Name: Defense Claims Inconsistencies in Stormy Daniels Testimony, Interviews
Uploaded: 2024-05-10T14:36:33.000Z
Description: Former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial continues in New York on May 9.

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Former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial continues in New York on May 9.

<em>Follow here for the live updates: </em>
<h2>Trump: 'I'm Innocent'</h2>
President Trump left the courtroom the end of the day telling reporters the judge was "corrupt."

He said he didn't think he needed to do any explaining of that statement, was "not allowed to anyway."

"He's a corrupt judge. This judge what he did, or what his ruling was is a disgrace," he said, likely referring to Justice Merchan's denying two motions after testimony ended for the day.

"And I gotta get back to the campaign trail. I'm not supposed to be here. We are so innocent," he said. "I'm innocent, and I'm being held in this court with a corrupt judge who's totally conflicted."

Reporters asked several questions about Ms. Clifford and her testimony, which President Trump is prohibited from commenting on due to the gag order.
<h2>Judge Denies Motion for Mistrial</h2>
Justice Merchan noted that Mr. Blanche denied there was a sexual encounter in the opening statement, thus the jury did not know whom to believe unless testimony addressed this question. He supported the prosecutors' choices in eliciting testimony.

The judge also said that the defense had not objected to the "trailer park" comment and he struck it from the record himself. He added that he did not understand why Ms. Necheles did not object to the condom question and answer.

Justice Merchan denied the defense's motion for a mistrial.
<h2>Defense Argues for Mistrial</h2>
Mr. Blanche then argued for a mistrial after the judge rejected a motion to amend the gag order.

He said there was “a whole host of questions that got way beyond what happened” in a case about business records, such as “Ms. Daniels having a hard time growing up” and a “spanking” anecdote she told.

“This is extremely prejudicial testimony… There was a question asked about what the inside of a bathroom looked like … ‘what was your reaction to seeing him like that?'”

Mr. Blanche cited Ms. Clifford’s testimony where she noted the height difference and how there was an “imbalance of power,” and pointed to the prosecutor’s line of questioning.

“The People didn’t stop there. They asked if she remembered how her clothes came off,” Mr. Blanche said. “We didn’t know these questions were coming.”

Justice Merchan said some of the objections the defense made during this testimony were sustained.

Mr. Blanche cited a question prosecutors asked about wearing a condom.

“That has nothing to do with business records, that is so prejudicial, it’a a dog whistle for rape,” he said.

Prosecuting attorney Joshua Steinglass argued that there is no change of story, as many of these details came out in Ms. Clifford’s interview with Anderson Cooper.

Mr. Steinglass added that they did not give Ms. Clifford a chance to explain the “spanking” incident, because Ms. Necheles would have tried to use it to discredit her during cross-examination, to suggest that Ms. Clifford made things sexual before the bedroom incident.
<h2>Judge Says Trump Can't Comment on Stormy Daniels Testimony</h2>
Justice Merchan said he did not see any new set of facts of new theory in the case to change his order.

"My concerns is not just protecting Ms. Daniels," he said. "My concern is with protecting the integrity of the proceedings as a whole."

"Your client's track record speaks for itself," he said, denying the motion for alteration of the gag order.
<h2>Defense Asks Judge's Permission for Trump to Comment on Stormy Daniels Testimony</h2>
After court adjourned, Mr. Blanche raised issues with the judge.

He said that the government has disclosed to him they no longer plan to call Karen McDougal as a witness.

He also asked the judge's permission for President Trump to comment publicly on what Ms. Clifford has said in court the last two days of trial, as her testimony has concluded.

Mr. Blanche argued there has been wide coverage of "this new false allegation" from Ms. Clifford's testimony, one dealing with a very different issue from a story that has been around since 2006.

"He's going to be asked repeatedly over the next week or two about this new allegation around consent," Mr. Blanche said of President Trump.

He argued that there will be political shows and articles taking up the new allegation from Ms. Clifford that the encounter was not consensual.

Mr. Blanche asked the judge to remove the gag order.

Prosecutors say the order was issued to protect citizens serving as jurors. They argued that responses to these allegations can happen in court, and that President Trump has defenders outside of court.

Prosecuting attorney Christopher Conroy accused President Trump of repeatedly violating the gag order "selfishly" and said there were "very real consequences for witnesses when they express fear in court."

He cited a "barrage of threats" that show the gag order is warranted, and said the D.C. appeals court decision supported a gag order on ground of how threats can undermine judicial proceedings.

"Modifying the gag order now to allow the defendant to attack the gag order would seriously undermine the integrity of these proceedings," he argued.

