The third week of witnesses talking in Donald Trump’s trial about paying money to keep things secret is almost over. The people deciding the case heard from Stormy Daniels, a person who acts in adult films, and soon they will hear from Michael Cohen, who used to work as a lawyer for Trump and is an important witness for the prosecutors.
Daniels said she had a physical relationship with Trump, and this is important for the lawyers trying to prove that Trump and his friends kept secret information before the 2016 election to help him win.
Trump said the sexual encounter never happened and he felt very angry when he left the court on Thursday. He said to the reporters that he didn’t do anything wrong. His lawyers asked for the trial to be stopped because Daniels talked about things that were too detailed, but the judge refused.
For more than 7.5 hours, Daniels talked a lot about what she says happened after she met the person at a big golf event at Lake Tahoe. The event was sponsored by the company where she worked in adult films. Daniels said she was shocked, frightened, and uneasy, even though she said yes to having sex with Trump.
During a difficult time answering questions, Trump’s lawyers tried to prove that Daniels is lying and only wants money and attention by accusing the former president. Donald Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, asked Daniels why she accepted money to keep quiet instead of telling everyone. The two women disagreed about the changes in Daniels’ story over time.
Necheles asked Daniels if he had just pretended everything.
“No,” said Daniels.
The lawyers are saying that the money was given to protect his reputation and family, not to hide stories about his personal life and help his campaign.
After Daniels spoke in court on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers asked the judge to change the rule that stops him from talking about the case’s witnesses, so that he could respond to what she said in public. The judge also said no to that request.
This happened before Trump became president and now jurors have to deal with Cohen, who paid $130,000 to Daniels. It’s not known when the prosecutors will bring their main witness to testify. He admitted to federal charges and went to jail for being involved in the hush money plan.
Trump is accused of making false records for his company 34 times. The charges are related to paperwork like bills and payments that were marked as legal expenses in the company’s records. Lawyers say the money Cohen got was mostly to pay him back for giving Daniels money to stay quiet.
On Friday morning, Madeleine Westerhout, a person who worked for Trump, will be answering questions in court. She was working at the Republican National Committee when a video of Trump was leaked just before the 2016 election. The tape is important because it caused a lot of controversy and made the payment to Daniels happen sooner, according to the prosecutors.
Westerhout, who later worked as Trump’s personal secretary, said on Thursday that RNC leaders were so upset by the tape that they talked about finding a new candidate to replace Trump if necessary.
People who have seen what happened have been giving two different types of testimony. Some of them have been giving very boring and hard to understand information about finances, while others have been talking about scandalous and embarrassing stories about Trump and the world of tabloids, and how they were kept secret. In the end, this trial is about whether money was given for business deals to illegally influence the 2016 election, despite all the drama.
This court case could be the only one out of four against the likely Republican candidate for president to go to trial before voters decide in November whether to re-elect him. Trump says he didn’t do anything wrong and thinks the justice system is unfair because it is trying to stop him from being president again.
At the same time, Trump may go to jail if he keeps breaking the gag order. His lawyers are arguing with the judge’s decision and want a quick ruling from a higher court. If the court doesn’t remove the rule to keep quiet, Trump’s lawyers want to ask the state’s highest court for permission to appeal.