Daniels tells Trump lawyer ‘my story hasn’t changed’
Actor pressed over why she took payment
DONALD Trump’s defence lawyers yesterday grilled Stormy Daniels on the transaction at the centre of the former president’s hush-money trial, pressing her on why she accepted a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump instead of going public.
“Why didn’t you do that?” lawyer Susan Necheles asked, wondering why Daniels did not hold a news conference as she had planned to tell reporters about the 2006 encounter, which Trump denies ever happened.
“Because we were running out of time,” Daniels said.
Necheles asked if Daniels meant that she was running out of time to use the claim to make money.
“To get the story out,” Daniels countered.
The negotiations happened in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, a critical point in the case against Trump because prosecutors are arguing that he and his allies snatched up these potentially damaging stories and buried them in an illegal effort to influence the November results. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
Daniels returned for more testimony yesterday, avoiding eye contact testified earlier this week that while she was not physically menaced, she felt a “power imbalance” as Trump, in his hotel bedroom, stood between her and the door and propositioned her.
As for whether she felt compelled to have sex with him, she re-iterated yesterday that he did not drug her or physically threaten her. But, she said: “My own insecurities, in that moment, kept me from saying no.”
As Necheles continued comparing Daniels’s testimony with past interviews, the witness insisted: “My story hasn’t changed.
“You’re trying to make me say that it changed, but it hasn’t changed at all.”
Her testimony has been an extraordinary moment in what could be the only criminal case against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to go to trial before November’s election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and casts himself as the victim of a politically tainted justice system working to deny him another term.
As she negotiated a nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen, Daniels was also talking with other journalists as a “back-up” plan, she testified yesterday. Necheles accused her of refusing to share the story with reporters because she would not be paid for it.
“The better alternative was for you to get money, right?” Necheles said.
Daniels said she was most interested in getting her story out and ensuring her family’s safety.
“The better alternative was to get my story protected with a paper trail so that my family didn’t get hurt,” Daniels replied.