In the New York trial of US ex-president Donald Trump the former porn actress testified Stephanie Clifford, who was paid before the 2016 election not to go public with claims of an affair with the then presidential candidate. The testimony took all of Tuesday, and is scheduled to continue today.
She detailed to the jury the intimate meeting with Trump, which the former president says never happened, as well as the related non-disclosure agreement. The former head of the White House, who is running for the top job again this year, according to the media repeatedly expressed disgust. He was even reprimanded by the judge.
According to the AP agency, the meeting of the two central actors in the case brought “the biggest theater ever” in the first criminal trial of a former US president. The witness described how she ended up in bed with Trump years ago after accepting his invitation for an evening meeting in a hotel suite. OF her testimony indicates that she did not plan to have sex with him at the time, but she did not say no to Trump because she “didn’t say anything at all” at the time.
This part of her testimony was interrupted many times by defense objections, and many of them were accepted by Judge Juan Merchan. Before calling the witness, the prosecution stated that it would not go into too much detail, but the judge was clearly not satisfied with the result and at one point admonished Clifford, so as not to deviate from the topic of the questions. However, he rejected the defense’s request for an early termination of the trial.
Sexy pose and bathroom details? The judge asked for fewer details
Clifford, better known by her pseudonym Stormy Daniels, claims she had sex with Trump in 2006, about a year and a half after the wedding of the New York businessman with Melania Knavsová. According to the server, she casually and conversationally told what actually happened with her and the ex-president.
In the statement, she talked about, for example, what the floor looked like, what the furniture was like and what she had in her toilet set in the bathroom. At one point, she even sweetly posed and lifted her legs in the witness box to recreate the moment Trump posed for her in bed in his underwear, or boxers. The judge reportedly asked that some things be better left unsaid.
But he didn’t succeed 100% and he also learned in what position they were supposed to have sex. “I had my clothes and shoes. I took off my bra. We were in a missionary position,” Daniels described. He states that he remembers the entire event as if it happened in slow motion.
Daniels also said that she was “scared” when she left the bathroom that “it felt like the events in the room were happening in slow motion.” “I could feel the blood leaving my arms and legs, almost like when you get up too quickly,” said the porn actress.
Among other things, the porn actress also described in detail how Trump welcomed her in the hotel room. He decided to welcome his lady in satin pajamas. “Does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?” she reportedly joked, confirming that she was referring to Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner, who is famous for the wardrobe. According to her, Trump then changed into a jacket and dress pants.
According to the BBC, there was also information that Trump did not use a condom and that a porn actress spanked him with a magazine.
The porn actress testified for almost four hours. Among other things, she also stated that after the intercourse took place, she tried to leave as quickly as possible and was ashamed. She kept quiet about the fact that she had sex with Trump for a long time, and even her husband did not know. She was also afraid to speak because of the pressure. To the knowledge that she earned a lot of money, she added that the whole affair also cost her a lot of money.
In October 2016, then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 (for three million CZK) so that her story does not reach the public at the height of the election campaign.
The payment is a key point in the indictment against the former head of state, who prosecutors say falsified financial records in an attempt to conceal the transaction. Prosecutors are presenting it all as part of a broader criminal conspiracy aimed at influencing the 2016 election by covering up various claims that could damage Trump.
Trump, 77, repeatedly showed disapproval during her testimony by shaking his head or muttering remarks in the direction of his lawyers, according to reporters in court. According to the AP, he listened with a bitter expression. His lawyer, Susan Necheles, then tried to undermine Clifford’s credibility in various ways when she was given the chance to ask the woman questions herself. Among other things, she focused on the fact that she refuses to reimburse Trump for legal fees related to another lawsuit and suggested that her goal is to put Trump in jail.
“Am I right that you hate President Trump?” Necheles asked at one point. “Also,Clifford replied. Her deposition will continue on Thursday.
Her story has been known for six years, but today the actress told it for the first time while the ex-president was in the same room, noted The New York Times (NYT). Trump insists there was no affair, and his team describes Clifford as a fraud who was after fame and money.
The witness described today that she also met Trump in 2007 and that he did not ask her to keep their earlier meeting a secret. As the NYT points out, this statement may support the prosecution’s argument that the later effort to ensure her silence was motivated by the election campaign. Clifford said interest in her story emerged after the fall 2016 scandal over a tape of Trump talking about groping women. She insisted she wasn’t after the money, but described the deal with Cohen as an ideal solution.
Clifford’s appearance came in the fourth week of the trial of Trump, who is the first ex-president indicted in United States history and faces a total of four impeachments. He is charged in New York with 34 counts of forging checks and other financial documents. According to prosecutors, he did so after his election when he reimbursed Cohen for money paid to Clifford and billed the payments as legal expenses.
If convicted, Trump could face prison however, as a person who has not yet been punished, he could get away with the condition. The ex-president is portraying the trial, like his other cases without evidence, as a politically motivated prosecution aimed at derailing his re-election campaign.
