6 months ago
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Former president Donald Trump fumed that there was “no time for lawyers to prepare” for Stormy Daniels’ testimony in his hush money trial, as the adult film star at the centre of the case prepared to take the stand.
“I have just recently been told who the witness is today,” Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday morning in a now-deleted Truth Social post.
“This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.”
Although he didn’t identify the witness in the post, his comment arrived moments before a lawyer for Ms Daniels announced that she would testify on Tuesday.
The adult film star, who alleges she had a 2006 affair with Mr Trump and was then paid $130,000 for her silence, took the stand at around 10.30am ET.
Judge Juan Merchan has allowed Manhattan prosecutors to keep the witness list a secret due to the former president’s online attacks against some of them, including Ms Daniels and his former fixer Michael Cohen.
The judge has also imposed a gag order on Mr Trump, barring him from lashing out at potential witnesses.
But the gag order hasn’t totally reigned him in. He has so far been fined $10,000 for repeated violations of the order.
Ms Daniels’ testimony has been highly-anticipated as she is expected to hit at the heart of the case.
Just before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence over her alleged affair with Mr Trump back in 2006. Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair ever happened.
He has been accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the so-called hush money payments. Prosecutors allege that Mr Trump gave Cohen the payments, labeling them as a legal retainer, when in actuality they were meant to hide the affair with Ms Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
On Monday, jurors were shown the paper trail in court, including the former president’s signature written in Sharpie. The bulk of the monthly checks sent to Cohen came out of Mr Trump’s own personal checking account. Prosecutors said Mr Trump later reimbursed Cohen.
