success today has been way higher than normal. The judge is accepting her objections & disrupting #StormyDaniels’s testimony.
The testimony firmly puts #StormyDaniels in #Trump’s orbit during a sustained period of time.
Trump has continued to motion to his lawyer #Necheles, who likely will be handling the cross-examination & has been taking notes throughout Daniels's testimony.
Daniels is now talking about an article posted on the website TheDirty in 2011 about her encounter w/Trump. The jurors have already heard from other witnesses about this article, which Daniels said she wanted taken down.
#Necheles moves on to socialmedia posts that #StormyDaniels made about wanting #Trump to be imprisoned, incl one saying that she would “dance down the street” if he was selected to go to jail.
Daniels says “selected” was the wrong word because she knows a person is not selected to go to jail.
Necheles asks Daniels: “Am I correct that you hate President Trump?”
Daniels: “Yes.”
Necheles: “And you want him to go to jail?”
Daniels responds: “I want him to be held accountable.”
Direct examination is over; next is cross-examination by #Trump atty Susan #Necheles.
Necheles is pushing #StormyDaniels on her testimony about the money. She says that Daniels went into pornography for money, & asks her, again, “You wanted more money, right?”
Daniels retorted: “Don’t we all want to make more money in our jobs?”
Importantly, this cross-examination isn’t addressing the evidence, it’s just an attack on #StormyDaniels’ credibility.
In a “your mama’s so fat” moment, when #Necheles gets Daniels to acknowledge she had mocked #Trump’s looks on Twitter, Daniels replies, “Because he made fun of me first.”
Necheles says that one of them started it, but “you both continued it.”
(One of these people was the president of the United States)
#Necheles continues to push #StormyDaniels on money, bringing up that she previously tweeted that she would not pay #Trump “a penny” even after a federal court ordered her to cover his legal fees as a result of a failed defamation lawsuit. A lawyer for Daniels has said that she does not, in fact, owe him any money.
Jurors finances are likely closer to Daniels's than Trump’s, this may be an argument they are unresponsive to.
#Necheles, pushing #StormyDaniels about the threat she says she encountered in the Vegas parking lot, challenged her about not telling her baby’s father implying she made it up.
Necheles: “Your daughter’s life was in jeopardy & you did not tell her father — but you went on Anderson Cooper & decided to tell the world?”
#StormyDaniels is expected to be the second witness today.
#Trump's lawyer #Necheles, begins by objecting to Daniels testifying, including “any details” of any “sexual act.”
Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, is arguing that these details are key to the case — & that this issue has already been settled. She says that details that are too salacious will not be admitted, but that the story is “significant” & important to prosecutors in terms of Daniels’s credibility.
#Necheles is trying to make #StormyDaniels look like a liar. But many of her questions have to do w/money & Daniels is making it clear that she is not wealthy. So instead of this line of questioning working to impeach her #credibility, as intended, it’s coming off as a lawyer for a very rich person going after someone w/ less money for having less money.
Yes #Trump has exaggerated his wealth for the years, but he still has more money than the vast majority of the country.
#Necheles has hardly asked about the actual case — whether there was a #conspiracy to cover up a #HushMoney payment made before an election, & if business records were falsified in the process. Instead she has focused on whether Daniels embellished her story about being threatened in Vegas by someone connected to #Trump.
Necheles repeats the accusation: “That’s what you did, right?”
Daniels almost yells: “False!”
The defense has been building to this since Emil #Bove, accused Daniels’s lawyer, #KeithDavidson, of being a serial extorter of celebrities on behalf of other clients.
#Necheles, is seeking to attack #StormyDaniels's overall credibility. But Daniels told a very detailed story earlier about the not exactly consensual sexual encounter w/ #Trump, we’ll see how the #jurors process these attacks. It may very well backfire on the Trump team.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
#Blanche has yet to ask #MichaelCohen about anything in connection to the actual case that's on trial.
Trump's lawyers have focused on impeaching the credibility of the prosecution's 2 biggest witnesses, #StormyDaniels & Cohen. Though while Susan #Necheles’s cross-examination of Daniels was largely focused & had an arc, Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen has been all over the place.
The prosecution asks that the defense be precluded from asking #StormyDaniels whether she was arrested. Justice #Merchan agrees w/the prosecutors, saying that “anybody can be arrested” & that it “doesn’t prove anything.”
The people call Stormy Daniels back to the stand
#Trump atty #Necheles begins questioning by saying that in 2011, Daniels denied having had sex w/Trump.
The defense is asking for a mistrial & that #Trump be allowed to respond in public (not court) to #StormyDaniels's testimony. To be clear. Trump is asking the court to lift the #legal restrictions of the #GagOrder, so he can publicly attack a witness’s testimony.
Steinglass also criticized Blanche's colleague Susan #Necheles's cross-examination of #StormyDaniels, calling it "very thorough but somewhat misleading" & hardcore [#SlutShaming ]
Prosecutor #Steinglass says that the details of Daniels's story before & during the sexual act corroborate her account, & show the fact that sex happened, which increases the motivation to silence her.
#Trump leans forward & stares at the screen w/the exhibits of #StormyDaniels's merch, including T-shirts & comic books. He seems very interested in her efforts to make money off the liaison w/him.
Trump has sold merch w/his name on it for years - steaks, vodka, water & sneakers to name a few.
#Necheles brings up a "$40 Stormy Saint of Indictments Candle," w/Daniels draped in a Christ-like robe. Trump recently made news by hawking a Bible for $59.99.
Irony is dead.
#Necheles continues to be derisive of #StormyDaniels's sex work. As she asks about the golf tournament where Daniels met #Trump, she refers to "you & the other porn stars who were there." Public perceptions around adult film & sex work have changed, & it's unclear how the jury will perceive her tack.
Necheles is making these arguments in defense of a man whose image as a sexual aggressor has come into this same trial thru things like the #AccessHollywood tape.
#StormyDaniels is pushing back on #Necheles, asking for evidence when the lawyer claims that Daniels had called her lawyer weak-willed.
Daniels: “Show me where I said that,” - forcing the defense to produce exhibits to back up allegations.
Necheles pulls up the transcript & audio & Daniels’s voice is not on the tape; it is #MichaelCohen & #KeithDavidson, her lawyer at the time - so Daniels is correct, not the #Trump atty.
#Necheles now brings up something inevitable: #StormyDaniels's work as a medium. "You've made a show & a podcast claiming you can speak w/ dead people, right?"
So now Necheles is trying to make Daniels look crazy by bringing up her beliefs in the paranormal & communicating w/dead people.
Keeping score, Necheles has tried to discredit Daniels by suggesting she is
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.