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How Trump reveled in lawyers grilling Stormy Daniels' over porn career and accused her of making up 'phony sex stories'... before she snapped back and said 'I would've written it better'
Donald Trump's defense lawyer's strategy was clear as she cross-examined adult movie actor and director Stormy Daniels on Thursday: Paint the witness as a money-grabbing huckster who made a career out of inventing sex scenes.
Lawyers call it a 'nuts and sluts' defense.
It was a tussle that Daniels—all shrugs and steely outrage—was up for.
'You have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real,' said Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles, referencing the 150 movies that Daniels has written and directed and comparing them with the night she said she had sex with the future president at a Nevada hotel.
'Wow,' said Daniels quietly. 'That's not how I would put it.
'The sex in the films is very much real ... just like what happened to me in that room.'
'You have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real,' said Donald Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles, as she cross-examined Stormy Daniels on Thursday
Trump looked delighted with the way the cross-examination went down. He patted Necheles on the back of the elbow as if to say, 'Good job' once it was over
Trump, 77, denies with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 election.
On Tuesday, the court had heard Daniels' unflattering account of her 2006 encounter with Trump. There were satin pajamas, a spanking and the word 'brief' was used to describe the act of intercourse.
During the cross-examination later that day and on Wednesday morning, Necheles embarked on a high-wire act, rooting out inconsistencies in Daniels' oft told tale and deploying her career against her.
It made for a risky line of attack. Every time Necheles suggested Daniels had simply invented a sex scene as part of a ruse to extort Trump, she was reminding the jury that her client moved in circles that brought him into contact with porn stars and strippers.
And anyway, the veteran writer of porn movies had a cheeky response to the idea that her tale was invented.
'If that story was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better,' she said, to laughter in the public gallery.
The jury, including five women, sat rapt throughout. No one was taking notes as they had done earlier in the week.
One female juror leant forward as Necheles went on the attack, suggesting that Daniels she had used her notoriety to sell herself during a 'Making America Horny Again' tour of strip clubs.
Any hint of slut shaming or victim blaming could backfire with a metropolitan jury like this.
Not that Daniels needs any protection. She, as ever, had a sharp retort. 'I was not selling myself to anyone. I was performing at clubs and whoever wanted to pay admission,' she said.
Daniels' lawyer Clark Brewster posted an image of him and his client after proceedings ended. 'Couldn't be prouder of my client,' he said on X, formerly known as Twitter
Daniels is seen leaving Manhattan criminal court after he cross-examination ended
Necheles accused Daniels of trying to profit from her notoriety with a 'Making America Horny Again' tour after details of her alleged tryst with Trump came out
She was a picture of poised defiance throughout, with her right elbow on the armrest of her seat, chin angled towards the defense lawyer and her head tilted slightly back.
After more than six hours, her testimony was over. Trump looked delighted with what he had heard from the cross-examination.
He patted Necheles on the back of the elbow, as if to say: 'Good job.'
And as he left for the lunch interval, he grinned while pointing at friend and Newsmax TV host Greg Kelly, who sat among the ranks of journalists.
Aides have worried that long days without friendly faces are taking their toll on Trump's moods. In contrast to previous days, the former president arrived for the morning session entouraged up, as an added defense against the lewd and embarrassing details tumbling into evidence.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott sat on the bench directly behind Trump, with lawyer Alina Habba, wrapped in her coat, to one side and three secret service agents on the other.
Trump arrived with supporters on Thursday morning, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott (center) and lawyer John Coale (right), who is Newsmax anchor Greta Van Susteren's husband
Scott stepped out after an hour and a hald to talk to news media outside the courthouse
Behind them were lawyer John Coale, who is also Greta van Susteren's husband, and real estate investor Steve Witkoff, alongside regular attendees Boris Epshteyn, Trump's legal adviser, and aide Natalie Harp (whose role is to print out media stories for her boss.)
Scott ducked out after an hour and half. It was not for a toilet break but for a press conference outside the courthouse.
'This is just a bunch of Democrats saying we want to make sure Donald Trump can't talk,' he said, listing familiar complaints that prosecutors had made political donations and that the judge's daughter is a political operative.
'Now they've got a gag order so they can't campaign. They've got him holed up in a courtroom.'
That is one way of getting around a court order that bars Trump from attacking the judge's family (among others)—get political allies to do it for you.
Daniels' story of the encounter has been public since 2018. She has given umpteen interviews, allowing Trump's defense to parse each account for inconsistencies.
There was a long back and forth about whether she had eaten dinner with Trump, examining her claim that there was no sign of food (despite being invited for a meal) and her stomach had 'growled' at times.
Daniels arrived in court on Thursday morning for a second day of testimony
Daniels said she was not happy with the title of her tour and she did not use the name
Daniels gave as good as she got during the cross-examination. Pushing back at assumptions about how she made her money and how the adult movie industry works
Yet in 2011 she told In Touch magazine a different story.
'We ended up having dinner in the room. I cannot remember what we ordered,' she said then.
Daniels tried to defend herself: 'My story's the same.'
'I've maintained that I didn't see any food,' she said. 'It was dinner but we never got food.'
At another moment, Necheles tried to use her prolific history in porn movies—appearing in 200 and writing or directing another 150—to undermine the part of her testimony when she had said she was 'startled' to find Trump lounging on the bed in just underwear after she used the bathroom. She described the room spinning.
Necheles asked: Was she not used to seeing men in states of undress?
'If I came out of the bathroom and saw an older man in his underwear that I wasn't expecting to see there, yeah,' she said.
While Daniels' testimony has held the attention of the world's media, the felony business fraud case really comes down to invoices, ledger entries and checks
Again, in trying to undermine Daniels story, the jury was simply once again picturing the then star of The Apprentice in his boxer shorts and T-shirt.
At other times, Necheles hammered her with questions about her career and whether she was simply looking for a payday, with book deals, lucrative tours and merchandise.
Examples shown to the jury include a 'Stormy Saint of Indictments' candle bearing her image on it and a comic book titled, 'Political Power: Stormy Daniels.'
It was all riproaring fun as the defense worked to undermine her credibility, with tweets in which she nicknamed Trump 'tiny' or an 'orange turd,' and details of her new TV role apparently speaking to dead people.
But it was largely tangential to the alleged crime of falsifying business records ... until Necheles got to her final round of questions and tried to paint all of Daniel's testimony as a red herring.
Did she know anything about the Trump's business records?
'I know nothing about his business records,' she said. 'No. Why would I?'