The prosecution has to prove her payoff was linked to the 2016 election.
Stormy Daniels has been on the witness stand in the Trump trial this week, describing her sexual encounter with the former president in vivid detail: Trump’s hotel suite had a black and white tile floor and big mahogany table. He wore boxers and a T-shirt. She removed her bra. They adopted the missionary position… at which point the judge cut her off.
So what? Most of Daniels’ testimony has no direct bearing on the charges Trump is facing.
The prosecution alleges Trump falsified his business records.
- That is only a serious crime if done with intent to defraud that “includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof”.
- The prosecution’s case is that Trump did the falsifying to conceal repayment of his lawyer Michael Cohen, who stumped up $130,000 in hush money to stop Daniels selling her tale of sex with Trump before the election.
And that’s a crime how? Under federal election law “expenditures by corporations made for the purpose of influencing an election made in coordination with or at the request of a candidate are unlawful”. That’s the alleged crime. Trump’s satin pyjamas (see below) are not.
Nonetheless… everything Daniels said, and every reaction it elicited from Trump, could influence the jury as to the purpose of the payment, and could have a bearing on the next election.
This is what we learned:
1 – Daniels met Trump in July 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, where the porn company she worked for, Wicked Pictures, sponsored a hole.
2 – When Trump invited Daniels to dinner, the Wicked publicist said: “What could go wrong?”
3 – When Daniels arrived at Trump’s hotel suite he was wearing “silk or satin” pyjamas.
[Not mentioned in court – Trumpstore.com sells “velvety soft poly blend silk with detailed white trim and Trump embroidery” pyjamas for $175. They are 96 per cent polyester.]
4 – When Daniels asked if Hugh Hefner knew Trump stole his pyjamas, the former president “changed into regular clothes and returned”.
5 – Daniels found Trump interesting at dinner – unlike most people, he was less interested in the sordid details of the adult film industry than in practicalities like whether actors have trade unions.
6 – But Trump was also irritating, she said – arrogant and constantly trying to “steal the conversation”. Daniels asked him: “Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous?”
7 – Daniels spanked Trump “right on the butt” with a rolled-up copy of Forbes with his picture on the cover.
8 – Trump suggested he would get Daniels onto The Apprentice USA, which he hosted. Daniels responded: “There’s no way they’d ever let me on television, no way NBC would let an adult actress on TV. You don’t have that much power.”
9 – Daniels drank two bottles of water at dinner. She asked to use the restroom and when she emerged Trump was on the bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts.
10 – Trump did not wear a condom.
11 – Daniels said she “blacked out” while they had sex.
12 – Sitting on Trump’s hotel bed afterward, Daniels’ hands were shaking and she couldn’t pull herself together.
13 – Daniels attended the launch of Trump Vodka in Los Angeles the following year because, she said, “the chance to be on The Apprentice was still up in the air. It would’ve been great for me and great for my career.”
14 – Trump would call Daniels while she was on film sets. Daniels would put Trump on speaker phone for the cast and crew to hear.
15 – Trump described Daniels in a tweet as “horseface”.
16 – Daniels described Trump in a tweet as an “orange turd”.
Isn’t this just gossip dressed up as evidence? Trump’s legal team tried this argument. They asked the judge to declare a mistrial, saying Daniels’ evidence would prejudice the jury. The judge disagreed but conceded there were “things that would have been better left unsaid”.
The evidence. The key point the prosecution is trying to establish is that Daniels did not negotiate the hush money payment of $130,000; she just wanted to get it done before the election in case the offer vanished afterwards. That would support the argument that its purpose was to influence the election, and it was therefore a felony.
On 17 October 2017, Daniels’ lawyer told Cohen in an email the money had been promised three days earlier but not received.
Cohen responded: “My guy’s in five fucking states today… there’s nothing I can do, I’m doing everything I can.” Eventually, Cohen said: “God damn it, I’ll just do it myself.”
