Adult film star Stormy Daniels spared no details as she captivated the courtroom with her testimony about her alleged 2006 affair with former President Donald Trump.
In fact, things got so vivid, she was instructed to tone it down.
Testifying on Tuesday (May 6) under her legal name, Stephanie Clifford, Daniels delivered a bombshell account of her alleged interactions with Trump that left jurors “smirking”, the New York Post reports.
“I took it and turned him around and swatted him,” Daniels, 45, testified, recounting a moment when she playfully spanked Trump with a rolled-up magazine featuring his face on the cover.
And while the jury was reportedly smirking, Trump, 77, apparently responded by mouthing, “That’s bullsh**t” to his legal team.
Throughout her testimony, Daniels reportedly spoke fast but with confidence, gesturing animatedly as she described the encounter in vivid detail. Despite objections from Trump’s legal team, she persisted.
As Daniels continued to recount her alleged encounter with Trump, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan intervened, admonishing Trump for his audible expressions of displeasure. “You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that,” Merchan warned Trump’s lawyer, emphasizing the need for decorum in the courtroom.
Trump’s attorneys raised objections throughout the graphic testimony, with Merchan forced to rule in their favor several times. At one point, the judge also scolded prosecutors that the “degree of detail” in Daniels’ testimony was “unnecessary”.
One objection from Trump’s team came when Daniels described her alleged sexual encounter with the former president as “brief” and in the “missionary position”.
Despite the judge’s attempts to rein in the proceedings, the tension in the courtroom remained palpable as Daniels delved into the details of her alleged affair with the former president.
During her testimony, Daniels revealed that she and Trump had engaged in a sexual encounter in 2006, during which Trump was not wearing a condom. Jurors listened as Daniels recounted the events leading up to the encounter, including her initial meeting with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
“He showed her a few pictures, to which she responded, ‘Oh, what about your wife?'” Daniels recounted – referring to Melania, who had married Trump the year prior. “He said, don’t worry about that, we don’t even sleep in the same room,” she testified, prompting Trump to shake his head.
Despite objections from Trump’s legal team, Daniels continued to provide details about her interactions with the former president, including her decision to spank him with a magazine “right on the butt” during their encounter.
The courtroom atmosphere remained tense as Daniels fielded questions from both the prosecution and the defense, with Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles attempting to undermine her credibility.
Necheles grilled Daniels about her motivations for coming forward with her story, suggesting that she was seeking financial gain. Daniels, however, maintained that her primary motivation was to share her truth with the world.
“My motivation wasn’t money,” she said. “It was to get the story out”. Daniels also admitted that she is considering selling her story to the media.
Another one of Trump’s legal team, Todd Blanche, asked the judge for a mistrial over Daniels’ vivid testimony, arguing that it could influence the jury against Trump. Although Judge Merchan denied the bid, he did admit that “there are some things that would’ve been better left unsaid.”
“I believe the witness was very difficult to control,” Merchan said, per The Post.
Daniels is expected to return to court on Thursday (May 9).
Former President Trump is charged with having “fixer” Michael Cohen pay off Daniels and subsequently attempt to cover up the alleged affair in a bid to “corrupt” the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and told reporters outside of the court that the case against him was “falling apart”.