Trump hush-money trial: Trump lawyer calls for mistrial over Stormy Daniels' testimony

Summary

Stormy Daniels told a New York court about a hush-money payment at the centre of Donald Trump's first criminal trial, which was paid to her before the 2016 election
The adult-film star also described an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump at a golf tournament, which he denies happened
Tensions were high in the courtroom when Judge Merchan asked for the prosecution to cut out explicit questions
Trump's lawyer called for a mistrial over testimony made by Daniels, but that motion was quickly rejected
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the payment

Live Reporting

Edited by Brandon Livesay

Daniels claims she was threatened to keep quiet about Trumppublished at 17:44 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Stormy Daniels testifies that she was approached in 2015, in a Las Vegas parking lot, and threatened to stay silent about Trump.
Her infant daughter was with her, she says, but she didn't report the incident to police because she was scared.
She also says she didn't tell her boyfriend at the time because he was having mental health issues.
An article about Daniels' alleged sexual encounter with Trump later appeared on a gossip website called The Dirty - we saw a copy of that during the previous testimony of Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer.
Davidson had testified he helped get the story taken down, an account Daniels confirms today.
Court sketch shows Stormy Daniels at the standpublished at 17:42 British Summer Time 7 May
Image source, Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The first of today's court sketches has just landed.
Artist Jane Rosenberg has portrayed Stormy Daniels at the stand, being questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, as Justice Juan Merchan and Donald Trump watch on.
A photo of Trump and Daniels is shown on a screen nearby.
Daniels says life was 'awesome' for a whilepublished at 17:30 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
After she met Trump at a hotel bungalow, they didn’t speak for a long time.
Daniels testifies that her life during this period was “awesome.” She got married, had a child, and moved to Texas.
She also testified she had several career milestones, making small appearances in Hollywood comedies and directing her own work.
She had no interactions during this time with Trump, she said.
Daniels tells court why she looked into selling storypublished at 17:25 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Daniels is talking about the behind-the-scenes talks that led to the hush-money payment.
She says she was considering talking to InTouch Magazine about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump because she had heard someone else was planning to sell her story.
“I’d rather make the money than someone making the money off of me,” she says.
Daniels tells the court she was supposed to be paid $15,000.
Daniels recalls discussing The Apprentice at Trump Towerpublished at 17:18 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Stormy Daniels, the adult-film star at the centre of this trial, is now talking about going to meet Trump at Trump Tower months after their alleged sexual encounter.
She says they met very briefly in his office with her assistant by her side, and discussed The Apprentice.
Trump Organization employees previously testified about having seen Daniels at Trump Tower in New York City.
Daniels hurried by the judge againpublished at 17:15 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan seems to want to keep the proceedings moving along quickly.
In the span of a few minutes, he has twice reminded Daniels to keep her responses brief and on topic.
He tells her to just keep the answers short, listen to the questions, and answer the question being asked of her.
Court shown contact from Daniels phone who has a Trump connectionpublished at 17:15 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
After a lot of recollections from Daniels, we're now seeing some evidence.
We see that Daniels added the contact for Trump's assistant Rhonna Graff in her phone contacts (though the name was misspelled).
We heard earlier in the trial from Graff herself, who testified to adding Daniels to Trump's list of contacts.
Judge tells Daniels to stay on topicpublished at 17:06 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
“Ms Daniels, just listen to the question and answer the question, ok?” Justice Merchan just told Stormy Daniels.
Daniels let friends listen to Trump on the phonepublished at 17:05 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Daniels is testifying about her interactions with Trump after the alleged sexual encounter.
She says Trump would call her from time to time, and she would put him on speakerphone with her friends because she thought it was “funny”.
Lawyers called to bench againpublished at 17:00 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Things have turned a bit tense.
Trump's lawyers are objecting to nearly every question prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks, and the judge is mostly siding with them.
He's asking the legal teams to approach the bench for a third time.
Daniels pressed for more details on Trump encounterpublished at 16:56 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
When asking Daniels about the alleged sexual encounter, prosecutors have to steer clear of anything too salacious, because Justice Merchan warned them about it this morning.
Trump's defence attorneys have won several objections to what is supposed to be more toned-down questioning, which led Daniels to give more explicit details.
Eventually the questions have become a bit more of a staccato, with prosecutor Hoffinger asking more 'yes' or 'no' questions.
Daniels describes alleged sex with Trumppublished at 16:52 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Hoffinger is now asking Daniels to “very briefly” describe having sex with Trump.
When she goes into too much detail, Trump’s team objects and Merchan sustains it.
It’s hard for Daniels to get a word in as Trump’s lawyers object to most details of the alleged encounter.
Donald Trump has always denied any sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels.
Trump fidgets as Daniels describes alleged sexual encounterpublished at 16:52 British Summer Time 7 May
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
As Stormy Daniels begins to describe what would become an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, the former president fidgets restlessly in his seat at the defence table.
He has alternated between whispering with his lawyers and staring straight ahead.
'Move on,' judge tells prosecutorpublished at 16:48 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan seems to be getting frustrated.
He once again tells Hoffinger to "move on" in her questioning as Daniels gives long-winded answers to her questions.
He's now speaking to both legal teams at the bench.
Daniels recalls sifting through Trump's Old Spice productspublished at 16:44 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Hoffinger doesn't seem to be heeding Merchan's warning.
She's asking Daniels to describe what Trump's hotel suite bathroom looked like. Daniels says she looked through Trump's toiletries and found Old Spice products and a manicure set.
Court resumes with warning from judge to prosecutorspublished at 16:40 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Court begins again with a warning from the judge to prosecutors.
"The degree of detail that we're going into is just unnecessary," he tells prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, who was questioning Stormy Daniels.
He tells her to "move it along" when she resumes questioning.
Trump ignores reporters' questionspublished at 16:40 British Summer Time 7 May
Image source, Reuters
When Donald Trump walked out of the court for the morning break, he raised a clenched fist and did not answer questions from reporters asking whether he had had sex with Stormy Daniels.
Trump has always denied any sexual encounter with her.
Daniels told Trump off for interrupting herpublished at 16:33 British Summer Time 7 May
Before the break, Daniels was describing her alleged "date" with Trump, and said that at one point she reprimanded him for constantly interrupting her during the conversation.
She joked that she should spank him, and to her surprise, she testified, Trump let her swat him on the behind with a magazine.
Jury focused and taking notes - with no laughs at Daniels' jokespublished at 16:32 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
As they listen to Daniels’ fast-paced testimony, the jury has seemed serious and focused.
Some take notes on the pads in front of them, others glance back and forth between Daniels and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
When Daniels occasionally cracks jokes, the jury does not laugh - keeping a straight-faced expression.
Court on breakpublished at 16:30 British Summer Time 7 May
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Just before Daniels seemed to be getting to the sexual encounter that she alleges happened in the hotel room, Justice Merchan calls for the morning break.