Politics
Column: Did Stormy Daniels' testimony help or hurt the case against Trump? It's complicated
When Manhattan Assistant Dist. Atty. Susan Hoffinger announced on Tuesday, the 13th day of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, that “the people call Stormy Daniels,” there was a perceptible tremor of anticipation among the jurors. Although the 34 criminal offenses charged against Trump are legally peripheral to his interactions with the adult-film star, Daniels is central to the drama the prosecution has been framing for the jury.
The seven men and five women tasked with determining the former president’s guilt had been hearing from multiple vantage points about the woman whose allegation of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump had triggered an existential crisis in his campaign. Daniels was the moving force behind the whole tawdry payout that purportedly necessitated the elaborate document doctoring that is the subject of the New York indictment.
So the jury took obvious notice and listened intently to her story. It’s at once a sort of classic American tale of a rise to success from hardscrabble beginnings and a, well, exotic narrative from a world that is presumably foreign to the jury, one of not only adult films but also celebrity golf tournaments, famous athletes and cavernous hotel suites.
Daniels’ presentation reflected these conflicting forces. She came across on the one hand as intelligent, worldly and proud of her accomplishments. But she also told of stumbling half-aware into sex with a powerful older man whom she found repulsive in many ways, leaving her confused and stupefied.
She also spoke very quickly, perhaps betraying nervousness, and her answers often wandered well outside what the questions called for. That more than once caused Judge Juan M. Merchan to respond with evident pique, at one point interjecting (and sustaining) his own objection. Like most good trial judges, Merchan seems to command respect from the jurors, so his remonstrations are likely to affect their view of the witness.
Merchan had attempted to establish guardrails to prevent testimony about essentially gratuitous details that are far afield from the criminal charges and could prejudice the jury against Trump. And sure enough, after the prosecutor’s direct examination of Daniels, the defense moved for a mistrial, citing her account of such icky particulars as Trump’s failure to wear a condom.
Even more than the prurient particulars, Daniels’ testimony posed a problem by suggesting her alleged encounter with Trump was in some sense coercive. Although she testified repeatedly that she was not forced to have sex with the defendant, she also noted his greater physical size, the unbalanced power dynamic between them and her care to keep their subsequent encounters public.
Merchan denied the motion for a mistrial while noting that Daniels was in some ways a difficult witness to control. You can be sure that the issue will come up on appeal should Trump be convicted.
At the same time, Daniels’ cross-examination by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles had its own problems and may have increased the jury’s sympathy for the witness. Necheles continually accused Daniels of being a liar and a gold digger. The questions occasionally got a rise out of Daniels, but more frequently she swatted them away with a flat “false” or “no.” That, along with frequent sidebars between the judge and attorneys, disrupted the rhythm of the exchange, which lacked the crisp control and momentum of an effective cross-examination.
Daniels’ testimony therefore holds potential risks and rewards for both parties, and it’s not easy to calculate how it will play on balance.
From the vantage point of the prosecution, the legal essentials of the hush money payment and alleged fabrication of documents don’t turn on whether the jury believes Daniels. Indeed, a number of analysts suggested the district attorney would have been better off not calling her at all.
What that analysis overlooks, however, is the jury’s natural desire to take the measure of the woman who propelled the crisis and about whom they had heard so much. Not calling her risked leaving them wondering what the prosecution was hiding.
On the other hand, if a good portion of the jury didn’t like Daniels or, worse, didn’t believe her, that could negatively influence their deliberations.
From Trump’s vantage point, the risks are keener. That is in large part because his vanity and arrogance have forced his lawyers to commit to an unnecessary insistence that he never had sex with Daniels. Consequently, if the jury credits the basics of her story, it discredits Trump.
And it’s very hard to see how the jury could adopt Trump’s absolutist account, including his claim that he met Daniels only once at a celebrity golf tournament. For starters, the evidence that they met several times thereafter is basically undisputed.
The next trial day, Thursday, will begin with the balance of the cross-examination followed by the government’s redirect. Both sides will have studied the transcripts and adjusted their approaches. Yet it’s likely that the 12 most important people in the courtroom have formed their fundamental impressions of the witness. More than with any other witness in this trial to date, the nature and import of those impressions are unpredictable.
