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NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday painted Stormy Daniels as a profit seeker who tried to extort him ahead of the 2016 election, as the porn star returned to the witness stand in Manhattan.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles pressed Ms. Daniels on her efforts to get paid for her story about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump at a golf tournament in 2006.
“You wanted money, right?” Ms. Necheles said in her cross-examination.
“I wanted the truth to come out,” said Ms. Daniels.
Ms. Daniels said accepting the payment was the best way to get the truth out without exposing her family to undue publicity or threats, calling it the perfect solution.
SEE ALSO: Stormy Daniels’ steamy testimony isn’t expected to sway the presidential race
Yet the defense is hoping to convince the jury in Mr. Trump’s hush-money trial that Ms. Daniels and her lawyers effectively strong-armed him as he tried to win the presidency.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, arranged a $130,000 hush payment at the center of the trial, which pivots on whether Mr. Trump was part of a criminal scheme to conceal the payment.
Mr. Trump denies the sexual encounter occurred and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Ms. Necheles and Ms. Daniels sparred over the witness’ desire to obtain money in exchange for her silence. Ms. Daniels said at one point she wanted to do a press conference instead.
“So why didn’t you do that?” Ms. Necheles said.
“Because we were running out of time,” Ms. Daniels said.
Ms. Necheles said Ms. Daniels’ profit-seeking extended beyond the nondisclosure agreement. She pointed to a national tour that some clubs advertised as “Make America Horny Again!” with a picture of her with Mr. Trump in golf clothes.
“I have no control over how the club advertises,” Ms. Daniels said. “I never used that tagline. I hate it.”
Ms. Daniels also wrote a book, appeared on reality TV programs and sold merchandise, including a “Stormy, Saint of Indictments” candle, when Mr. Trump was indicted.
“Not unlike Mr. Trump,” Ms. Daniels said, arguing it was how she makes a living.
The defense highlighted Ms. Daniels’ animus for Mr. Trump by displaying a tweet in which she described him as an “orange turd” because another user called her a “human toilet.”
Some jurors seemed to be suppressing smiles during the testimony.
Ms. Daniels also tried to distance herself from a recording of her lawyer, Keith Davidson, who could be heard playing hardball with Mr. Cohen over a settlement.
Mr. Trump sat quietly and looked straight ahead, possibly at monitors that showed close-ups of trial action.
Ms. Daniels is back on the stand after a dramatic first day of testimony Tuesday.
She testified she didn’t expect to have sex with Mr. Trump after a dinner in his hotel suite in Lake Tahoe in 2006. She said Mr. Trump was “bigger and blocking the way, but I was not threatened either verbally or physically.”
Her testimony was so detailed that it made state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan uneasy. He urged prosecutors to move things along.
The defense says Ms. Daniels’ explicit testimony should be grounds for a mistrial. If Mr. Trump is convicted, his team will likely raise the issue on appeal.
On Thursday, Ms. Daniels testified about a 2018 statement in which she seemed to deny having a sexual affair with Mr. Trump or receiving money.
She said she didn’t author the statement but signed it because she felt like she didn’t have a choice as various parties tried to preserve the nondisclosure agreement.
Mr. Davidson previously testified that the statement was craftily worded and could be interpreted as accurately portraying Ms. Daniels’ claims about the Lake Tahoe encounter.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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