Trump on trial Live updates Stormy Daniels te

LIVE COVERAGE Updated 4 minutes ago

Trump trial live updates:

Defense denied mistrial
request over Stormy Daniels
testimony
The adult *lm actress has been testifying about
her alleged sexual a7air with Trump.

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Updated May 7, 2024, 8:46 PM GMT+2

By NBC News

What to know about the hush money

trial
Adult 'lm actress Stormy Daniels
has taken the stand to testify today
in the hush money trial.

Former President Donald Trump

has been charged with falsifying
business records to cover up hush
money payments to Daniels, who
claims she had an aAair with him.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the
charges and denies her allegation of
an aAair.

Current and former Trump

Organization oEcials testi'ed
yesterday about how former Trump
lawyer Michael Cohen was
reimbursed for the $130,000
payment to Daniels.

Judge Juan Merchan has now twice

ruled that Trump violated his gag
order and warned the former
president once again that he could
face jail time if he continues to post
attacks on witnesses and the jury.

What you missed on Day 12 of the

trial.

4 NEW UPDATES

32m ago / 8:19 PM GMT+2 Share

Trump legal team is laying groundwork to

try to discredit trial
Adam Reiss, Jillian Frankel, Gary Grumbach and Alex
+3 Seitz-Wald

In asking for a mistrial, Trump defense

attorney Todd Blanche laid the groundwork
for Trump and his team to try to discredit the
trial later, arguing the jury has now been
prejudiced and that a fair trial is no longer
possible.

"This is extraordinarily prejudicial testimony

and you can’t 'x it," he said of Stormy Daniels'
testimony about her alleged sexual encounter
with Trump. "This is the kind of testimony
that makes it impossible to come back from."

Blanche argued that much of Daniels'

testimony had nothing to do with the trial
itself, which is about falsi'cation of business
records, and said her testimony was merely
meant to embarrass Trump and "inUame the
jury."

He went on to say that testimony was "so

prejudicial that there’s a risk the jury won’t be
able to focus on the evidence" of the case
itself.

36m ago / 8:15 PM GMT+2 Share

Judge Merchan denies defense motion

for a mistrial
Gary Grumbach and Rebecca Shabad

Merchan has denied the motion for a mistrial

that was brought by Trump's defense team.

“As a threshold matter, Mr. Blanche, I agree

that there were things that would have been
better left unsaid," the judge said. “I think the
witness was a little diEcult to control.”

“I don’t believe we’re at the point where a

mistrial is warranted," he added. “I’m also
surprised that there were
not more objections."

44m ago / 8:07 PM GMT+2 Share

Trump's lawyer moves for a mistrial

Adam Reiss and Rebecca Shabad

Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche said the

defense team moves for a mistrial based on
the testimony from Daniels this morning.

Blanche argued that the guardrails were

thrown aside and the testimony was unduly
prejudicial to Trump and the charges in the
case. He said her testimony about her
encounter with Trump in 2006 is much
diAerent from the stories she was telling in
2016.

He said that her testimony has nothing to do

with the case and argued that the only reason
prosecutors asked about the encounter aside
from embarrassing Trump was to inUame the
jury.

"What's the jury to do with that?" he said. "It’s

still extraordinarily prejudicial to insert safety
— safety concerns into a trial about business
records."

"There's no way to unring the bell in our

view," he said.

Blanche said Daniels' testimony that she

"blacked out" before having sex with Trump
"is the kind of testimony that makes it
impossible to come back from."

1h ago / 7:24 PM GMT+2 Share

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says Department

of Correction is 'prepared' if Trump
serves jail time
Brittany Kubicko and Summer Concepcion

Mayor Eric Adams said the city’s Department

of Correction and Rikers Island will be ready if
Trump is thrown in jail for violating
Merchan’s gag order in the trial.

The department's commissioner, Lynelle

Maginley-Liddie, “is prepared for whatever
comes on Rikers Island, and I’m pretty sure
she would be prepared to manage and deal
with the situation,” Adams said during a news
conference today, citing Harvey Weinstein’s
recent transfer to the medical ward at the jail.

“We have to adjust,” he said. “In this business,

particularly around law enforcement, we have
to adjust whatever comes our way, but we
don’t want to deal with a hypothetical. But
they’re professionals. They’ll be ready.”

Asked whether he has had discussions with

the department about Trump’s situation,
Adams said, “Yes, we have.”

2h ago / 6:54 PM GMT+2 Share

Trial takes a lunch break until 2 p.m.

Jillian Frankel

The trial has taken a lunch break until 2 p.m.,

when direct examination of Daniels will
continue.

2h ago / 6:52 PM GMT+2 Share

Eric Trump tweets from the courtroom:

'Pure EXTORTION!!!!'

