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Former US President Trump attends hush money hearing over porn star payment, New York, USA - 25 Mar 2024

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

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Michael Cohen Testifies Before the House Intelligence Committee

Former US president Trump's hush money criminal trial continues in New York City, USA - 09 May 2024

Michael Cohen, Longtime Lawyer for Donald Trump, Testifies at the U.S. Capitol Before the House Intelligence Committee 

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Former President Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial Continues In New York

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Jane Rosenberg

Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and an attorney for former president Donald Trump engaged in a fiery, hours-long <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/stormy-daniels-trump-lawyers-testimony/" target=_blank>cross-examination</a> Thursday, bringing an end to Daniels’s testimony during Trump’s criminal trial.

Since Daniels took the stand Tuesday, she has testified about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, at times <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/07/trump-trial-takeaways-hush-money-stormy-daniels/" target=_blank>seeming to describe</a> it as nonconsensual. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Here are key moments from Thursday’s trial in New York, based on an early transcript and lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/20/trump-hush-money-trial-live-updates-michael-cohen/" target=_blank>Follow live updates</a> from Donald Trump’s hush money trial and<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-trump-trials/" target=_blank>Sign up for The Trump Trials newsletters</a> for daily recaps of the trial.

Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles questioned Daniels about what she described as the actress’s attempts to “sell” the story of her alleged evening with Trump and capitalize on her connections to him.

Necheles asked about Daniels’s 2018 tour of strip clubs, named “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/stormy-daniels-trump-lawyers-testimony/" target=_blank>Make America Horny Again</a>,” her memoir “Full Disclosure” and her social media posts about the former president.

Necheles: But, you to this day continue making money to sell a story that you promised will put President Trump in jail, right?

Necheles: Well, isn’t it a fact that you keep posting on social media how you’re going to be instrumental in putting President Trump in jail?

Daniels: Show me where I said I would be “instrumental in putting President Trump in jail.”

Here, Necheles entered into evidence a response Daniels made to a social media post that referred to her as a “human toilet,” to which she responded that the description made her the best person to “flush” Trump down. Necheles then asked Daniels if she was saying she would be instrumental in causing Trump to be convicted of a crime.

Daniels: I don’t see “instrumental” or “jail” there. You’re putting words in my mouth.

Necheles presses Daniels about her books

In another exchange, Necheles asked Daniels about two books the actress has in progress.

Necheles: And what are those books about?

Daniels: One is called “Rock Star Porn Star.” It is about my partner. He’s a musician who became a porn star. And the other one is a novel about a girl who grew up in New Orleans. It’s nonfiction — I’m sorry, it is fiction.

Necheles: And did that person, that girl in the novel, have an affair with a presidential candidate?

Necheles: And do you plan to continue to make money off the selling of your story?

Daniels: I plan to continue to do my job. And to fund my extraordinary legal bills.

Prosecution has Daniels describe NDA

In the morning, a significant portion of Necheles’s questions for Daniels revolved around the 2016 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michael-cohen-firm-seeks-to-void-nondisclosure-agreement-with-stormy-daniels/2018/09/07/aa213230-b311-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html" target=_blank>nondisclosure agreement</a> she signed to stay silent about the alleged relationship with Trump.

Necheles pushed Daniels on whether the agreement had been her choice and if she had spoken with a reporter during that time, at one point asking: “You said that as an alternative to be paid for your silence, you wanted to be paid for your story; right?” Daniels responded that she didn’t remember.

Later in the day, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began her questions by referencing back to Necheles’s probes about why Daniels signed the agreement.

At the time the agreement came into play, Daniels told the court, her friend had advised her to hide “in plain view.”

Daniels: And it just means, if you are out in the open, you are safer; hiding in plain sight, being out in the open. That something won't happen to you if everyone is looking at you.

Hoffinger: Okay. And so, part of your motivation to enter into the NDA was to make sure this was all documented to keep you safe?

Hoffinger then asked Daniels about the payment she received from Trump’s former lawyer.

Hoffinger: And you were also happy to take the money, you are not saying that you were not happy to take the money, right?

Daniels: No. We are all happy to take money. It was just a bonus.

Daniels describes hiring security, moving

Hoffinger also asked Daniels whether she had made money from interviews, merchandise and other items based on her affiliation with Trump.

Hoffinger: Have you been telling lies about Mr. Trump or the truth about Mr. Trump?

Hoffinger: And, now, Ms. Necheles asked you about whether your telling your account of what happened with Mr. Trump has made you money, and I think you said it also cost you a lot of money. Do you remember saying that?

Hoffinger: Can you explain that?

Daniels: I have had to hire security, take extra precautions, tutors for my daughter, had to move my daughter to a safe place to live. I had to move a couple of times. And I lost — I didn’t — I lost — had a judgment on automatic attorney fees because my case from the NDA was thrown out. And I appealed it, and it was dismissed again. So attorney’s fees are automatically awarded in those kinds of instances.

Hoffinger: Let me ask you a question: Ms. Daniels, on balance, has your publicly telling the truth about your experiences with Mr. Trump had a net positive or a net negative in your life?

Necheles: Objection, your Honor.

Justice Juan Merchan: Overruled.

Hoffinger: Nothing further. Thank you.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA in journalism, BA in biology

Praveena Somasundaram is a reporter on The Washington Post's General Assignment desk. She started at The Post as an intern in 2022 and has previously reported at the Dallas Morning News and the Charlotte Observer.

Praveena Somasundaram

Highlights from Stormy Daniels’s Trump trial testimony transcript

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