CNN
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Donald Trump is heading into the most perilous phase of his hush money trial aside from the moment when the jury retires to consider its verdict.
Former adult film star Stormy Daniels is back on the stand on Thursday to continue what has been at times explicit and cringe-worth testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump nearly two decades ago, which set off a winding chain of events that led to the first criminal trial of an ex-president. Her evidence on Tuesday was deeply embarrassing for Trump and drew an aggressive cross-examination from his attorney trying to shatter Daniels’ credibility.
Trump spent Wednesday, the trial’s off day, at home in Florida. He will return deeply at odds with Judge Juan Merchan, who had earlier threatened him with jail if he again infringes a gag order he has already flouted 10 times. Merchan also instructed Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, to rein in his client after complaining that the defendant had cursed audibly and shaken his head during Daniels’ testimony. The judge was concerned that the jury might notice the witness being intimidated — which he warned he could not allow to continue.
So far, Trump — who has launched searing attacks on the judge — has managed to refrain from openly attacking Daniels since she took the stand. But her continued testimony will test him further. And her appearance is only an appetizer for expected explosive evidence in the coming days of the biggest star witness, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. His testimony is likely to be far more germane to the underling charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to buy Daniels’ silence about the liaison she described on Tuesday. Trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Cohen — a colorful figure in his own right who often tried to replicate his boss’ bravado, once saying he’d “take a bullet” for Trump — facilitated the $130,000 payment to Daniels. The ex-president, who now views Cohen as a traitor, has spent months seeking to destroy his usefulness as a witness by highlighting time he spent in jail for what a judge once called “a veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct.”
Daniels’ testimony and a coming appearance from Cohen could amount to a forensic excavation of Trump’s past life that he’d much rather never saw the light of day — and the hush money payment he made before the 2016 election is proof of that. Now it’s bubbling up years after the alleged transgressions took place during a new White House campaign.
The coming days will therefore require qualities that Trump has always struggled to demonstrate in a riotous life in business and politics: restraint and self-discipline. Any behavior that could be construed as witness intimidation, or an attempt to influence the jury on social media or in the courtroom, could push Merchan over the red line he established earlier this week. The judge told Trump he didn’t want to slap him with jail time, which could be as limited as a matter of hours, but if he had to act to protect the integrity of the trial, he would.
Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House deputy press secretary, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday that the former president’s mood would be brittle following his ordeal in court on Tuesday. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be working on his campaign team or be one of his attorneys right now, just given, I think, that he’s more than certainly lashing out at them. He’s upset after that…
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