President Trump told reporters it was a big day after court adjourned.
"This was a very big day, a very revealing day as you can see their case is totally falling apart," he said.
"They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case—it was just a disaster for the DA," he said. "It's a disaster."
After a break, the defense continued cross-examining Ms. Clifford.
Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Clifford to clarify whether she was saying the sex allegations were untrue or criticizing the behavior of the gossip rags with her comment about an online story that was taken down.
"I never spoke to thedirty.com," Ms. Clifford said, referring to the blog that published a story in 2011.
"At the time you hated Michael Cohen?" Ms. Necheles asked.
"Absolutely," Ms. Clifford said.
"But now you and Michael Cohen are buddies," Ms. Necheles asked.
Ms. Necheles said that Ms. Clifford argued she had not told her story as it related to Mr. Trump because of fear, citing the 2011 parking lot incident, and said it was different from what she was now claiming.
"As I said in the book, I told no one about it the day that it happened," Ms. Clifford said. "I kept all of it secret from my husband."
Ms. Clifford confirmed that she had her attorney, Mr. Davidson, take down an article on a blog that claimed she had sex with Mr. Trump.
"And you denied having sex with Donald Trump," Ms. Necheles said.
"Right, because I was afraid," Ms. Clifford said. She said this was timed close to when she had been threatened in a parking lot in 2011.
Ms. Clifford affirmed that her manager helped on several occasions to try to sell the story about Mr. Trump, including a 2011 interview.
In Ms. Clifford's book, she gives an abbreviated version of the encounter. Ms. Necheles asked if she was pressed to give a version of the story that focused on the sex.
"I did not tell her all the sex details, I did not trust her, and she wanted to accuse him of forced, basically rape, and I did not want to do that," Ms. Clifford said.
Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Cilfford about refusal to pay some $600,000 in legal fees owed to President Trump as ordered by a court and her refusal to fill in financial information on disclosure reports, then pointed to a tweet wherein she said Ms. Clifford said she paid off her ranch home.
"Made a million dollars in a book deal ... I just paid for my new ranch," the December 2022 post read.
"I pay rent on a ranch," Ms. Clifford said.
Ms. Clifford affirmed that she had appealed the defamation case, and lost on appeal and was ordered to pay additional legal fees. Ms. Clifford had just earlier told Ms. Hoffinger she didn't pay because she "didn't have the means" and also "didn't think it was fair."
Those awards added up to over $660,000 in attorneys fees and interest Ms. Clifford would need to pay to President Trump, Ms. Necheles said.
Ms. Clifford affirmed she has not paid any of this.
"Am I correct that you hate President Trump?" Ms. Necheles asked.
"Yes," Ms. Clifford said.
"And you want him to go to jail," Ms. Necheles asked.
Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Clifford if she had met with prosecutors a number of times, and if she rehearsed her testimony.
"No," Ms. Clifford said to both questions.
"Well, according to you, you met with prosecutors who subjected you to several grueling practice sessions which included brutal cross-examinations," Ms. Necheles said, and Ms. Clifford backtracked.
Prosecutors are asking about the various outlets where Ms. Clifford as told her story as it relates to Donald Trump, to elicit testimony that her livelihood is not tied to the present case.
Ms. Clifford said she appeared on Mr. Cohen's podcast in January 2022 because Mr. Cohen wanted to add to and comment on the case against Mr. Avenatti. She said the "Stormy" documentary she appears in is "same as the book, it was generally about my life."
Ms. Clifford confirmed she was paid $120,000 for licensing rights to the material in her book in the documentary, but she was not paid to appear in the documentary.
Ms. Clifford had hired Michael Avenatti to get out of the non-disclosure agreement, and then went on 60 Minutes to do an interview with Anderson Cooper.
"To get my story out," she said.
She said she also published a book, "Full Disclosure," which spans through June 2018 of her life.
Ms. Clifford confirmed that Mr. Cohen had asked her to go on Hannity and she declined. "I didn't want to," she said.
She said she did appear on Jimmy Kimmel, which her manager Gina Rodriguez set up.
Ms. Clifford in 2018 issued a statement denying the story of a relationship, which Mr. Davidson previously testified about.
"Why did you not want to sign it initially?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.
"Because it was not true, and I was told that to say anything at all, anything, was a violation of the NDA," she said.
Ms. Clifford returned to the witness stand. Testimony is picking up about the contract she and Mr. Cohen signed.
She read an email Mr. Davidson sent to Mr. Cohen on her behalf saying that she will cancel the agreement if the funds are not received.
In another follow-up email on Oct. 17, 2016, he wrote "Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement Agreement cancelled and void ab initio."
