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On the witness stand: The adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose testimony is of central importance in the criminal case against Donald Trump, described in detail her alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006 when she was questioned by the public prosecutor. Susan Hoffinger.
Daniels received $130,000 – “hush money” – to prevent her from going public about her alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Payments Trump made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, which prosecutors say were repayment for a settlement with the adult film star before the election, are at the heart of 34 counts of falsifying business records against Trump.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the connection.
The prosecutor had previously asked Sally Franklin, who works for the publishing group, to submit excerpts from Trump’s books as evidence.
Daniels is back on the podium.
Stormy Daniels is back on the podium.
She avoided looking at Donald Trump as she walked back into the room. She straightens her hair as it falls out of the clip.
Trump was going through the papers in front of him with his lawyer Susan Necheles when Daniels entered.
Judge says “the level of detail” in the witness statement is “unnecessary.”
Judge Juan Merchan tells prosecutors he believes “the level of detail we’re going into here is simply unnecessary.”
“If she’s back at the podium, we can move forward more quickly,” Merchan says and refers to when Stormy Daniels will be back on the podium.
The court takes a short break
The jury excuses itself and the court goes into the morning break.
Stormy Daniels walked past Trump’s desk without looking back. He didn’t seem to be looking at her either. Trump spoke with his lawyer Emile Beauvais.
Daniels says she felt no warning signs during her conversation with Trump.
Stormy Daniels says she and Trump spoke for about two hours.
“Did you sense any warning signs or concerns about your time there?” asks prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
“No,” says Daniels.
Daniels says she called a friend from Trump’s hotel room.
Stormy Daniels says she called one of her friends from Donald Trump’s hotel room while on speakerphone.
The jury takes notes as Daniels testifies.
Some of the jurors take notes as Stormy Daniels testifies. One of them holds her head every now and then.
Trump mentioned the possibility of Stormy Daniels appearing on Celebrity Apprentice.
Daniels remembers Donald Trump telling her to “go on his TV show.”
“I said: ‘Even you don’t have this much power.’ He said: ‘You remind me of my daughter because she’s smart, blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her.’ The way he framed it did actually make perfect sense,” Daniels said.
She recalled being concerned that she couldn’t win and that would hurt her image and the stereotype she felt she represents. “What if I lose on the first episode?” she recalls asking. Trump then suggested he could tell her the challenges ahead of time, she says.
Daniels is describing her mindset at the time, saying she has “nothing against the adult entertainment industry. I have no shame, that’s who I am. But I also wanted to direct other, bigger things.”
Daniels recalls Trump showing her a magazine with himself on the cover
Trump showed Stormy Daniels a magazine cover he was pictured on and she testified that she told him she hadn’t seen it.
“Not like I made a habit of reading financial magazines as a 27-year-old stripper,” she says on the stand.
Daniels says she snapped at him. “Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? You don’t even know how to have a conversation,” she recalls. She testified she spanked him with the magazine “right on the butt.”
Trump mouthed something to himself as she told the story, looking annoyed.
Daniels says she “really wanted” to ask Trump about pro wrestling
Stormy Daniels said she “really wanted” to ask Donald Trump about pro wrestling when they met.
“He was friends with the owner of the company,” Vince McMahon, she said.
She laughed on the stand as she recalled comparing the adult film industry to wrestling like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). “It’s real but it’s not,” she said.
Daniels recalled that Trump at the time was involved in a bet with McMahon, where if he lost he would have had to shave his head.
“Donald Trump has always been very famous for his do,” she says. But he assured her it was all predetermined.
Trump is slumped in his chair and sitting back facing forward as Daniels testifies.
Trump shakes his head as Daniels recalls asking him about his wife
Stormy Daniels shrugs as she mentions she had a “very brief” conversation with Trump about his wife, Melania.
She says she asked Trump about Melania and told him she was very beautiful. She recalls Trump saying, “We don’t sleep in the same room.”
Trump closed his eyes, shook his head and murmured to his attorneys at the defense table as she said this.
Daniels says Trump had “very thought-out business questions” about her work
Stormy Daniels is testifying that Trump inquired about her work and asked how she got involved in the adult entertainment business.
“He asked how I got involved in the adult entertainment business,” Daniels says. “He was very interested in how I segued from just being a porn star to writing and directing.”
“He asked about the business aspects of it. Are there any unions, do you get residuals, how are people paid. Do you get health insurance. What about testing. Are you worried about STDs?” she recalls.
“He was very interested in a lot of the business aspects of it, which I thought was very cool,” she says.
She says other people ” want to know the sexy stuff, the dirty stuff, they want to know the salacious things. These were very thought-out business questions.”
Trump asked Daniels if she had a husband or boyfriend, she testifies
Stormy Daniels says Donald Trump asked her whether she had children, was married or had a boyfriend.
She says she told him that she did not.
Trump asked Daniels to talk “to get to know each other” before dinner, she says
Stormy Daniels is describing how it was not yet dark outside when she arrived at the hotel for dinner with Trump.
She says she recalls Trump saying it was a bit early. “Do you mind talking just a bit to get to know each other?” Daniels recalls Trump asking.
