Porn actress Stormy Daniels will return to the stand in Trump trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand Thursday in the trial where former President Donald Trump is accused of paying to silence damaging revelations as the defense attempts to undermine the credibility of the porn actress’s salacious testimony about her alleged sexual encounter and the money they paid him to remain silent.

The trial against the former president begins with defense attorneys questioning Daniels, whose story is key to the case of prosecutors who accuse Trump of conspiring to illegally influence the 2016 presidential campaign by suppressing unflattering stories about him.

Trump watched in the courtroom as Daniels described for hours Tuesday an unexpected sexual encounter she says they had in 2006. Trump denies they ever had sex. Still, a decade later, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid him to remain silent during the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

Daniels’ testimony was an extraordinary moment in what could be the only criminal case against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee that goes to trial before voters decide in November whether to send him back to the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty, denies any wrongdoing and has portrayed himself as a victim of a politically tainted justice system working to deny him another term.

Trump’s lawyers have tried to portray Daniels as a liar and extortionist trying to bring down the former president after gaining money and fame from her story about him. Daniels at times resisted direct questions, categorically denying the idea that she tried to extort Trump.