Washington [US], May 9: The 13th day of trial in the criminal case of former US President Donald Trump on allegations of hush money payments took place on May 7 in New York City (local time).
The focus of the trial day was the detailed testimony of adult film star Stormy Daniels about the sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump in 2006.
According to CNN, Ms. Daniels said she met the defendant at a golf tournament in Nevada and the two then had sex at the penthouse in the hotel of Mr. Trump, then a businessman. Ms. Daniels's testimony was so detailed that judge Juan Merchan had to interrupt several times. The former president's defense team seized the opportunity and said that the jury had to hear "unfairly prejudiced" testimony from Ms. Daniels. For that reason, the defendant asked the judge to declare the trial invalid, meaning it would have to start over from the jury selection stage. However, judge Merchan rejected this motion despite admitting that there were some details that the witness "would have been better off not saying".
Mr. Trump was accused of spending $130,000 on Ms. Daniels right before the 2016 US Presidential election, to prevent the actress from making their relationship public. According to prosecutors, Mr. Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen gave the money to Ms. Daniels and then Mr. Trump returned it.
Mr. Trump denied all allegations, including having sex with Ms. Daniels. At the trial, he "cursed out loud" several times and nodded defiantly when Ms. Daniels provided testimony, according to AFP . Judge Merchan then privately warned Mr. Trump's lawyer that it was contempt of court rules and could be considered witness intimidation. Mr. Trump is prohibited from making comments about the jury, witnesses, prosecutors and the judge's relatives, in a way that could hinder the trial process. He was fined $10,000 after 10 violations and was at risk of being detained for this behavior.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
