Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ testimony in Trump hush money trial

It’s the biggest spectacle yet in the first criminal trial of a former American president, now in its third week of testimony in Manhattan.

Here are some takeaways from Daniels’ testimony so far:

WHO IS STORMY DANIELS?

Daniels is at the center of the case because she was paid $130,000 in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump a decade before. He says the encounter never happened.

Prosecutors say Trump paid Daniels as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 campaign by burying negative stories about him. His lawyers have sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she grew up poor in Louisiana and originally wanted to become a veterinarian. She danced ballet growing up and got into exotic dancing when she was in high school, she testified.

Daniels told jurors that she began appearing in adult films at age 23 and soon began working behind the camera as well, eventually directing more than 150 films and winning a roster of porn industry awards.

MEETING TRUMP

Daniels testified she first met and chatted with Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor.

He referred to her as “the smart one” and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner. Rather than get her number himself, Trump had his bodyguard get it, she testified.

Daniels said she accepted Trump’s invitation because she wanted to avoid a planned dinner with her adult film co-workers and thought it might help her career.

When they met up later in his penthouse, she appreciated that he seemed interested in the business aspects of the industry rather than the “sexy stuff.” He also suggested putting her on his TV show, “The Apprentice,” a possibility she hoped could help establish her as a writer and director.

She left to use the bathroom and was startled to find Trump in his underwear when she returned, she said. She didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened but realized that he was “bigger and blocking the way,” she testified.

“The next thing I know was: I was on the bed,” and they were having sex, Daniels recalled. The encounter was brief but left her “shaking,” she said. “I just wanted to leave,” she testified.

TRUMP IN COURT

Trump didn’t show dramatic changes in his behavior as Daniels took the stand, but there were signs of what appeared to be discomfort from the former president and current presidential candidate as he heard testimony about his alleged extramarital sexual encounter.

Trump started the day by posting a comment—and later deleting it–on his social media network complaining that he’d “just recently been told who the witness is today” and falsely said his lawyers had no time to prepare. He’s under a gag order that prevents him from commenting publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the case.

When Daniels entered the courtroom, Trump stared ahead and turned his head slightly in her direction, then looked at her as she walked to the witness stand. He whispered frequently to his attorney as she began to testify. Trump later wore what seemed to be a pained expression as she recounted details about the dinner she says they shared, muttering at times to lawyers on either side of him.

He shook his head and appeared to say something under his breath as Daniels testified that Trump told her he didn’t sleep in the same room as his wife.

DEFENSE TRIES TO LIMIT DETAILS

Before Daniels took the stand, Trump’s lawyers tried to stop her from testifying about the details of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump, saying it was irrelevant in “a case about books and records.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger countered that the details wee important to buttress Daniels’ credibility, which the defense has questioned. The prosecutor assured Judge Juan Merchan that the description of the alleged sexual act would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia.”

At one point, Merchan admonished the prosecutor about how much detail she was eliciting from Daniels, saying there was no need to get into the design of the floor in the hotel room or the various subjects covered in her conversation with Trump.

“The degree of detail that we’re going into here is just unnecessary,” Merchan said.

Trump’s son Eric, who was with his father in court on Tuesday, slammed the proceeding in a post on X, accusing prosecutors of being “giddy by this salacious show.”

“Sitting front row attempting to figure out how any of this garbage from 20 years ago relates to ‘legal’ bills submitted by a long time personal attorney being booked as a ‘legal’ expense,'” he wrote.

Daniels’ took the stand a day after testimony that was more mechanical but just as key to prosecutors’ case: a recitation from former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney of how the company reimbursed payments that were allegedly meant to suppress embarrassing stories from surfacing during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. They were logged as legal expenses in a way that Manhattan prosecutors say broke the law.

A JARRING SPLIT SCREEN

Trump’s appearance in court Tuesday, like all other days he’s stuck in the courtroom, means he can’t be out on the campaign trail as he runs for president a third time. It’s a frequent source of his complaints, but Daniels’ testimony in particular might underscore how much of a distraction the trial is from the business of running for president.

While Trump was stuck in a Manhattan courthouse away from voters and unable to speak for much of the day, his rival, Democratic President Joe Biden, was attending a Holocaust remembrance ceremony and condemning antisemitism.

It’s an issue Trump has sought to use against Biden in the campaign by seizing on the protests at college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war.