That being said, her overall story was credible and, moreover, corroborated by other witnesses in most if not all of its important details. Having watched the jury carefully from my seat in the courtroom Tuesday, I think Daniels did what she needed to do.
Harry Litman is the host of the “Talking Feds” podcast and the Talking San Diego speaker series. @harrylitman
Politics
Nikki Haley silent on Trump's NYC conviction as other prominent Republicans spring to his defense
Former U.N. Ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has remained silent on the criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump as prominent Republicans and former Trump rivals continue to sound off.
Haley’s social media accounts have made no mention of the conviction as of early Friday afternoon and neither she, nor her representatives, responded to Fox News Digital’s repeated requests for comment.
Haley, who has been on a visit to Israel, posted on her X account multiple times since the conviction describing the horrors of the Oct. 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.
Trump and Haley’s strong working relationship deteriorated after Haley entered the 2024 GOP primary field despite previously saying she would not, which the former president took issue with during the campaign multiple times.
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Former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. (Getty Images)
After Trump came out on top of the battle for the GOP nomination that involved the trading of personal attacks between him and Haley, the former ambassador was at first noncommittal about whether she would support him.
Haley ultimately came out and endorsed Trump this month.
“I will be voting for Trump,” Haley said during an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
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Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and 2024 Republican presidential candidate (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,” Haley added. “Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they’re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that.”
Reactions from prominent Republicans started pouring in immediately following Trump’s conviction and many of Trump’s other primary opponents have also weighed in on the conviction with mixed reactions.
Donald Trump arrives to Trump Tower, Thursday, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
The jury found Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
Moments after the verdict was delivered by the jury, the former president spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom.
“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt, as a rigged trial and disgrace. It wouldn’t give us a venue change,” Trump said. “We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.”
Trump said “the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
In the wake of former President Trump’s conviction of 34 felonies, he is heading to California next week to raise campaign cash at high-dollar events in San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach. They are expected to raise millions.
“A sham trial designed for one purpose: to brand Donald Trump as a ‘felon,’ ” tweeted Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, a host of the Bay Area fundraiser that is reportedly taking place at his Pacific Heights’ compound, shortly after the verdict was announced Thursday. “Watch Dems and the [mainstream media] endlessly repeat that word.”
The California events were planned before the verdict, but the Trump campaign said Friday morning that they received $34.8 million since the former president was convicted. He touted the response from his supporters during remarks Friday.
Trump was convicted by a New York jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records about $130,000 in payments made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who alleges they had sex in Lake Tahoe during a golf tournament, in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump, who denies they had sex, is the first former president to be found guilty of a crime.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11, days before he is officially named the GOP’s presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. He is expected to appeal the conviction, and GOP leaders have stood by him, arguing that the trial in New York was rigged and a weaponization of the legal system by Democrats.
The former president will be in California for at least three days next week raising money to fuel Trump’s effort to topple his Democratic rival, President Biden, in November.
On Thursday, a fundraiser will be held by Sacks, a former executive at PayPal; his wife, Jacqueline Sacks; and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook leader. Cost of admission: up to $300,000 per person and $500,000 per couple.
The following day, Trump will raise money in Beverly Hills, with attendees paying up to $250,000 per person, according to an invitation obtained by The Times.
On Saturday, he will headline a fundraiser in Newport Beach with donors being asked to contribute up to $100,000, and with billionaire tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey among the hosts. Co-hosts John Word, the co-founder of a health insurance company, and his wife, Kimberly, are reportedly hosting the event at their home overlooking Newport Harbor.
These events were already expected to raise large sums. But the former president’s fundraising has spiked dramatically since the verdict was delivered. The online fundraising processor for Republican campaign donations crashed Thursday, the New York Times reported.
The Trump campaign attributed the technological glitch to a rush of donations to the former president’s campaign after the verdict was announced.
“From just minutes after the verdict, the digital fundraising system has been hit with record numbers of supporters,” said Brian Hughes, a senior advisor to the campaign. “The campaign is grateful for this massive outpouring of support because it shows that Americans have seen this sham trial as the political election interference that Biden and Democrats have always intended.”
Dan Schnur, a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine University, said that Trump’s campaign coffers could benefit from the verdict given the nation’s polarization.
