20/ McB:

Blanche asks about Meredith McIver's role.

Is she a ghostwriter? Franklin is not sure the exact details of her contribution.

Frankline's not sure because it varies, depending on the book, right? Blanche asks.

Yes, she says.

21/ Katie Phang:

Trump's frugality, his attention to financial details, his micromanagement, and his typical business practices are laid out clearly in these books and the jurors are paying attention to these details.

22/ Klasfeld:

Blanche: Q: You're trying to make money off the book, correct?

A: (emphatically) That is correct.

(Laughter)

23/ McB:

It seems pretty clear what Blanche is doing right now:

He's calling into question whether we can take the words in the the pages of Trump's book as Trump's words and Trump's beliefs.

24/ Press:

Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche: Do you know how much the ghostwriter did?
Franklin: I don't.
Blanche: Who designs the cover?
Franklin: We have a department.
Blanche: So it is not entirely the author?
Franklin: We want to make the author happy.
Blanche: Nothing more

Adam Klasfeld:

Cross-ex was brief. Redirect begins.

25/ Klasfeld:

Q: In your experience, do ghostwriters ever write entire books without the author's knowledge?
A: No.

"The ghostwriter works for the author," the witness says later, in response to a different question.

26/ Press:

Prosecutor: Let's turn to 413 f - h, we offer them.
Trump's lawyer Blanche: May we approach, your Honor?
[Whispered sidebar ensues - during which, Susan Necheles remains at defense table, talking with Trump]

27/ Klasfeld:

The parties meet at sidebar to argue a defense objection—overruled.

After they wrap, prosecutors display another chapter title getting to the ghostwriter issue: "The Mother of All Advice."

The chapter begins with two epigrams: one quoting Trump's mother and the other "DJT."

28/ McB:

The objection is noted and overruled—more exhibits accepted into evidence.

More excerpts from Trump How to Get Rich—the epigraph page, this one from 👉🏼Mary Trump👈🏼: "Trust in God and be true to yourself"

The acknowledgements page includes a thanks to Meredith McIver, a "woman of many talents," who was also an Executive Assistant at the Trump office, has "heard everything," and has "taken good notes."

29/ McB:

"It's important to have an editor who asks the tough questions," reads another line of the acknowledgements page, getting a very subdued chuckle from the press in the courtroom, who sound like they can very much relate.

30/ Pagliery:

We're going over Trump books and laying out the idea that he's a stickler about expenses, always double checks bills, and cuts deals whenever he can.

This could be material prosecutors use to make jurors question why Trump would strike a hush money deal and reimburse Cohen.

31/ Interesting nugget from NBC coverage:

At least one juror smirked as the prosecution showed the chapter from the Trump book "Trump: How to Get Rich" titled “Pay Attention to the Details.”

32/ McB:

The initial buzz of the day the built after learning about the Stormy Daniels testimony has subsided a bit, as we read repetitive excerpt after excerpt from Trump's books.

👉🏼This excerpt, however, is pretty on the nose:

"For me there's nothing worse than a computer signing checks . . . When you sign a check yourself, you're seeing what's really going on inside your business."👈🏼

33/ Press:

Prosecutor: And this?
Franklin: Thanks offered to Random House staff.
Prosecutor: Does this indicate an author very involved in the book?👈🏼
Franklin: Yes.
Prosecutor: This?
Franklin: 👉🏼God is in the details. Sign your own checks. People see it and they screw you less👈🏼

34/ McB:

No further questions from prosecution, but Blanche wants another bite at the apple.

He puts up Exhibit 413G, an excerpt from the acknowledgements page.

No further questions from either side, and the witness steps down.

Attorneys from both sides huddle around Justice Merchan for a sidebar, as Emil Bove stays seated at the defense table, in conversation with Trump.

35/ McB:

The jurors occasionally whisper something to each other, or show their neighbor a note, and smile quietly.

Boris Epshteyn, three rows in front of me, turns back and scans the members of the press seated in the gallery.

Sidebar continues.

36/ BUCKLE UP.

Pagliery:

“The People call Stormy Daniels."

37/ McB:

Everyone's eyes are glued to the door in anticipation.

She enters, dressed in black, her hair tied up behind her, glasses pushed up on her head.

38/ Klasfeld:

#StormyDaniels broadly smiles as she enters the courtroom, before quickly changing to a serious expression.

Assistant DA Susan Hoffinger begins direct examination.

39/ McB:

Her voice starts a bit shaky as she spells her name. She takes her glasses off her head and puts them on as Hoffinger begins direct examination.

She prefers to use the name Stormy Daniels.

40/ McB:

Daniels confirms her birth name is Stephanie Clifford, but she says she prefers to go by the name Stormy.

She describes her upbringing.

D Daniels confirms her birth name is Stephanie Clifford, but she says she prefers to go by the name Stormy.

She describes her upbringing.

Daniels: I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

41/ Phang:

STORMY ENTERS AND TRUMP TAKES A GOOD LOOK AT HER AND THEN LOOKS DOWN.

McB:

We're getting a bit of her biography, born and raised in Louisiana to a "very low income family" with a single working mom. She started in the magnet high school program and wanted to be a veterinarian, and graduated high school in the top 10% of country

42/ McB:

Despite getting a full-ride scholarship to Texas A&M, related costs were still too high, so she was not able to go.

