When Manhattan Assistant District Attorney 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.

...continued

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.