Donald Trump’s lawyers requested a mistrial Tuesday following Stormy Daniels’ explicit testimony, but the judge quickly rejected the request.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s criminal trial, said most of the defense’s objections were sustained during the porn star’s testimony and that he Most, granted all defense requests to suppress the testimony.
“First of all, I agree, Mr. Blanche, that there were a lot of things that would have been better left unsaid,” Merchan told Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd. Blanche, after a lunch break. “To be fair to people, I think this witness was a little difficult to control.”
Merchan added that he was “surprised” that the former president’s defense team did not raise more objections during Daniels’ testimony.
From his seat at the defense table, however, Trump objected – although wrongly, the judge warned.
Trump was “audibly swearing” and “uttering vulgar remarks” as Daniels answered questions about the alleged sexual relationship posed by the prosecution, a transcript of a private discussion in court showed.
While on the witness stand Tuesday in the Manhattan courtroom, Daniels — the adult film actress at the center of the trial — told jurors how she met Trump at a golf tournament of celebrities in Lake Tahoe in July 2006 and, later that night, found herself in the then-“Apprentice” star’s penthouse hotel suite after accepting a dinner invitation.
She testified that she and Trump had sex in the suite without a condom and said they used the “missionary position,” before Trump’s lawyers objected. This objection was supported by Merchan.
Trump has vehemently denied any sexual relationship with Daniels.
Daniels also testified about a day in 2011 when she was on her way to a “mommy-and-me” workout class in Las Vegas. She said she was approached in the parking lot by a man who “threatened” her not to tell her story.
Blanche disputed the testimony about this meeting.
“There’s no way to ring the bell in our opinion,” Blanche said in court, calling Daniels’ testimony “unfairly prejudicial.”
“All of this has nothing to do with this case. It’s extremely damaging. And the only reason the government asked these questions,” aside from embarrassing Trump, “is to inflame this jury,” he said. White.
Merchan ultimately ruled that Daniels’ testimony did not rise to the level of scuttle the trial.
“I don’t believe we’re at the point where a mistrial is warranted,” Merchan said.
Daniels was back on the witness stand later Tuesday for cross-examination by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say Trump lied on documents to conceal an illegal $130,000 payment to Daniels.
The payment, delivered by Trump’s ex-personal lawyer and former fixer Michael Cohenwas telegraphed to Daniels 11 days before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence about the sexual relationship with Trump, according to prosecutors and records presented as evidence at trial.
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