Mr. Blanche rebutted, citing Ms. Clifford's testimony where she highlighted the fear she said she felt. She said "at first I was just startled. Jump scare. Then I felt the room spin ... I just think I blacked out."
<h2>Trump Leaves Without Comment After Day of Emotional Testimony</h2>
In an unusual move, President Trump left the courtroom without any comment after court adjourned for the day. He held his fist up as reporters shouted questions but did not give any remarks.
<h2>Westerhout Cross-Examined</h2>
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that when she began working to help with the transition into office, she still did not really know Donald Trump.

She affirmed that the Access Hollywood tape rattled the RNC but that Mr. Trump kept working toward the presidency.

"And, so, the Access Hollywood tape belw over in a couple of days, right?" Ms. Necheles asked.

She affirmed this transition period was a "busy and hectic" time. Ms. Westerhout had been nicknamed "greeter girl" in the press as she welcomed and escorted people coming to Trump Tower for cabinet position interviews. She scheduled as many as three interviews a day, as hundreds of positions needed filling, but was not involved in the vetting process.

"These people were coming in for the most important interview of their lives," Ms. Westerhout said.

Ms. Necheles asked about her job after moving to the White House.

"That was the first time you were really working closely with President Trump, and what was that like?" Ms. Necheles asked.

"It was amazing. I really hadn't spent any time with him, but I don't know if anybody should really feel like they deserve to be in the West Wing, but he never made me feel like I didn't belong there. Especially in an office filled with older men," she said. "I just found him very enjoyable to work for."

Ms. Necheles asked what she observed about the president's relationship with his wife.

"Sometimes I would look down at my phone, knew if the red line was on he was on the phone. There were times I could kind of figure out he was on the phone with Mrs. Trump. He would say 'come to the window' and they would kind of wave at each other. He just wanted to say hi and check in," Ms. Westerhout said.

Court adjourned for the day.
<h2>Westerhout Testifies About Book</h2>
Ms. Westerhout wrote a memoir titled "Off the Record" after she lost her White House position. Attorneys showed the cover in court.

She continued her testimony while audibly crying.

"I wrote the book to process what I had just been through, but I also wanted to document for myself and my family the incredible experience I had working in the White House," she said.
<h2>Westerhout Testifies About Stormy Daniels Story</h2>
"Now focusing on early 2018, do you remember a story coming out about Trump and a woman named Stormy Daniels?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.

"Yes, I remember he was very upset by it," she said. She affirmed she believed President Trump and Mr. Cohen had spoke around that time.

Ms. Hoffinger asked about President Trump's relationship with his wife.

"I found their relationship one of mutual respect. He cares about her opinion. I just remember thinking that their relationship was really special. They laughed a lot when she came into the Oval Office, and once in a while she asked me to call and say he was running late, just like in any marriage," she said.

She continued to describe a 2019 White House dinner, then began to cry.

"In August 2019 I was invited by a White House colleague of mine to what I understood to be an off the record dinner. I got the dinner, I said some things I should not have said. That mistake ultimately cost me my job. I regret my indiscretion but I feel I learned a lot," she said before she stopped, crying.

"Sorry, do we need a minute?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.

"I'm OK," Ms. Westerhout said, continuing her testimony while crying.
<h2>Prosecutors Establish Contact Between Cohen, Pecker, Weisselberg With Trump in White House</h2>
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that she was more likely to patch a call through to the president if it came from someone on the list provided by Ms. Graff.

"Was it your understanding that Mr. Cohen and President Trump had a close relationship in 2017?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.

"At that time, yes," Ms. Westerhout said.

Attorneys showed an email Ms. Westerhout sent to Mr. Cohen, requesting his personal information so he could attend a meeting.

In another communication, Ms. Westerhout texted Ms. Hicks, "Hey - the president wants to know if you called David pecker again?"

She confirmed she knew that Mr. Weisselberg had "worked for the president for a very long time." An email from Ms. Westerhour to Ms. Graff was admitted, reading "Can you please send this to alan weisselberg from the president?"

Ms. Westerhout said checks for the president to sign originally went to Mr. Schiller, but later they went through her.

"A manilla folder with a stack of checks," she said. She would bring them to the president to sign. "I didn't really dig around the folder, but I believe there were invoices attached to the checks sometimes."

She said the frequency of receiving checks to sign was "consistent, maybe twice a month."

She said to her knowledge, she saw him sign the checks by hand, and did not recall any instances where he didn't sign all the checks brought to him in a folder.

Attorneys showed communications between Ms. Westerhout and Ms. Graff about expenses for golf clubs and photo frames.
<h2>Westerhout: Graff Put Together Contact Shortlist</h2>
Ms. Westerhout confirmed that Trump Organization employees sometimes had questions for her and sometimes had questions for the president that she was asked to pass along.

"When I got to the White House, I naively assumed that the operators had everybody's phone number, and that was not the case. So the president would often ask, call John Smith, call so and so, and I didn't have their phone numbers," she said. "So four days in, I asked Rhona to put together a list of people he called often, I thought that would be helpful."

Attorneys showed an email exchange about this.