Justice Merchan said he agreed with Mr. Blanche that "there were things better left unsaid" but ultimately denied the motion for a mistrial.
"I think the witness was a little difficult to control," Justice Merchan said. "I do not dismiss what you're saying, I do believe there were things better left unsaid. Having said that, I do not believe that we're at the point where a mistrial is called for."
The judge said he was surprised the defense did not raise more objections during the testimony, and he pointed out that at one point he interjected himself.
Prosecutors argued none of this was new information, and that the defense had opened the door to testimony about the threatening event 2011 because they questioned her attorney Keith Davidson about 2011.
"It was incumbent upon us to bring out those details in our direct, both when they attacked it in Keith Davidson's testimony and in the opening," Ms. Hoffinger argued. "We are mindful about eliciting too much testimony. We did it initially until your honor's instruction."
"They opened the door to 2011," she said. "Your honor, this goes directly to her credibility, which they attacked, and I'm sure will continue to attack.
In arguing for a mistrial, Mr. Blanche said prosecutors elicited testimony of other encounters that should not have been admitted.
"There was testimony about a second encounter, and that shouldn't even have been elicited. She testified there were communications with President Trump afterward and about not feeling safe. She then repeatedly testified about subsequent meetings with President Trump, and specified that they were in a public place," he said. " What's the jury to do with that, your honor? It's extremely prejudicial to insert safety concerns into a trial about business records."
"Up until 2016, when she was peddling this story, she talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump. And that's not the story we heard today," Mr. Blanche said.
After the lunch break, defense attorneys moved for a mistrial.
"We move for a mistrial based on the testimony this morning, your honor. What's clear is that the court set guardrails for this testimony, and those guardrails were thrown aside," Mr. Blanche said.
Mr. Blanche said the testimony given by Ms. Clifford "was so unduly prejudicial" to President Trump they could not move forward with the same jury.
Ms. Clifford affirmed the contract with Mr. Cohen was signed on Oct. 10, 2016. She said she signed as Peggy Peterson as she was instructed not to put her real name on the agreement.
Payment was supposed to come through on Oct. 14, 2026, but they did not receive the $130,000 as agreed. She said Mr. Cohen kept making excuses as to why it was late.
The court took a break.
Ms. Clifford said she was going to be paid $30,000 for her story.
"Did you negotiate the deal at the time? Why didn't you ask for more money?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.
"Because I didn't care about the money. It [2016] was the best I'd ever been, I'd gone from directing five movies to 10, and I'd moved out of California which was really good because it was expensive," she said.
Prosecutors asked Ms. Clifford if she moved on, and what her life was like.
"It was pretty awesome," she said. Ms. Clifford said she appeared in the movie Knocked Up, got married, had her daughter, and became a world-ranked equestrian.
Ms. Clifford affirmed that she went to Trump Tower.
"I was greeted. They were expecting me. And I went up to his office to greet him, my assistant and I, she was with me," she said.
"It was very brief, he was very busy, he had another meeting coming in, it was very, very sort of rushed," she said. She said he gave her and her assistant tickets to a pageant and they took selfies.
Ms. Clifford said that she was given the phone number of Rhona Graff, Mr. Trump's executive assistant.
"I know it was late summer of 2006," she said.
She said Mr. Trump reached out to invite her to the launch of the Trump vodka brand and she attended.
Ms. Clifford said she also met with Mr. Trump the next day, at the bar downstairs in her hotel.
"They had an auction, cocktail hour," she said. She said she had been invited by Mr. Trump's bodyguard again, and said yes because it was a public meeting and he was with a friend.
"He introduced me as his little friend Stormy to Big Ben," she said. "Football player ... Ben let me try on his Super Bowl ring."
Ms. Clifford said "there was an imbalance of power, for sure, he was bigger and blocking the way, but I was not threatened verbally or physically."
"Did you end up having sex on the bed?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.
"The next thing I know, I was on the bed, somehow on the opposite side of the bed from where we had been standing," Ms. Clifford said, starting to get into detail about their positions. The defense objected and the judge sustained.
Justice Merchan told Ms. Hoffinger the level of detail in Ms. Clifford's testimony was not necessary.
"Let's move it along quickly," he said.
Ms. Clifford gave detailed description of the suite and master bathroom, where she said she looked through a toiletry bag on the bathroom counter and tried to call a friend only to have it go to voicemail.
Ms. Clifford said they discussed a wide range of things, and it seemed like "he wanted to one-up me, to talk about himself," and not letting her finish answering questions he asked.
