The adult film actress went into graphic detail Tuesday about her alleged sexual encounter with former President Donald Trump in 2006, which he denies.
Daniels, smirking, admits she sells a “Stormy, Saint of Indictments candle,” which sell for $40 each, from which she makes $7 per candle. She said they are made by a store in New Orleans, that she finds them “funny,” and that she sells them through her online store as a result.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles showed Stormy Daniels a tweet she had re-tweeted in which someone called her a “human toilet” and wrote “Exactly! Making me the best person to flush the orange turd down.”
“I don’t see the word instrumental or jail,” Daniels said.
Daniels said it was hyperbole. Asked if she was referring to Trump, Daniels said it doesn’t say that and that it was up to interpretation.
“I’m also not a toilet,” Daniels added.
Necheles asked again what she meant by orange turd.
“Oh, I absolutely meant Mr. Trump,” she said.
As Necheles questioned Daniels about how much money she made for a documentary film that aired on NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock, Daniels alleged that Necheles was “trying to trick me into saying something that’s not entirely true.”
Earlier, Necheles asked Daniels whether she was paid $120,000 for the documentary, but Daniels disputed that number, saying she was paid $100,000 for footage previously filmed, not for sitting for an interview with the documentary producers. She added that some of the money also went toward paying those who filmed parts of the eventual documentary.
The defense’s attempts to color Daniels as nutty and slutty is a constant. For example, they accused her of having an affair with a cameraman on her documentary while still married to someone else; that cameraman is now her husband, and she was separated at that time, Stormy insisted.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles elicited from Stormy Daniels that her book contract, which came about after her “60 Minutes” interview, was for $800,000 and asked her whether the main reason she was paid for the book was her story about having sex with Trump.
The defense is not interrogating the details about the sexual encounter; instead, they are insinuating that Daniels is not credible because of a combination of her financial motivations, her exploitation of her own sexuality and her hatred of Trump.
She maintained she was not “selling herself to a new demographic” but was “doing the same job she always did.”
After pressing Daniels on the centerpiece of the book she wrote, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles asked her about the tour of strip clubs she went on that was dubbed “Make America Horny Again” — a play on words referencing Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
“I did not name that tour and I fought it tooth and nail,” she said.
Necheles, Trump’s attorney, continued her questioning of Daniels, insinuating that “even though you had agreed that you would not discuss this supposed story and you had received a lot of money for that agreement, you then decided that you wanted to publicly say that you had sex with Donald Trump.”
Daniels answered that this was not the case, and that “nobody would ever want to publicly say that.”
She added that she felt she had to speak out after Cohen started sharing the story. Daniels also clarified that she made no money for speaking with CBS’ “60 Minutes” about the story.
The cross-examination is a bit all over the place but the unifying strategy is there: find some holes to poke in Daniels’ credibility.
The defense just spent considerable time trying to prove that Daniels had a political motive for wanting to out Trump’s story, that she was trying to hurt his election bid. But wouldn’t that bolster the prosecution’s argument that Trump had a motive for wanting to silence her?
The defense might not care that it would seem to work in their favor — they’re simply trying to mar her testimony in any way. They just need to convince one juror to not believe her.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles tried to play a recording that was new audio between Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen.
Judge Merchan, however, stopped the audio midtape. “Please stop the tape,” he said.
Necheles said the wrong audio was played by mistake. She then presented a transcript of the audio she intended to play.
Davidson: I just didn’t want you to get caught off guard, and I wanted to let you know what was going on behind the scenes. And I would not be the least bit surprised, if, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you see in the next couple of days that Gina Rodriguez’s boyfriend goes out in the media and tells the story that Stormy Daniels, you know, in the weeks prior to the election was basically yelling and screaming, and calling me a p****.
Cohen: Can I, can I ask you a question? Right.
Davidson: No, no, hold on one second, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he comes out and says, you know what, Stormy Daniels, she wanted this money more than you can ever imagine. I remember hearing her on the phone saying, you fucking Keith Davidson. You better settle this god-damn story. Because if he loses this selection and he’s going to lose, if he loses this election we lose all f* leverage this case is worth zero. And if that happens. I’m going to sue you because you lost this opportunity. So settle this f* case.
As she kicks off her second day on the stand, Daniels seems less combative and more prepared today.
She knows Trump attorney Necheles has prepared a number of “gotcha” moments, so Daniels has tried to pre-empt that by asking to be shown where she told a Slate reporter that she wanted to be paid for her story as an alternative to being paid for her silence. Daniels resisted the characterization that she just wanted to be paid for her story, but she agreed she wanted the story to be public.
