Trump trial: Judge denies motion for mistrial after Stormy Daniels testimony
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
MORE: Here are 8 pieces of evidence presented so far in Trump’s hush money trial
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Latest Developments
May 7, 3:09 PM
Daniels says she’s been paid $100K for Peacock documentary
Stormy Daniels testified that she sold the license rights of her story to Peacock — which released a documentary about her earlier this year — for $125,000.
Of that amount, Daniels said she has has received $100,000 so far.
Asked why she felt the need to make the documentary, Daniels responded, “To get the truth out — the same as the book.”
Hoffinger then asked Daniels to read aloud one of Trump’s social media posts about her.
“I did NOTHING wrong in the ‘Horseface’ case,” Daniels read, slightly raising her voice. “Never had an affair with her, just another false acquisition [sic] by a Sleazebag.”
Daniels testified that Trump has repeatedly called her “horseface.”
In the jury box, many of the jurors have been taking notes as Daniels testifies, with others looking back-and-forth between Hoffinger and Daniels as though they’re watching a tennis match.
Trump, meanwhile, is slouched back in his seat, looking down or straight ahead — still seeming to avoid looking toward the witness.
After the last round of questions, Hoffinger concluded her direct examination.
May 7, 3:10 PM
Daniels says Avenatti sued Trump without her consent
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Stormy Daniels about her 2018 lawsuit against Donald Trump for defamation.
Trump had called Daniels’ allegations of being threatened in Las Vegas a “con job.” A court later dismissed the case and ordered Daniels to pay Trump’s legal fees.
According to Daniels, her attorney at the time, Michael Avenatti, filed the lawsuit against her will.
“Did you want him to do that?” Hoffinger asked.
“No,” Daniels said. “It just seemed really risky and it didn’t seem like something that could be won. It seemed like a bad choice. Not worth it, I guess.”
Daniels later fired Avenatti, who was disbarred and imprisoned for stealing from clients.
Daniels testified that she still owes Trump for the legal fees in the case.
“Because I don’t have the means to pay that kind of funds and because I didn’t think it was fair,” Daniels said about why she hasn’t paid.
She testified that the outcome of this criminal case will have no outcome on her outstanding fees — possibly getting ahead of a potential line of cross-examination.
May 7, 2:59 PM
Daniels sought to get out of agreement in 2018
Stormy Daniels testified that she approached a new attorney, Michael Avenatti, in 2018 to help her get out of her agreement with then-President Trump after Michael Cohen began speaking publicly about her — “because he could talk about it and I couldn’t.”
“Why did you want to get out of the NDA at that point?” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.
“So I could stand up for myself,” Daniels said.
She said she later appeared on “60 Minutes” in an interview with Anderson Cooper “to get my story out.”
May 7, 2:53 PM
Daniels says she issued false denial to 2018 WSJ article
Stormy Daniels testified that she honored the terms of her nondisclosure agreement in the following year after signing it, including declining to comment on a 2016 Wall Street Journal article about AMI’s payment to Karen McDougal just days before the 2016 election.
When the Wall Street Journal published a story about Cohen’s payment to Daniels in 2018, Daniels issued a denial — which she testified was false — authored by her then-attorney Keith Davidson.
“What kind of impact did it have?” Hoffinger asked about the impact of the 2018 reporting.
“Chaos,” Daniels said, testifying the article “blew my cover.”
“Suddenly I was front and foremost everywhere,” Davidson said.
Daniels testified that on Jan. 30, 2018, she was booked on the Jimmy Kimmel show. As her talent agent, Gina Rodriguez, arrived with dresses, Daniels testified that her attorney at the time, Keith Davidson, came with a statement for her to sign denying a sexual relationship with Trump.
On television, Daniels said the signature on the statement was not hers. Asked why, Daniels said she wanted to “tip off to Jimmy Kimmel” that she “didn’t sign it willingly.”
Daniels, on the stand, appears more subdued following the break, with her testimony is consisting of more yes-or-no answers.
May 7, 2:43 PM
Daniels says she understood agreement to be with Trump
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger resumed her direct examination by asking Stormy Daniels about October 2016, when she agreed to sell the rights to her story — but the payment from Michael Cohen was repeatedly delayed.
Jurors were shown the final signed agreement between Stormy Daniels, through her attorney, and representatives for Donald Trump.
In the days ahead of the 2016 election, Michael Cohen wired Stormy Daniels’ lawyer $130,000 and entered into a confidential settlement agreement to kill the story, according to prosecutors.
“Is that who you understand you were signing this agreement with?” Hoffinger asked, referring to Trump.
“Yes,” Daniels answered.
Daniels said she received $96,000 of the $130,000 wired by Michael Cohen. The jury has previously seen the paperwork associated with the wire transfer to her attorney Keith Davidson.
