Stormy Daniels faced a contentious cross examination today over her claim that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006 and that, five years later, a stranger threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot not to talk about the sexual encounter publicly.
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Susan Necheles, a lawyer for Trump, questioned Daniels' motivations and tried to cast doubt on her story. She also highlighted the fact that Daniels owes more than $500,000 in legal fees from a failed defamation lawsuit against Trump.
Necheles argued that as far back as 2011, Daniels was alternately confirming or denying sex with Trump depending on whether she was being paid for her story.
A $130,000 payment to Daniels in 2016 from Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, is the centerpiece of the Manhattan District Attorney's case against Trump, for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal a reimbursement of the money to Cohen. Daniels, a key prosecution witness, spent more than three hours being questioned by Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger about sex with the married Trump, the threat on her life, and the non-disclosure agreement.
When the defense got its turn, Necheles immediately treated Daniels as a hostile witness. “You rehearsed your testimony here, right?” she said in her second question, alluding to Daniels having once described "grueling prep sessions" with the DA's office that included a "brutal mock cross examination." Daniels denied that her testimony was rehearsed. She said "grueling" referred to the difficulty of reliving the experience.