Extracurriculars? Ballet, equestrian club. She taught handicap riding lessons there.

She's talking quickly, and Hoffinger asks her to slow down just a bit.

43/ McB:

She's telling us now how she got into dancing, which sure beat shoveling manure, and she was able to start making money.

At Christmas time her senior year of high school, she says she left home, because her mother would just vanish for days at a time. She had just turned 17.

44/ [She's here testifying under subpoena.]
Press:

Daniels: Now I live in Florida with my partner. My parents split up when I was 4. I went to a strict Christian school, paid for by my father. I was raised by my mother.
Pros: Hobbies in school?
…

Daniels: A friend introduced me to dancing, exotic dancing, when I was in high school. It was better than my other job, shoveling manure.
Pros: Why did you move out?
Daniels: My mother was neglectful, left me alone. She wasn't even an addict

46/ I'm back, and once again, Mr. Blowdryer lost.

I'll use Phang's more concise comments to catch up:

HOFFINGER: Did you work in the adult film industry? DANIELS Yes,

HOFFINGER: How old were you at the time? DANIELS: 23 (when she was offered a contract in adult film writing.)
HOFFINGER: Did you continue to write and direct films? DANIELS: Yes, I still do

47/ Phang:

DANIELS DESCRIBES THE TYPES OF MOVIES SHE WROTE AND DIRECTED “There’s the kinds that aren’t scripted, they’re just sort of scenes” “And then they are basically actual movies that have sex.”

48/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: Do you still host that podcast?
DANIELS: Sadly, No I don’t, because I got fired because I was reluctant to continue talking about just that one narrative and about this case and about politics, I was told I could talk about a variety of things and it kept going down that one subject line

49/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: “I’d like now to direct your attention to July of 2006. Were you working at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe?” DANIELS: Yes
HOFFINGER: “Did you meet Donald Trump on the golf course at that celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe?” DANIELS: “Yes I did” …“It was a very brief encounter”.

50/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: “Do you recall if at all what you discussed with Mr. Trump at the golf course at that time” DANIELS: “It wasn’t very much”

HOFFINGER: “How old were you at the time?” DANIELS: 27 HOFFINGER: Did you know his approximate age? DANIELS: I knew he was as old as my father. 60?

51/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: Did you see him again? DANIELS: Yes. in the Gift Room. He talked to all the girls, and he asked what I directed DANIELS: He asked what I directed - it was called Three Wishes DANIELS: I saw him talking to another gentleman who was with him……. Somebody asked me… Mr. Trump would like to know if I wanted to have dinner with him.

52/ Phang:

EXHIBIT 226 JURORS ARE NOW SEEING THE FAMOUS PHOTO OF DONALD TRUMP AND STORMY DANIELS. TRUMP IS WEARING THAT YELLOW POLO SHIRT, AND STORMY DANIELS IS WEARING A BLACK CAMI.

In response to the offer to dine with Trump:
DANIELS: I said I wasn't interested. “No, with an expletive in front” his name was Keith. KEith asked for my number and I gave him my number and he messaged me, so I saved the number in my phone

53/ Phang:

Some color from inside of the courtroom:
Jurors are taking notes as she's testifying and looking at Stormy - very focused.

HOFFINGER: He asked about your work? DANIELS: He was very interested in how i went from being a porn star to writing and directing and i told him we have real scripts and i explained the different types of adult films from 5000 dollars to 200,000.

[Me: This is disjointed. I'm so sorry I had to leave & miss other reporting!]

54/ Phang:

Trump asks Stormy about STDs.

Daniels: At the time, you had to be tested every 30 days; he asked if she had ever had a “bad test” and she said no, she had never tested positive for anything.

55/ Phang:

DANIELS: I chose to work for Wicked Pictures because they are a “condom mandatory company”- even if you’re husband and wife, when you perform on cam for Wicked Pictures, you have to use a condom. Even when I worked with my husband I had to use a condom even though I’m allergic to latex.
HOFFINGER: “Is that one of the reasons you worked there.” DANIELS: Yes.

56/ Phang:

DANIELS: He pulled out a magazine…..at this point, i wanted to eat my dinner and said are you always this rude, you don’t know how to have a conversation
👉🏼“I pretty much had enough of his arrogance and cutting me off and still not getting my dinner. “
DANIELS: “SOMEONE SHOULD SPANK YOU WITH THAT,” DANIELS SAID SHE TOLD TRUMP RE MAGAZINE.

57/ Phang:

DANIELS: so he rolled up the magazine and “gave me the look” as kind of a dare,
DANIELS: “So I took it from him and I said turn around, and I swatted him” right on the butt DANIELS: “and he was much more polite”

Daniels: it was at that point he got really quiet and that i should go on his show, i assume celebrity apprentice, the apprentice,
DANIELS: “I said there’s no way they’d ever let me on TV, there’s no way NBC would ever let an adult film actress on television.”

58/ Phang:

DANIELS:
👉🏼“he said you remind me of my daughter,” she is smart and blonde and the way he phrased it actually made perfect sense because you can go on the show and prove you’re not just a dumb bimbo
👉🏼DANIELS: He said you remind me of my daughter, she’s smart and beautiful and people underestimate her as well.

59/ Phang:

DANIELS: We talked about what i really wanted to do, which is be taken seriously as a writer and director. “Nothing against the adult entertainment business.” I have “no shame, that’s who I am”