"At this point I'd had enough of his arrogance and cutting me off and still not getting my dinner and I said, are you always this rude? Someone should spank you," she said. "He gave me the look that he dared me to do it, so now I kind of had to, so he gave it to me and he turned around and I swatted him, right on the buttock. And then he was much more polite. We talked about Scotland, he had an interest there, we talked about travel, there was nothing weird about the conversation except it was thought-out answers."
Ms. Clifford said that Mr. Trump then got quiet and thought a bit and then told him he had an idea that she should go on his show The Apprentice.
Ms. Clifford described a round, foyer-like entryway that was "super fancy." "Black and white tile floors, big wooden table, heavy mahogany or something," she said. "There was a flower arrangement, it was very very nice."
Ms. Clifford said Mr. Trump appeared wearing "silk or satin PJs that I immediately made fun of him for."
Ms. Clifford said she had talked to Mr. Trump briefly and let him know which film she had directed.
"Talked very briefly. Then I saw him talking to another gentleman who was with him, ant then he came back and asked, Mr. Trump would like to know would I like to have dinner with him," she said.
She said it was his bodyguard.
Ms. Clifford said every celebrity that came through had photos taken with the girls there that day.
Prosecutors showed a photo of Mr. Trump in a yellow, polo-style shirt on the golf course. Prosecuting attorneys then apologized because the photo is not officially in evidence yet, and took it down.
Ms. Clifford affirmed that she was working at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006, where she met Mr. Trump.
"Yes, I was still in contract with Wicked Pictures, so we, Wicked, sponsored one of the holes on the golf course, very funny," she said. "That's very common at one of these events."
Ms. Clifford said she was part of a podcast called Beyond the Norm, and had discussed President Trump, and she was also fired from the show.
"I was reluctant to continue talking about just that one narrative, about this case and about politics," she said. "It just kept going down this one subject."
She confirmed she also explored running for the Republican Senate primary in Louisiana in 2009.
Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, took the witness stand in all black, sunglasses perched on her upper forehead.
"What name do you prefer?" attorneys asked her.
"Stormy Daniels."
Mr. Blanche asked whether Ms. McIver was a ghostwriter, whether she interviewed Mr. Trump to write the book, or consulted with him in other ways.
"I know that Donald Trump was the author of the book, I'm not sure exactly specifically how she contributed," Ms. Franklin answered.
In response, prosecutors asked whether ghostwriters "ever write entire books without the author's knowledge."
Next on the witness stand was Sally Franklin, senior vice president and managing editor for Random House Publishing Group.
She confirmed they published "Trump: How to Get Rich" and "Trump: Think Like a Billionaire" about 20 years ago. The books were written by Mr. Trump and Meredith McIver, with Mr. Trump as the primary author, she said.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles renewed the defense's objection to Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, "testifying about anything having to do with details of sexual acts."
"When you say details of a sexual act, you mean more than 'we had sex'?" Justice Merchan asked. The defense said yes.
President Trump said the trial was very "unfair" before entering the courtroom, referencing legal commentary about the case that has been published on various media outlets.
"Some of the statements made about this which are on CNN, fake news CNN, Michael Moore, said the proof of falsifying records has not been accomplished. On Good Morning America, they said we heard that expense payments to lawyers are legal expenses. You pay a lawyer expense payments," he said, echoing comments he made during another courthouse appearance that prosecutors had flagged as a gag order violation, though the judge ruled it was not.
"We didn't put it down as construction costs. The purchase of sheetrock, the electrical costs, the legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. There's nothing else you could say. You don't have to put down anything I guess. But we put down a legal expense," President Trump said.
Former President Donald Trump has issued a fundraising call after a New York judge’s ruling that he was in contempt of court over a gag order violation.
Judge Juan Merchan last week fined President Trump a total of $9,000 for multiple social media and other online posts, accusing the former president of violating his gag order that prohibits the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from commenting on witnesses, jury members, or other individuals connected to his current criminal trial in New York City.
“A Democrat judge JUST HELD ME IN CONTEMPT OF COURT!” one email sent out by his campaign reads, according to an The Epoch Times review. “THEY WANT TO SILENCE ME!” another wrote, asking supporters to “stand with Trump” by contributing funds.
A witness in President Donald Trump’s New York “hush money” trial on May 6 appeared to confirm his attorneys’ claims that payments at the center of the case were legal expenses and that he was not personally directed by the former president to make those payments.
Former Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney testified that payments sent to former attorney Michael Cohen were legal expenses, confirming defense attorneys’ arguments.
“Michael Cohen was a lawyer?” Trump defense attorney Emil Bove asked Mr. McConney.