“By definition, someone who’s writing him a check is already a true believer. And we’ve already seen through the weeks of the trial that the Trump campaign has figured out how to make this work to their fundraising benefit,” Schnur said. “There may be a few squeamish donors who drop out, but his strong supporters may end up writing even bigger checks.”
Indeed, shortly after the verdict, Shaun Maguire, a partner at a Menlo Park venture capital firm that funds tech companies, announced that he donated $300,000 to the Trump campaign.
“The timing isn’t a coincidence,” wrote Maguire on X (formerly known as Twitter). He is a partner at Sequoia Capital and supported Hillary Clinton in her 2016 presidential campaign against Trump.
Still, while Trump received the backing of some notable tech leaders in his successful 2016 campaign, such as billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley largely favors Democrats.
In this election cycle, Biden and groups supporting his campaign have raised $17.1 million from the communications and electronics industry, which includes tech companies, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission by Open Secrets. Trump has raised $1.7 million. (The analysis is of FEC data released April 22 by the nonpartisan group, which tracks electoral finances.)
The contrasting numbers reflect the president’s fundraising advantage nationally and in California. Biden’s campaign posted $194.8 million in receipts through April 30, compared with Trump’s $124.2 million, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the FEC.
Both candidates have raised more in California than any other state because the state’s donors bankroll political candidates on both sides of the aisle despite its cobalt tilt. Biden has raised $21 million from Californians through March 31, while Trump has raised $11.1 million, according to the FEC.
Democrats are also heading back to California to scoop up more campaign cash. Vice President Kamala Harris will headline a fundraiser in San Diego County Friday in the afternoon; Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser in the evening in Los Angeles, according to the White House.
The next major fundraiser in Los Angeles for the Democratic ticket will take place June 15, when Biden will appear with former President Obama at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel will moderate a conversation between the men; actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts are also expected to take part in the event.
Though the Biden campaign did not disclose the amount of money expected to be raised at the gathering, Democrats have historically raised enormous sums at such events in Los Angeles. Donors at a December event in Holmby Hills were asked to contribute up to $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that supports the president’s reelection campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.
Times staff writer Julia Wick contributed to this report.
Actor Robert De Niro weighed in Thursday on former President Trump being found guilty in his high-profile hush-money case.
“I think justice was served,” the two-time Academy Award winner told reporters while on the red carpet in the Big Apple for his new movie “Ezra,” Variety reports.
“This is just one part of the whole picture, so I want to be very careful.”
Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in New York v. Trump.
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Robert De Niro attends Bleeker Street’s “Ezra” New York Premiere at DGA Theater on May 30, 2024 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
De Niro said he thinks the outcome would affect the presidential election, but did not say how, Variety reports.
“I would think it would,” De Niro said.
“This never should have gotten to this stage,” he continued. “I don’t want to be talking, but I am so upset by it. I have to say something. This is my country. This guy wants to destroy it. Period. He’s crazy.”
De Niro and Trump have spatted for years, with the actor holding a chaotic press conference on Tuesday outside a Manhattan courthouse where he claimed that Trump “wants to destroy” New York City and the nation and eventually could destroy the entire world. Trump shot back on Truth Social, labeling De Niro as “pathetic” and a “wacko.”
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Former President Trump, left, and Robert De Niro have clashed for years. (Julia Nikhinson-Pool/Getty Images | Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In previous years, De Niro has torched Trump in various speeches and videos. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, De Niro said he wanted to punch Trump in the face.
On Thursday’s red carpet, De Niro was also asked if he ever fears for his safety.
“You think about that. It makes me more angry, but I have to be afraid to be intimidated. And that’s why I said, you’re not going to intimidate us,” De Niro said, according to Variety.
“People are fed up, they’re going to fight back. That’s not what we’re about in this country.”
Trump had pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree and claimed the case was a political hit-job emanating from the White House. The charges stem from a yearslong investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actor Stormy Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied the affair.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment ahead of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.
Former President Trump arrives to Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
The payments to Daniels were first revealed in January 2018 in a Wall Street Journal report that said Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing the supposed sexual encounter with Trump.
At the time, though, Cohen, Trump and even Daniels denied the arrangement.
“Ezra” is a comedy drama where De Niro plays the grandfather of a stand-up comedian who has a child with autism.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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