Trump’s Trial: Potential Jail for Gag Violations During Hush Money Case

Article Summary –

Stormy Daniels took the stand in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump, sharing information about a sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump in 2006 and was later paid to keep silent about during the 2016 presidential election. Her testimony is crucial to the case because Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the encounter just weeks before the 2016 election. Trump denies the sexual encounter and claims he has never directed any payments to be logged as legal expenses, a designation that prosecutors argue was intentionally misleading.


Stormy Daniels Testifies in Trump’s Hush Money Trial

On Tuesday, adult film actress Stormy Daniels took the witness stand in the hush money trial against former U.S. President Donald Trump. Daniels was there to share her account of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, which resulted in a payoff in 2016 to keep her silent during the presidential election.

Daniels made her way to the courtroom without acknowledging Trump, who was also present. Her anticipated testimony carries significant weight in this trial, which has fluctuated between tabloid-like elements and mundane details of record-keeping.

The key aspect of Daniels’ testimony revolves around the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign. Trump’s ex-lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to stay silent about their alleged sexual encounter at a celebrity golf event in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. Trump has consistently denied having sex with Daniels and maintains his innocence.

At the start of her testimony, Daniels stated that she met Trump at the golf event as her adult film company was a sponsor. After an initial conversation about her work in the film industry, Trump later invited her to dinner, an invitation she accepted.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys had earlier debated the scope of Daniels’ testimony. Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, requested to exclude details of the alleged sexual encounter from Daniels’ testimony. However, the judge permitted limited testimony.

Testimonies have revealed that the payment to Daniels came at a crucial period, just after the 2005 “Access Hollywood” footage surfaced, showing Trump boasting about grabbing women’s genitals without consent. According to witnesses, the following day Trump spoke with Cohen and Hope Hicks, his campaign’s press secretary, to limit the damage caused by the tape and to prevent his alleged affairs from making headlines.

Cohen made the payment to Daniels after her then-lawyer, Keith Davidson, informed him that she was ready to publicly confirm her sexual encounter with Trump. Prosecutors revealed that Daniels had attempted to sell her story to a celebrity gossip magazine, Life & Style, in 2011.

The trial has also heard testimonies from two witnesses, including a former Trump Organization controller, who provided details about how the company reimbursed payments designed to suppress embarrassing stories and falsely recorded them as legal expenses. It was noted that the reimbursement checks came from Trump’s personal account.

Throughout the testimonies, there was no evidence suggesting that Trump had asked for the payments to be recorded as legal expenses. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. This trial marks the first of his four criminal cases to reach a jury.

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