David Pecker was listed on row 41. "At the time I knew him as just a tabloid person," Ms. Westerhout said.

"I believe I entered all of these contacts into my contacts," she said.
<h2>Westerhout Details Twitter Post Procedure</h2>
Ms. Hoffinger asked about the @realdonaldtrump Twitter account. Ms. Westerhout said she knew that the president and his aide Dan Scavino had access to it.

"I didn't see Dan or the president post every single tweet," she said. "If there was a video recap of an event or something, it might have gone out without the president's approval, but it was my understanding that the president liked to see tweets before they went out."

"Once in a while if Dan wasn't around, the president would dictate a tweet to me, and I would quickly scribble it and sometimes print it back out so he could look at it," she said.

Ms. Hoffinger asked, "but would he edit the hard copy printout?"

"Sometimes," Ms. Westerhout said. "My recollection is that there were certain words he liked to capitalize, words like 'country' and he liked to use exclamation points."

"It's my understanding that he liked to use the Oxford comma," she said.
<h2>Westerhout: Trump Signed With Sharpies</h2>
Ms. Hoffinger asked whether the president used an automated signature or preferred to sign things himself.

"He preferred to sign himself," Ms. Westerhout said. "My recollection is that he preferred to use Sharpies or a felt tip pen."
<h2>Westerhout Describes Trump Communication Habits</h2>
She affirmed she was familiar with the way he interacted with others in the White House, with his family, and on social media.

"He liked speaking to people in person or on the phone. He took calls as early as six in the morning," she said.

She described different ways callers would be connected to the president, such as through her desk phone versus on a secure line. Calls typically went to Ms. Westerhout after screening before they went to the president.

"Did Mr. Trump have a computer?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.

"Not to my knowledge," Ms. Westerhout said. She said similarly about and email account.

"After a few weeks he kind of moved his space to a room known as the dining room," she said. "I remember wanting to keep the Resolute desk just very pristine and ready for meetings."

"Were the hard copy documents that he liked to read kept in the dining room?" Ms. Hoffinger asked.

"Yes," Ms. Westerhout said. "He knew where things were and he kept things organized, but he did have a lot of papers ... brought to his residence or on Air Force One."
<h2>Westerhout Testifies About White House Job</h2>
Ms. Westerhout confirmed she was offered a job at the White House.

"My boss at the time came to me and said do you have any interest in sitting outside the Oval Office," she said.

"I said yes, I do, that sounds like a very cool job," she said. "I really didn't care what my title was."

"After the inauguration, I went to a government building across the street from the White House. I went through security, and then we were taken to the West Wing, kind of shown around a little bit, and then I was taken to my desk, which was right outside the Oval Office," she said.

Attorneys showed a floorplan of the West Wing, and Ms. Westerhout pointed out where her desk was.

She said others sat in the same area: Hope Hicks, the president's communications director; and aides John McEntee and Keith Schiller.

At the time, Ms. Westerhout was special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president.

She worked in the White House two and a half years, ending August 2019.
<h2>Madeleine Westerhout Testifies About Access Hollywood Tape</h2>
Madeleine Westerhout, former Director of Oval Office Operations, took the witness stand.

She outlined her background, including a role at the Republican National Committee.

Ms. Westerhout affirmed that she became aware of what was known as the Access Hollywood tape in 2016.

"At the time I recall it rattling RNC leadership," she said. "It's my recollection that there were conversations about how to, how it would be possible to replace him as a candidate if it came to that."

"After Mr. Trump was elected, I went and spent some time in New York, working out of Trump Tower," she said.

"Once the party has a nominee, that campaign and the RNC really combine forces and work together seamlessly. So I worked in Trump Tower and helped schedule interviews with people who were being considered for cabinet-level positions," she said.

Ms. Westerhout said Rhona Graff was "integral" to helping the RNC schedule interviews with Mr. Trump.
<h2>Publisher Testifies About Trump Book</h2>
Kristin Menzies with Harper Collins took the witness stand. She has been with the publishing company for 25 years and is the senior vice president of production and creative operations.

The company distributed the book "Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life" by Donald J. Trump and Bill Zanker.

Ms. Menzies testified that the sections in serif font are written by Donald Trump and the sections not in serif font are by Bill Zanker.

"I used to say, ‘Go out and get the best people, and trust them.’ Over the years I have seen too many shenanigans, and now I say, ‘Get the best people and don’t trust them.’”

“As a matter of fact, I value loyalty above everything else."

“My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades.”

Defense attorney questioned Ms. Menzies, who confirmed it was possible that both authors had help from other writers, such as ghostwriter Meredith McIver, whom Donald Trump thanked in the acknowledgements.
<h2>Trump Organization Bookkeeper Testifies</h2>
Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper who has worked at The Trump Organization for 11 years, took the witness stand. In 2021 her role changed to executive assistant.

She sat outside former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weiselberg's office.

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