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NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial Thursday, two days after she spent hours recounting in sometimes graphic detail the alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the former president that she was eventually paid to keep quiet about during the 2016 presidential election.
The former president's attorneys aggressively sought to poke holes in Daniels' credibility during cross-examination, accusing the porn actor of trying to extort Trump and rehearsing her testimony — two assertions she forcefully denied. The defense also made a failed attempt to have a mistrial declared, arguing that Daniels' morning testimony had “nothing to do with this case and is extremely prejudicial.”
Trump denies the two ever had sex.
Prosecutors say Trump and two of his associates orchestrated a scheme to influence the 2016 election by purchasing and then burying stories that might damage his campaign.
Daniels' testimony is a build-up to the prosecution's star witness Michael Cohen, who arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels and later went to prison for orchestrating the payments and other charges.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up the hush money payments and instead recording them as legal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.
Currently:
— Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump
— Inside the courtroom where Trump was forced to listen to Stormy Daniels
— Hush money, catch and kill and more: Terms to know in Trump trial
— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here
Here's the latest:
Hush money, catch and kill and more: Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial is full of terms you don’t typically hear in a courtroom.
Centering on allegations Trump falsified his company’s records to conceal the nature of hush money reimbursements, it’s the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial. It also has some unique terminology.
The Associated Press defines these terms and more here.
Porn actor Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial on Thursday morning.
Though she is the latest high-profile name to be called up for questioning, Daniels is key to the events and charges at the center of the criminal case against the former president.
Daniels has said that in 2006, she and Trump had sex in his hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor. She testified Tuesday that the encounter was “brief” but left her “shaking.”
“I just wanted to leave,” she testified.
A decade later, she was paid $130,000 in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race to keep quiet about the encounter. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
Michael Cohen, then Trump’s attorney, paid Daniels through a shell corporation he created and the deal was finalized on Nov. 1, 2016, just a week before Election Day.
Prosecutors have said that payments from Trump reimbursing Cohen were falsely — and illegally — logged as legal fees to cover up their actual purpose. Trump’s lawyers contend the payments were legitimate legal expenses.
Donald Trump is expected in Manhattan court Thursday morning as witness testimony resumes in his criminal trial.
Porn actor Stormy Daniels will return to the stand for redirect from prosecutors after defense attorneys grilled her during cross-examination Tuesday afternoon.
The former president spent most of Tuesday listening to Daniels tell jurors about her background and upbringing, her career in the adult entertainment industry and how it led to meeting Trump, and — ultimately — the alleged 2006 sexual encounter that resulted in a six-figure payoff in exchange for her silence a decade later during the 2016 presidential election.
It remains to be seen who will take the stand after Daniels' concludes her testimony.