Name: Trump Says 'A Very Revealing Day' in Court After Stormy Daniels Testimony
Uploaded: 2024-05-07T21:52:41.000Z
Description: Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, takes the witness stand in former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial in New York on May 7.

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Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, takes the witness stand in former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial in New York on May 7.

<em>Follow here for the live updates:</em>
<h2>Trump: 'This Was a Big Day'</h2>
President Trump told reporters it was a big day after court adjourned.

"This was a very big day, a very revealing day as you can see their case is totally falling apart," he said.

"They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case—it was just a disaster for the DA," he said.  "It's a disaster."

"This was a very revealing day in court," he said, referencing several legal commentators. "There's some incredible people out there writing about the trial."
<h2>Clifford Unsure of Story Worth in 2011</h2>
After a break, the defense continued cross-examining Ms. Clifford.

Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Clifford to clarify whether she was saying the sex allegations were untrue or criticizing the behavior of the gossip rags with her comment about an online story that was taken down.

"I never spoke to thedirty.com," Ms. Clifford said, referring to the blog that published a story in 2011.

Ms. Clifford said she had legal advice in 2016 to come forward with her story, coinciding with the election.

Ms. Necheles asked, "your story wasn't worth much in 2011 was it?"

Ms. Clifford said she doesn't know how much it was worth then.

"I was terrified, I just had to change my tactic because it was a new ball game. There's a big difference between someone running for president and someone threatening me in a parking lot."

Ms. Necheles sought to point out inconsistencies in Ms. Cliffords actions, public statements, and testimony today regarding her wish to sell her story or keep quiet about it, implying opportunism on Ms. Clifford's part.
<h2>Defense Questions Clifford-Cohen Relationship</h2>
"At the time you hated Michael Cohen?" Ms. Necheles asked.

"But now you and Michael Cohen are buddies," Ms. Necheles asked.

"I wouldn't say we are buddies," Ms. Clifford said.

Defense attorneys have argued that the key witnesses, Ms. Clifford and Mr. Cohen, have a financial interest in the case against President Trump. Ms. Necheles asked as much directly, and the judge sustained the government's objection.

Ms. Necheles asked if the parking lot story was made up.
<h2>Defense Attorney Cast Doubt on Clifford's Timeline</h2>
Ms. Necheles said that Ms. Clifford argued she had not told her story as it related to Mr. Trump because of fear, citing the 2011 parking lot incident, and said it was different from what she was now claiming.

"As I said in the book, I told no one about it the day that it happened," Ms. Clifford said. "I kept all of it secret from my husband."

"Your daughter's life was in jeopardy and you did not tell her father?" Ms. Necheles asked.

"The reason you did not tell the world until 2018 ... you use this supposed threat as an excuse to tell people 'this is why I didn't talk publicly, I was afraid," Ms. Necheles said.

Ms. Clifford said she had talked about the Trump encounter "publicly on a speakerphone multiple times, in an interview on a radio show in 2007, I told the story."

"That's what you claim now," Ms. Necheles said. "In 2018, when you went on TV with Anderson Cooper, you said 'I never told this story publicly before because I was threatened.'"

"Correct," Ms. Clifford said.
<h2>Clifford Says She Had Article Taken Down 'Because I Was Afraid'</h2>
Ms. Clifford confirmed that she had her attorney, Mr. Davidson, take down an article on a blog that claimed she had sex with Mr. Trump.

"And you denied having sex with Donald Trump," Ms. Necheles said.

"Right, because I was afraid," Ms. Clifford said. She said this was timed close to when she had been threatened in a parking lot in 2011.

Ms. Necheles asked if what Ms. Clifford said to interviewers depended on what they were paying.

"False. I did 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper, and they gave me zero," Ms. Clifford said.

Ms. Necheles questioned Ms. Clifford about the parking lot incident. Ms. Clifford said this was before going to an exercise class, and she had not told anybody about it before she wrote about it in her book.

Ms. Necheles asked about Ms. Clifford's instructor and the class, and Ms. Clifford said she did not attend the class.

"You wrote you went and did the class," Ms. Necheles said.

"It was incorrect," Ms. Clifford said. "There was no way I could have done the class."
<h2>Clifford Testifies About Selling Trump Story</h2>
Ms. Clifford affirmed that her manager helped on several occasions to try to sell the story about Mr. Trump, including a 2011 interview.