Summer Concepcion

Eric Trump, the adult son of the former

president who is in attendance for today's
court proceedings, slammed the trial in a post
to his account on X, formerly known as
Twitter.

"Pure EXTORTION!!!!" he wrote.

Eric Trump at the courthouse on Tuesday.

Curtis Means / Pool via AP

2h ago / 6:49 PM GMT+2 Share

Stormy Daniels says she understood

$130K deal meant she and Trump had to
act like strangers
Adam Reiss and Rebecca Shabad

Daniels said that as part of the $130,000

agreement barring her from telling her story
about her sexual encounter with Trump, the
two couldn't have any contact.

"We had to pretend that we didn’t know each

other at all, basically," she testi'ed.

2h ago / 6:48 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels says she knew Trump would

beneRt from her signing NDA
Gary Grumbach, Alex Seitz-Wald, Jillian Frankel and
+3 Adam Reiss

Daniels says she accepted $130,000 to sign the

nondisclosure agreement even though she
understood Trump was the bene'ciary of it.

In an exchange with the prosecution, she

testi'ed that Michael Cohen was representing
Trump at the time. She said she signed the
agreement because she wanted the whole
ordeal to be over, not for the money.

Stormy Daniels testi'es on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Williams / AP

2h ago / 6:45 PM GMT+2 Share

Prosecution tries to anticipate cross-

examination of Daniels

Laura Jarrett

The prosecution has tried on a number of

occasions today to anticipate certain lines of
questioning that are likely to arise on cross-
examination, so that the jury hears the
answers on her terms 'rst.

For instance, Daniels has said that she wasn’t

motivated by money, when the defense team
is likely to claim she was, and she says she
didn’t report the threatening interaction with
the man in the parking lot to police because
she was scared.

2h ago / 6:44 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels was oUered $130,000 for her

story
Jillian Frankel and Kyla Guilfoil

Daniels testi'ed that she was oAered $130,000

for the story about her and Trump, but that
"the money didn't matter" to her.

The prosecution asked, “How did you feel

about $130,000 at the time?” to which Daniels
responded, “I didn’t care about the amounts.
It was just get it done.”

“The money didn’t matter to me. I didn’t pick

a number,” Daniels continued.

The prosecution went on to ask, “Why didn’t

you ask for more money?” and Daniels
answered, “Because I didn’t care about the
money.”

2h ago / 6:43 PM GMT+2 Share

Stormy Daniels says more people were

interested in her story after 'Access
Hollywood' tape release
Adam Reiss and Rebecca Shabad

Stormy Daniels said that after the resurfacing

of the "Access Hollywood" tape in October
2016, she was focused on selling her story and
that more people were calling and expressing
interest in it.

“Did you have any intention of approaching

either Mr. Trump or Michael Cohen, his
attorney, to have them pay for your story?”
prosecutor Susan HoEnger asked.

Daniels said no, her motivation wasn't money.

She just wanted to get her story out publicly.

2h ago / 6:43 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels details encounter in Las Vegas

parking lot after In Touch interview
Gary Grumbach and Summer Concepcion

Daniels detailed an encounter she had in a

parking lot in Las Vegas after she was
interviewed by In Touch magazine.

She said she and her daughter were heading

to a “mommy and me” workout class when
she was approached by a man in the parking
lot.

“I thought he was the husband or something

of one of the other women in the class,” she
said. “He threatened me not to continue to
tell my story.”

Asked by prosecutor Susan HoEnger about

what story he was referring to, Daniels said,
“About my encounter with” Trump.

Daniels said that she didn’t tell the police

about the encounter because she was scared
and that she didn’t tell her boyfriend at the
time either about the encounter in the
parking lot, saying that he was struggling
mentally with postpartum issues related to
the birth of their daughter as well as
alcoholism.

She said she never told her boyfriend about

her sexual encounter with Trump because if
she told him when “his world was exploding,”
his reaction wouldn’t have been good.

2h ago / 6:38 PM GMT+2 Share

Public seems less engaged after Daniels

testimony turns to payments

Daniel Arkin

The members of the general public taking up

four rows in the overUow room were buzzing
with excitement before Stormy Daniels took
the stand.

They kept up the enthusiasm during the 'rst

couple of hours of her testimony, occasionally
laughing at some of her lighthearted
comments or whispering about a particularly
salacious detail from her story.

But the interest seems to have waned over the

last 30 minutes or so. At least two people
appear to be falling asleep.

2h ago / 6:34 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels says she was oUered $15,000 for

interview on Trump aUair
Gary Grumbach, Jillian Frankel, Adam Reiss and Alex
+3 Seitz-Wald

Daniels testi'ed that in 2011, she was

contacted by someone with In Touch
magazine who said they were going to a
publish a story about her aAair with Trump
and oAered her $15,000 to participate.