May 7, 2:34 PM
Daniels is told to ‘stay focused’ before she retakes stand
With the judge’s permission and the defense’s consent, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger stepped out to confer with Stormy Daniels before she was to retake the witness stand.
The judge said Hoffinger would remind Daniels to “stay focused” and make sure she “does not provide any unnecessary narrative.”
Trump stared forward as Daniels reentered the courtroom. Only after she turned toward the witness stand — passing the defense table where the former president sits — did Trump glance at Daniels.
“Good afternoon Miss Daniels, I remind you that you’re still under oath,” Judge Merchan said as she retook the stand.
May 7, 2:36 PM
Judge says remedy for defense is on cross-examination
“As a threshold matter, Mr. Blanche, I agree that there are some things that would be better left unsaid,” Judge Merchan told defense attorney Todd Blanche in denying the defense’s motion for a mistrial based on Stormy Daniels’ testimony.
“The witness was a little difficult to control. Having said that, I do think there were guardrails in place … certain details that I don’t think we needed to get into,” the judge said.
“Whether these are new stories or not new stories, the remedy is on cross-examination. So I’m going to deny your motion for a mistrial at this time,” Merchan said.
“I was surprised that there were not more objections” from the defense team, the judge added.
“At one point, the court … objected, because there was no objection coming from the defense,” he said.
May 7, 2:21 PM
Judge denies motion for mistrial after Stormy Daniels testimony
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger pushed back on the defense’s request for a mistrial, arguing Daniels’ testimony was consistent and permissible.
“This story — her account — is highly probative of the defendant’s intent,” she said. “This is not new. This is not a new account.”
“They opened the door to this,” she said. Her testimony was necessary for prosecutors “to rehabilitate credibility where they attacked it” in their opening statement.
Hoffinger defended her direct examination, telling Merchan she dialed back the testimony at his request.
“We were extremely mindful of not eliciting too much testimony about the actual act,” Hoffinger said.
Blanche fired back, telling Merchan that the testimony from Daniels was a harmful distraction.
“I don’t think anybody can listen to what that witness said and think it had anything to do with the charged conduct,” he said. “You run a very high risk of the jury not being able to focus on the evidence that really does matter.”
“I don’t believe we are at the point where a mistrial is warranted,” Merchan said.
May 7, 2:13 PM
Defense moves for mistrial over Daniels’ testimony
Trump’s defense team has moved for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ testimony
“We move for a mistrial based on the testimony this morning,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said following the lunch break.
“The guardrails by this witness answering questions by the government were just thrown to the side,” Blanche said.
“There is no remedy that we can fashion … to unring this bell,” Blanche said about the impact of Daniels’ testimony.
Blanche argued the prosecutors wanted to embarrass Trump and inflame the jury and was far afield from a case about falsification of business records.
“She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell,” Blanche said. “We heard a completely different story.”
Blanche argued that the testimony regarding condoms, being “blacked out” and and the “power dynamic” prejudiced the jury.
“This has nothing to do with the reason why we’re here,” Blanche said. “How can you un-ring a bell?”
The prosecution pushed back.
“Her account completes the narrative that precipitated the falsification of business records,” Hoffinger said. “It is precisely what the defendant did not want to become public.”
May 7, 1:02 PM
Daniels says ‘fear’ motivated her to shop story
Stormy Daniels testified that she initially authorized her agent Gina Rodriguez to shop around her story in 2016.
“My motivation wasn’t money,” Daniels said. “It was to get the story out.”
But then, after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape came out, she learned that then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen was interested in purchasing her story — by way of a settlement or nondisclosure agreement — “which was the best thing that could’ve happened … because then I’d be safe and the story wouldn’t come out,” Daniels testified.
“It was motivated out of fear, not money,” Daniels said, adding that her financial situation at the time was the “best it’s ever been.”
“Why didn’t you ask for more money?” Hoffinger asked about Michael Cohen’s $130,000 offer.
“Because I didn’t care about the money,” Daniels said.
Stormy Daniels is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger before Justice Juan Merchan during former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan state court in New York City, May 7, 2024 in this courtroom sketch.
Daniels, on the witness stand, then reviewed the contract she signed to sell her story in exchange for her silence.
Asked if she signed it, she said, “Yes.”
But Daniels affirmed earlier testimony that she wasn’t paid the money on time.
“No, it was late. I didn’t know why it was late, he just kept making excuses,” she said of Cohen.
Daniels said she became concerned when Cohen delayed the payment, and she worried that if she didn’t get the payment before the election, she might never get it — “because he (Trump) had gotten what he wanted and it goes all the way back to me not being safe,” she said.
Asked what she understood the payment arrangement to be, she answered, “Trump to Cohen, Cohen to Davidson,” referring to then-attorney Keith Davidson.
Court subsequently recessed for lunch, with Daniels scheduled to return to the stand after the break.
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