A New York judge said Tuesday he will allow porn star Stormy Daniels to offer limited testimony about an alleged sexual encounter with former President Donald Trump when she takes the stand in Mr. Trump‘s hush money trial.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles objected to allowing Ms. Daniels to testify about the alleged 2006 encounter, which Mr. Trump denies ever occurred. Ms. Necheles said the allegation is irrelevant in a case about “books and records.”
Yet the judge sided with prosecutors who said testimony about the allegation was necessary to establish Ms. Daniels’ credibility. Prosecutors said the testimony did not need to “involve descriptions of genitalia” or other seamy details.
Ms. Daniels could begin testifying Tuesday, a remarkable moment that will breathe life into proceedings after a series of dry witnesses who outlined mundane, though potentially pivotal, accounting records for the jury.
The trial started Tuesday with testimony from an executive at Penguin Random House, which published some of Mr. Trump‘s books.
Prosecutors allege Mr. Trump and his lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, criminally concealed a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels near the 2016 election through checks and business entries that triggered election and tax offenses.
Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Mr. Trump posted, then deleted, a message on Truth Social early Tuesday that he had “just recently been told who the witness is today,” presumably referring to Ms. Daniels.
“This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare,” the former president wrote. “No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.”
Mr. Trump‘s now-deleted post might have run afoul of a gag order that prevents the former president from opining on jurors, potential witnesses and certain court staff.
Judge Merchan on Monday said Mr. Trump risked jail time if he violated the order again. Mr. Trump‘s lawyers are upset that prosecutors aren’t giving them a heads-up about the next day’s witnesses as a courtesy.
Prosecutors said they are being coy because Mr. Trump tends to comment on persons involved in the trial. They do not want witnesses to feel intimidated before testimony.
Mr. Trump on Monday said he did nothing wrong in documenting payments to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses.
“You pay a lawyer expense payments. We didn’t put it down as construction costs,” Mr. Trump said. “The legal expense that we paid was put down as [a] 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.”
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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