Trump prosecutors prepare to call final witnesses in hush money trial
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[May 10, 2024]
By Luc Cohen and Jody Godoy
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump is set to return to court Friday after
porn star Stormy Daniels' lurid testimony about her alleged sexual
encounter with him, as prosecutors prepare to call their final witnesses
in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former U.S. President.
In seven hours of testimony this week over two days in New York state
criminal court in Manhattan, Daniels spared few details. She told jurors
she had sex with Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite in 2006 while he was
married to his wife Melania, testifying about gold tweezers she saw in
his toiletry bag and stating that he did not wear a condom.
Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business
records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment
to Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential
election about the alleged encounter. He denies having sex with Daniels
and has called the case a politically motivated effort to interfere with
his campaign to win back the White House in the Nov. 5 U.S. election
against his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden.
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Friday's proceedings are expected to kick off with more
cross-examination of Madeline Westerhout, the former White House aide
who testified on Thursday about checks Trump signed in the Oval Office
and a meeting he scheduled with Cohen early in his 2017-2021 presidency.
Cohen, Trump's onetime loyal "fixer" who is now an outspoken antagonist,
is chief among the remaining witnesses. Prosecutors with Manhattan
District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office have not said when he will be
called to the stand, and his testimony could last several days.
Prosecutors say Trump falsely labeled his reimbursement payments to
Cohen in 2017 as legal retainer fees in his New York-based real estate
company's books to obscure the payment to Daniels, which they say
violated campaign finance law.
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Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald
Trump attends trial at Manhattan Criminal Court May 9, 2024 in New
York City. Steven Hirsch/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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They say the payments to Daniels and another woman who says she had
an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal, were part of a
broader scheme to corrupt the 2016 election by buying the silence of
people with potentially damaging information in violation of
campaign finance laws. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in
the race for president that year. Trump has also denied the alleged
affair with McDougal.
Prosecutors have now called 16 witnesses, and said they could rest
their case by May 21. Last month, defense lawyer Susan Necheles said
prosecutors had provided them a list of 20 potential witnesses. They
may not call all those witnesses, and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass
said in court on Thursday they do not plan to call McDougal.
Todd Blanche, a defense lawyer for Trump, on both Tuesday and
Thursday asked Justice Juan Merchan to declare a mistrial, arguing
Daniels' detailed testimony had prejudiced the jury and was not
relevant to the charges. Merchan denied both those requests,
pointing out that Blanche in his April 22 opening statement said
Daniels' story was false and prosecutors had a right to try to
repair her credibility.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by
Noeleen Walder and David Gregorio)
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