“I told him where I grew up. He asked about my family, do I have brothers and sisters? I don’t,” Daniels says.
“Did you talk to him at all about the conditions of your childhood,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks.
“Absolutely,” Daniels says.
Trump watches Daniels’ testimony on screen in front of him
Donald Trump is engaged with the testimony, watching Stormy Daniels on the screen in front of him.
Daniels is looking at the jury and using her hands expressively
Stormy Daniels often looks over at the jury as she testifies describing the hotel room in detail.
Daniels is using her hands expressively as she outlines the setting and where things were in the hotel room.
Daniels has a very conversational and casual tone, but she is speaking very quickly. The prosecution has asked her to slow down at least four times so the court reporter can keep up.
Daniels says Trump was wearing “satin pajamas” when they met at hotel suite
Stormy Daniels said she called Donald Trump’s name as she arrived at the hotel suite.
“I called his name. I said, ‘hello’ and he came from one of the main areas of the hotel suite,” she testified.
Trump was wearing satin pajamas, she said, adding that she immediately made fun of him. “Does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?” Daniels said, confirming that she was referring to Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.
She told Trump to change, Daniels said. He returned wearing a dress shirt and dress pants.
Daniels said the foyer of the penthouse suite had black-and-while tile and a “big, beautiful wooden table” in the middle of it. She said there were flowers on the table.
Daniels describes being invited to go to dinner with Trump
Stormy Daniels says she was trying to get out of a dinner with everyone from her company and that was the reason her publicist encouraged her to go to dinner with Trump instead.
“So I arrived and I went upstairs. Keith (Schiller) had given me very specific instructions to take certain elevator to he penthouse floor. So I did so and I went up to that level. That’s where I met Keith who was waiting for me outside the door,” Daniels testifies.
Trump’s bodyguard gave Daniels his contact information, she says
Daniels says after she declined Trump’s dinner invitation, his bodyguard Keith Schiller took her cell phone number and then messaged her.
The jury is seeing a photo of Schiller’s contact entry in her phone. He’s saved as “Keith Trump.”
Daniels says the contact was “Keith Trump” because she didn’t know Schiller’s last name at the time and he worked for Trump. “I do that a lot,” to help identify contacts, she says.
She said she had another dinner, but her publicist encouraged her to go to dinner with Trump.
“What could possibly go wrong,” Daniels recounted her publicist telling her, giggling as she spoke on the stand.
What Stormy Daniels has said as of 11 a.m. ET
Stephanie Clifford – better known as Stormy Daniels — has taken the stand in the former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Here’s what to know about her testimony so far:
- Why she’s in court?: Speaking quickly, Daniels said she was testifying because she was subpoenaed. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked her to slow down as reporters in court said she appeared relax on the stand – leaning into the chair’s arm and laughing casually as she recounted her work experience.
Jurors took notes during her testimony – but were not reacting to her laughs and sometimes blunt testimony.
- Her name: Daniels said she prefers being called Stormy Daniels, instead of Stephanie Clifford.
- How she started her career: While testifying, Daniels was asked how she got into her career. She said her friend told her she was a dancer, which she thought meant “ballet, jazz and tap. I was wrong, she was an exotic dancer.”
- Daniels said she figured out that through dancing, she could make more than in two nights “than I could shoveling manure eight hours a day.” Daniels continued, noting that she started nude modeling at 21 and then realized she wanted to be a traveling entertainer. She confirmed that she also worked in the adult film industry – saying she won 11 best director awards and two best screenplays.
- Media and books: Daniels said she’s written a book called “Full Disclosure” which she is in the process of finishing. She speaks about movies and music videos she has been in, including “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” as well as music videos. Daniels reveals she has a podcast – and discussed Trump on it.
- Meeting Donald Trump: Daniels was questioned about meeting Donald Trump at the Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament. “It was a very brief encounter,” she said. At the time, she was 27 years old and still working for an adult film picture company. Trump was “as old or older than my father” she said, adding that her father was 60.
- Daniels said he later approached her at the golf shop, and said he remembered her, telling her “that I was the smart one.”
Daniels is referring to Trump as “Mr. Trump”
When Stormy Daniels speaks of Trump, she is calling him “Mr. Trump.”
The jury is seeing a photo of Trump standing with his golf club wearing the same yellow shirt and red hat.
“It is a photo of Mr. Trump on the golf course,” Daniels says of the photo.
Daniels says she refused Trump’s offer to have dinner
Donald Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, asked Stormy Daniels if she would have dinner with Trump, she testifies.
“F no, ” Daniels says she replied.
She was then asked to clarify because she said it softly. Daniels says, “NO, but with an expletive in front.”
Jury shown photo of Daniels and Trump together
Daniels explains how she got into the adult film industry
Stormy Daniels is explaining how she got into the adult film industry.
“I was honestly kind of scared to do it. (A friend) She said I’ll do it with you. Just doing one you can say you’ve done it and it will bump you up in pay grade,” she says.
Daniels says she won 11 best director awards and two best screenplays.