"I freaked out. I don’t know who leaked it,"

she said. "I said no at 'rst, but they said
they’re going to run it anyway."

She said she decided to do the interview "so I

could control the narrative."

The magazine was then owned by American

Media Inc. — the same parent company as the
National Enquirer — which was run by David
Pecker, who testi'ed earlier in the trial about
buying and suppressing unUattering stories in
order to protect Trump.

2h ago / 6:28 PM GMT+2 Share

Stormy Daniels had another encounter

with Trump in his L.A. bungalow
Jillian Frankel and Rebecca Shabad

Stormy Daniels said she met with Trump in

the summer of 2007 at his bungalow in Los
Angeles.

Asked why she went to see him, Daniels said it

was because of "The Apprentice."

After going into the bungalow with Trump,

Daniels said, "he kept trying to make sexual
advances, putting his hand on my leg,
scooting closer."

"I told him I was on my period," Daniels said,

adding she was there for between one and
two hours.

Daniels testi'ed that Trump tried to call her a

few more times, saying in one instance that he
would not be able to put her on his TV show.
After that, he tried to call again, but she didn't
answer.

The meeting at the bungalow was the last time

she saw him, she said.

2h ago / 6:25 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels details Trump Tower meeting in

2007
Adam Reiss and Summer Concepcion

Daniels detailed her meeting with Trump at

the Trump Tower in 2007 after he suggested
she visit.

Daniels said she was there for about an hour

and a half to two hours. She recalled going up
to his oEce to meet him and had met with his
assistant, Rhona GraA, in the lobby area.

During their meeting, Daniels recalled Trump

telling her that he didn't have a lot of time,
but that he wanted her to stop by and say hi
and he was "still working on the 'Apprentice'
thing."

Daniels said Trump also oAered tickets to

pageants. Asked if he seemed concerned
about others seeing her there, she said, "Oh,
no, he introduced me to everybody. He just
seemed busy."

3h ago / 6:18 PM GMT+2 Share

Stormy Daniels says Trump asked to see

her again but she lied to him
Jillian Frankel and Rebecca Shabad

Daniels said that Trump asked to see her

again at the Trump Vodka launch in January
2007, but she testi'ed that she lied to him.

She testi'ed that when she went to Trump

Tower later in 2007, he again tried to get her
to see him again. She testi'ed he said he
missed her.

3h ago / 6:16 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels testiRes she met Karen

McDougal at Trump Vodka launch

Alex Seitz-Wald

Daniels also testi'ed that Trump introduced

her to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy
model and another alleged Trump paramour,
at the Trump Vodka launch. She said she met
up with Trump in the VIP section, and he
introduced her to a woman named Karen,
whom she later learned was McDougal.

Trump has also denied having sex with

McDougal.

3h ago / 6:15 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels attended launch of Trump Vodka

in Los Angeles
Jillian Frankel and Kyla Guilfoil

Daniels testi'ed that she later attended the

launch of Trump Vodka, in January 2007 in
Los Angeles, along with a couple of her
friends.

She said that Trump had asked her to go and

she decided to attend in hopes of maintaining
the relationship with him.

"The chance to be on 'The Apprentice' was

still up in the air," Daniels said, adding that it
would have been great for her career.

3h ago / 6:12 PM GMT+2 Share

Daniels recalls speaking with Trump on

the phone 'sometimes two to three times
a week'
Gary Grumbach and Summer Concepcion

Asked by prosecutor Susan HoEnger if Trump

would call her, Daniels said he would call her
often.

“He would call on average once a week,

sometimes two to three times a week,
sometimes not for three weeks,” and she
would put him on speakerphone but didn't
tell him that, she said.

Daniels recalled Trump calling "with an

update or a nonupdate if he didn’t have one,
for 'The Apprentice,'" and that he would
always call her "honeybunch."

She said she took Trump's calls because her

publicist thought it was a good idea to
continue the conversations about the TV
show.

3h ago / 6:05 PM GMT+2 Share

Stormy Daniels says she saw Trump at

the hotel bar the next day with NFL
quarterback
+2 Allan Smith, Adam Reiss and Rebecca Shabad

Stormy Daniels said she saw Trump the next

day at the bar in the lobby of the hotel.

"He introduced me as his little friend Stormy

to 'Big Ben' the football player," she said,
referring to Ben Roethlisberger, then the star
quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Daniels added that she talked Roethlisberger

into letting her try on his Super Bowl ring.

Trump left and had Roethlisberger walk

Daniels back to her room after the group
spent about 10 minutes together, she said.