Live reports from the courts indicate that in the midst of porn star Stormy Daniels’ evidence in the New York criminal case against the former president, Donald Trump’s defense team sought a mistrial.
Over the course of last year, Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed 34 criminal charges against Trump, alleging that he falsified financial documents pertaining to payments made to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. In his lawsuit, Cohen claimed that he paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in “hush money” to silence her over her alleged romance with the former president.
Todd Blanche, who represents Trump, stated that Daniels’ admissions during the prosecution’s direct examination were different from her prior public remarks.
On Tuesday, Blanche informed acting Justice Juan Merchan, “We seek a mistrial based on the testimony of this witness,” asserting that Daniels had gone beyond the “guardrails” established by the court.
The witness’s evidence now differs significantly from the tale she was selling in 2016,” Blanche stated.
Daniels “blacked out” while testifying, according to the accusation that she had sexual contact with Trump. Not only that, but she said they skipped the condom, and that the fact that Trump was taller than her contributed to an imbalance of power.
My best guess is that I passed out. Nobody doped me. No, I was sober. “I just cannot recall,” Daniels said to the jury. “I felt humiliated because I did not stop it, so I informed very few people that we had had sex.”
Blanche said that “she qualified that it was in an open area, a public place,” whenever Daniels testified about seeing Trump following the alleged affair.
According to him, “that is not the tale she gave today.” He went on to say that she had been attempting to sell a consensual encounter with President Trump. But we’ve just heard it. This is a problem. I am unsure of how to disengage the bell.
Daniels’ rich description of the alleged sexual encounter was “very probative of the defendant’s purpose” and his “motivation for paying this off,” according to the prosecution. In addition, they maintained that the testimony of Daniels was “not a fresh story.”
Without even mentioning that someone is going to go out and campaign this afternoon, Blanche stated, “This is the type of testimony that makes it hard to come back from.”
“Your honor, this is completely unrelated to our purpose for being here,” he further stated. Today, she testified on consent and risk, but that was not the narrative she was trying to promote. Apologies, but it was not the narrative she was promoting.
Blanche stated, “I do not think anybody, anybody can listen to what the witness said and think that has to do with the allegations. “The entire testimony is so prejudiced that you run the very high risk of the jury not being able to focus on the evidence that is actually important.”
After Blanche asked for a mistrial, Merchan refused her wish and partially held the defense responsible for the lack of objections raised by Daniels during the prosecution’s cross-examination.
“As a matter of principle, I concur with you, Mr. Blanche, that it may have been prudent to refrain from saying some things,” Merchan told Trump’s lawyer. “But considering everything, I still do not think it is necessary to have a mistrial.”
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