In Ms. Clifford's book, she gives an abbreviated version of the encounter. Ms. Necheles asked if she was pressed to give a version of the story that focused on the sex.

"I did not tell her all the sex details, I did not trust her, and she wanted to accuse him of forced, basically rape, and I did not want to do that," Ms. Clifford said.

In the book, Ms. Clifford wrote the interviewer told her she couldn't do anything else for her if there was nothing else to the story.

"And you learned from that, did you not, that a story about Donald Trump that does not include sex will make you no money," Ms. Necheles asked.

"No. Although that does seem to be the case," Ms. Clifford said.
<h2>Clifford Says She's Made and Lost Money From Trump Story</h2>
Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Cilfford about refusal to pay some $600,000 in legal fees owed to President Trump as ordered by a court and her refusal to fill in financial information on disclosure reports, then pointed to a tweet wherein she said Ms. Clifford said she paid off her ranch home.

"Made a million dollars in a book deal ... I just paid for my new ranch," the December 2022 post read.

"I pay rent on a ranch," Ms. Clifford said.

"And isn't it true that you hope Donald Trump will be convicted so that you won't have to pay the money you owe him?" Ms. Necheles said.

"I hope I don't have to pay him no matter what happens," Ms. Clifford said.

"You've been making money by claiming to have sex with Donald Trump for more than a decade, right?" Ms. Necheles asked.

"I've made money by telling my story," she said.

"And that story has made you a lot of money right?" Ms. Necheles asked.

"It has also cost me money," Ms. Clifford said.
<h2>Clifford Says She Chose Not to Pay Trump's Legal Fees After Losing Defamation Case</h2>
Ms. Clifford affirmed that she had appealed the defamation case, and lost on appeal and was ordered to pay additional legal fees.  Ms. Clifford had just earlier told Ms. Hoffinger she didn't pay because she "didn't have the means" and also "didn't think it was fair."

Those awards added up to over $660,000 in attorneys fees and interest Ms. Clifford would need to pay to President Trump, Ms. Necheles said.

Ms. Clifford affirmed she has not paid any of this.

"In fact, you have not taken one penny out of your pocket to pay? Ms. Necheles asked. "Because you've chosen to disobey the court order."

"I choose not to make a payment while it's still pending, yes," Ms. Clifford said.

Attorneys showed Ms. Clifford's March 21, 2022, tweet that reads: "I will go to jail before I pay a penny."

Ms. Clifford interjected, "That is me saying I will not pay for telling the truth."

Ms. Necheles asked the court to ask the witness to only answer when asked a question.

"So even though there's three court orders ordering you to pay President Trump, you are not going to do that, right?" Ms. Necheles asked.

Attorneys showed another tweet wherein Ms. Clifford said "I don't owe him" and mocked his appearance.

"And that's you making fun of how he looks," Ms. Necheles said.

"You despise him and you make fun of how he looks," Ms. Necheles contined.

"Because he made fun of me first," Ms. Clifford said.

Ms. Clifford testified that she was aware that President Trump has filed a case in Florida over the money she was ordered to pay him.

She affirmed she gave an interview saying she would not fill out a form required of debtors, to disclose her assets under penalty or perjury. She affirmed that she did not fill out the form, leaving blank spousal income and bank accounts.
<h2>Clifford Affirms She Hates Trump, Would See Him Jailed if Guilty</h2>
“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” Ms. Necheles asked.

“And you want him to go to jail,” Ms. Necheles asked.

“If he’s found guilty, absolutely,” Ms. Clifford said.

Ms. Necheles showed the witness a social media post in which she said “I won’t walk, I’ll dance down the street” in response to another’s post about President Trump being “selected” to go to jail.
<h2>Clifford Cross-Examined</h2>
Ms. Necheles asked Ms. Clifford if she had met with prosecutors a number of times, and if she rehearsed her testimony.

“No,” Ms. Clifford said to both questions.

“Well, according to you, you met with prosecutors who subjected you to several grueling practice sessions which included brutal cross-examinations,” Ms. Necheles said, and Ms. Clifford backtracked.

“True,” she said. “It was to have as much information as possible.”
<h2>Clifford Testifies About ‘Stormy’ Documentary</h2>
Prosecutors are asking about the various outlets where Ms. Clifford as told her story as it relates to Donald Trump, to elicit testimony that her livelihood is not tied to the present case.

