The indictment accuses Trump of wanting to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election with a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. She is now testifying in court.
In the trial against Donald Trump, an important witness was called to the stand on Tuesday afternoon German time: the porn actress Stormy Daniels, who received hush money from the former US President.
Stormy Daniels testified in Manhattan court that she didn’t want sex with Donald Trump, according to The Washington Post. She added that Trump didn’t wear a condom, but she didn’t resist either. The sex didn’t last long, Daniels said. “My hands were shaking so much, I had a hard time putting my clothes on,” she told the court.
Trump then suggested doing the whole thing again. “We were great together,” he is said to have said, according to Daniels. “I was ashamed that I didn’t stop it and didn’t say no,” she told jurors.
In the following months, Trump is said to have called Daniels almost weekly. She maintained contact with him in the hope of appearing on Trump’s show “The Apprentice.” Over a year later and after several more meetings, Trump is said to have called her and told her that she couldn’t come to the show. She then ignored Trump’s calls, Daniels said.
“I immediately laughed at him”
Daniels and Trump first met in 2006. After an associate convinced the porn actress to accept Trump’s invitation to meet, she went to his hotel room, where she found him wearing silk or satin pajamas, like Daniels, the “Washington According to Post, he testified in court. “I immediately laughed at him,” Daniels said. Trump then immediately changed his clothes.
In addition, Trump was arrogant at the meeting and repeatedly tried to outdo the porn actress. At some point she asked him if he was “always so unfriendly” – and hit the ex-president with a magazine. The conversation then got better, Daniels said in court. That was when he first suggested that she appear on his show “The Apprentice.” However, Daniels didn’t think that was possible because of her job. “Never would NBC allow a porn actress to appear on television,” Daniels said, adding that Trump “doesn’t have that much power.” Trump tried to flatter her by comparing her to his daughter Ivanka: “She’s smart and blonde and pretty.”
“I think I fainted”
After the two had a drink together, Daniels said goodbye for a moment to go to the bathroom. When she returned, Trump was lying on the bed in just a T-shirt and underwear, Daniels said. She then wanted to leave – but shortly afterwards she was in bed with Trump.
“I think I fainted,” Daniels said. She couldn’t remember lying down with him. “I no longer had my clothes or shoes on,” said Daniels – she also didn’t remember taking them off.
That’s why Trump is in court
The indictment accuses Trump of wanting to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election by paying $130,000 in hush money to Daniels. Although the transaction itself was not illegal, when returning the money to his lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump falsified business documents in order to conceal their actual purpose. Daniels said in court Tuesday that she learned in the run-up to the presidential election that Trump and Cohen were offering her money to keep the alleged affair secret.
This is the first criminal trial against an ex-president in US history. Trump faces several years in prison, which could also be suspended, or a fine. The case could influence the US election campaign. Trump wants to be re-elected president in November. He had pleaded not guilty.
