Stormy Daniels’ Testimony Ended Amid Tense Exchange With Trump’s Lawyer

Daniels was probed on questions relating to her alleged sexual encounter with the former president and how she seemingly went on to profit from it despite signing a non-disclosure agreement.

For Daniels’ final day on the stand, she had a heated back and forth with Trump’s lawyer regarding the specifics of her alleged sexual encounter with the former president.

Over the almost three hours of the exchange, Trump’s attorney, Susan Necheles, sought to discredit the former adult film star’s testimony the previous day.

She challenged Daniels’ claim of feeling “lightheaded” upon seeing Trump lying on the bed in just his shorts and a t-shirt, questioning how this was possible given Daniels’ extensive experience performing in or directing hundreds of pornographic films.

Replying to the inquiry, Daniels explained that she reacted that way because she was shocked to find a man twice her age half undressed.

Necheles then probed further about the concept of “an imbalance of power” that Daniels claimed existed between her and Trump in the moments before the sexual encounter.

She argued that this contradicted statements made by the former adult star in her 2018 memoir, Full Disclosure, where she described making Trump her “b-tch” during the encounter.

Things took a turn during the trial, when Trump’s lawyer brought Daniels’ old tweet where she referred to the former president as an “orange turd.”

In an attempt to discredit Daniels’ testimony, Necheles referenced the tweet in which she wrote that she does not “owe him sh-t and I’ll never give that orange turd a dime.”

According to the defense’s argument, Daniels’ tweet denigrated the former president and aided their claims of her using her story for profit.

“It doesn’t say ‘President Trump,’ it says ‘orange turd,'” Daniels responded to Necheles. “If that’s how you’re going to interpret it, that’s on you.”

When Necheles then asked her directly what she meant by “orange turd,” Daniels replied, “Oh, I absolutely meant Mr. Trump.”

The “orange turd” term seemed to unsettle many Republicans and Trump supporters, with Fox News host, Laura Ingraham, noting that it was said too many times as an attempt to “humiliate” the former president.

However, several on social media pointed out that Trump’s lawyers were to blame for the cross-examination going “awry” after introducing the “Orange Turd” term in the first place.

One person online noted, “I will just say that the only reason Stormy’s ‘Orange Turd’ tweet became part of this trial is because TRUMP’S LAWYER Susan Necheles introduced it!!!”

Lawyer George Conway also tweeted about the controversial term, writing: “Necheles crossing Daniels on whether she called Trump an ‘orange turd” on Twitter in a pretty funny tweet. To my mind, this only *bolsters* the witness’s credibility.”

Necheles also accused Daniels of profiting from her story despite signing a non-disclosure agreement after being paid $130,000.

The attorney referenced the former stripper’s memoir, which debuted in 2018, as one of the ways she did so. She also pointed to Daniels’ appearance on a reality TV show, her documentary film, and her adult dancer tour, in which she allegedly used her “supposed” sexual encounter with Trump as the bait for her attendees.

Necheles estimated that all these ventures made Daniels around $1 million, claiming that it was the former adult film star’s goal from the onset.

However, Daniels defended herself, explaining that her involvement in those ventures was her doing her job and covering legal expenses from her court battles with Trump.

She also claimed that if her “story was untrue, [she] would have written it to be a lot better.”

During the cross-examination, Daniels denied asking Trump for money while confirming that she had “no personal knowledge about his involvement” in the $130,000 hush money payment.

“I never asked for money from anyone in particular, I asked for money to tell my story,” Daniels told the court.

She also revealed that she did not wholeheartedly sign the non-disclosure agreement, adding that she did so out of fear for her safety.

Buttressing her point, Daniels recalled being threatened by an anonymous individual and being told it would be safer for her to remain visible.

“Something won’t happen to you if everyone is looking at you,” Daniels said about signing the NDA.

On Thursday, Judge Juan Merhcan denied two motions by Trump’s defense team. The first one was a request for Merchan to modify Trump’s gag order so he could respond to Daniels’ testimony.

In response to this, Merchan stated that he could not take the defense’s “word” that Trump would respond to Daniels “low-key” as the Republican presidential hopeful has a “track record” when it comes to his online attacks.

“My concern is not just with protecting Ms. Daniels or a witness who has already testified; my concern is protecting these proceedings as a whole,” the judge added before denying the defense’s motion.

For the second motion, Trump’s team argued a mistrial, claiming that Daniels’ testimony was not consistent with her previous claims. However, according to Newsweek, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass branded the claim as “flat-out untrue.”

Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, tried to capitalize on some explicit claims Daniels made, such as information about the politician not using a condom, to justify his argument. However, Merchan ultimately denied the motion, questioning the defense team’s decision not to “object to a mention of the condom” during the cross-examination.