Ms. Clifford said she appeared on Mr. Cohen’s podcast in January 2022 because Mr. Cohen wanted to add to and comment on the case against Mr. Avenatti. She said the “Stormy” documentary she appears in is “same as the book, it was generally about my life.”

Ms. Clifford confirmed she was paid $120,000 for licensing rights to the material in her book in the documentary, but she was not paid to appear in the documentary.

“Yes, to get the truth out, same as the book, to have an updated account,” she said.

Prosecutors showed President Trump’s social media posts in response to the indictment.
<h2>Clifford Wanted 'To Get My Story Out'</h2>
Ms. Clifford had hired Michael Avenatti to get out of the non-disclosure agreement, and then went on 60 Minutes to do an interview with Anderson Cooper.

She said she also published a book, “Full Disclosure,” which spans through June 2018 of her life.

“And did you include some descriptions about what happened with Mr. Trump?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“Yes,” Ms. Clifford said. “Not every detail, no.”

In April 2018, Ms. Clifford, represented by Mr. Avenatti, also filed a defamation lawsuit against President Trump, which they lost. President Trump was awarded over half a million in legal fees.

“It just seemed really risky, and it didn’t seem like something that could be won, like a bad choice, not worth it, I guess,” she said.

Ms. Clifford said she fired Mr. Avenatti, and later he was found guilty of stealing from clients. He has since been disbarred and is in prison.
<h2>Clifford Testifies About Kimmel Appearance</h2>
Ms. Clifford confirmed that Mr. Cohen had asked her to go on Hannity and she declined. “I didn’t want to,” she said.

She said she did appear on Jimmy Kimmel, which her manager Gina Rodriguez set up.

“I was not to discuss the relationship or NDA, it was to give an example of how I could do things but not break the NDA,” she said.

Ms. Clifford testified that she initially said no to signing the denial statement.

“How did you sign it?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“I signed it Stormy Daniels but I signed it not how my Stormy Daniels looks any way I have ever written it. As a tipoff to Jimmy Kimmel that I didn’t sign it willingly,” she said.

“And this statement is false?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

She confirmed that in February 2018 there was a temporary restraining order filed either by Mr. Cohen or attorneys representing him.

“It was to keep me from speaking, or I would be held accountable for the million dollars in the NDA, per episode,” she said.

She said she hired another attorney to try to get out of the agreement “so that I could stand up for myself.”
<h2>Clifford Says Denial Statement 'Not True'</h2>
Ms. Clifford in 2018 issued a statement denying the story of a relationship, which Mr. Davidson previously testified about.

“Why did you not want to sign it initially?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“Because it was not true, and I was told that to say anything at all, anything, was a violation of the NDA,” she said.
<h2>Clifford Returns to Witness Stand</h2>
Ms. Clifford returned to the witness stand. Testimony is picking up about the contract she and Mr. Cohen signed.

She read an email Mr. Davidson sent to Mr. Cohen on her behalf saying that she will cancel the agreement if the funds are not received.

In another follow-up email on Oct. 17, 2016, he wrote “Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement Agreement cancelled and void ab initio.”

Mr. Davidson wrote in that same email that he will not be representing Ms. Clifford anymore.

On Oct. 18, 2016, Ms. Clifford was given a new non-disclosure agreement to sign, and she signed as Stephanie Clifford.

She confirmed she took approximately $96,000 after fees paid to her attorney and manager.

Ms. Clifford said when she learned the Wall Street Journal was running an article on the agreement, she did not comment, pursuant to the non-disclosure agreement
<h2>Judge Denies Motion for Mistrial</h2>
Justice Merchan said he agreed with Mr. Blanche that “there were things better left unsaid” but ultimately denied the motion for a mistrial.

“I think the witness was a little difficult to control,” Justice Merchan said. “I do not dismiss what you’re saying, I do believe there were things better left unsaid. Having said that, I do not believe that we’re at the point where a mistrial is called for.”

The judge said he was surprised the defense did not raise more objections during the testimony, and he pointed out that at one point he interjected himself.

“The court has done everything that I can possibly do to protect both sides and ensure fairness, and again, I objected on my own,” Justice Merchan said.

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