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”

60/ Phang:

DANIELS RECOUNTS TRUMP’s QUESTIONS about other girls from Wicked: Do you hook up off camera, do you sleep with each other off camera…
DANIELS said she called a friend of hers who happened to be in Lake Tahoe at the same time. She didn’t believe that I was with Donald Trump
DANIELS: So I called her because “One, I’m telling the truth, I am with Donald Trump. And two, he asked me to call one of my friends and I didn’t want to actually call my coworkers.”

61/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: How long did you talk with Mr Trump DANIELS: Close to two hours, it was a long time,
HOFFINGER: “Did you sense any red flags or any concern about being there” DANIELS: “No”

62/ NOTE: This is out of order, a little... trying to follow her thread is crazy.

Phang:

229A OFFERED AND ACCEPTED INTO EVIDENCE – CONTACT SAVED AS “KEITH TRUMP”
HOFFINGER: Why did you put Trump there? DANIELS: “I didn't know Keith’s last name” i only knew who he worked for
HOFFINGER: “do you still have Keith’s contact in your phone to this day?” DANIELS: “Yes…

63/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: Did you indicate to your friend you were going to have dinner with Donald Trump? DANIELS: Yeah DANIELS: So i arrived and went upstairs, took elevator to the top floor, and i went to that level and thats where i met Keith who was at the door, it was cracked open and Keith was standing there, and he said nice to meet you and so i walked in,

64/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: “What were your expectations” DANIELS: I didn't really have expectations other than he said come up here and we would go downstairs to one of the nice hotel restaurants DANIELS: ​​“That was my only expectation was to have dinner, because I didn’t want to with somebody else.”

65/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: “Describe if you would how—where you first encountered Mr. Trump inside the hotel suite” DANIELS: “I said hello”
met Trump right there and I said hello and he wanted to go into the living area, 👀👉🏼he was wearing silk or satin pajamas,
HOFFINGER: what was he wearing? DANIELS: Silk or satin pajamas, I made fun of him, said “does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pajamas?” I told him to go change, so he obliged, “very politely”

66/ Phang:

HOFFINGER: when he came back in a dress shirt, where did you go? DANIELS: Dining room table, we both sat down.
HOFFINGER: What were some of the things we discussed? DANIELS: Getting to know you where are you from, i told him where i was from and where i grew up and he asked where i went to school, did i go to college, did i have children?

67/ Geez this is hard to follow. Threads is awful. Their threads are not in order. Sorry if I'm missing anything.

Phang:

Stormy is back on the stand after the quick morning recess.
DANIELS: “I’d been there quite a while, drank a couple bottles of water, and that’s all we were drinking, was water.” Instructed to go through bedroom and help myself to the facility.

68/ Phang:

Daniels: I left bathroom and went around the bed and was hoping to say time to go i was there a long time and i when i opened bathroom door to come out MR 🤢👉🏼Trump was on the bed and he was wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt, i was startled.

DANIELS: “ At first it was just startled, like a jump scare. Wasn’t expecting someone to be there especially minus a lot of clothing.”
DANIELS: “And that’s when I had that moment where I felt like the room spun in slow motion.”

69/ I'm caught up but backtracking slightly. McB:

"At first I was startled, like a jump scare...I wasn't expecting someone to be there and in not a lot of clothing," she says, and felt the blood leave her hands and her feet, like when you stand up too fast.

"Oh my god, what did I misread to get here?" she remembers thinking.

70/ McB:

She says she laughed nervously, went to step around him posed on the bed and leave, and it all felt like slow motion. He stood up between her and the door but "not in a threatening manner," she clarifies.

👀"I thought this is what you wanted, if you ever wanted to get out of that trailer park—" Daniels starts to say that's what Trump told her to get her to stay, but objection, sustained.

71/ McB:

Q: What happened next?
A: I blacked out, though she clarifies that she was not drugged.

Justice Merchan cuts it off right there, and asks counsel to approach.

Sidebar.

Objection sustained.

72/ McB:

Hoffinger resumes, asking Daniels to slow down again, clarifying that Daniels was not drugged in any way nor had she had any alcohol in any way. Daniels confirms both."At first I was startled, like a jump scare...I wasn't expecting someone to be there and in not a lot of clothing," she says, and felt the blood leave her hands and her feet, like when you stand up too fast.

"Oh my god, what did I misread to get here?" she remembers thinking.

73/ I think I messed up slightly with a copy/paste but nothing major. Moving on... GET YOUR PEPTO BISMOL READY.

McB:

Q: Did you feel threatened by him?
A: No, not physically, but there was an imbalance of power for sure. He was bigger and blocking the way, but I was not threatened, verbally or physically.

74/ PEPTO ALERT🤢
McB:

Hoffinger asks her to describe the sexual encounter "very briefly," Daniels starts to describe the fact that she had her clothes and shoes off and started in "missionary position"—but objection, sustained.

Q: Did you end up having sex with him on the bed?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you have a recollection feeling something unusual?
Objection, sustained.
Q: What do you remember?
A:That I was staring at the ceiling, didn't know how I got there.

75/ McB🤢 :

Q: Did you touch his skin?
A: Yes
Objection, sustained.
Q: Was he wearing a condom?
A: Yes
Q: Was that concerning to you?
A: Yes
Q: Did you say anything about it?
A: No, I didn't say anything at all.

76/ McB:

Daniels remembers the entire sexual encounter was brief, and it was really hard to get her shoes on because her hands were shaking so badly
"Let's get together again 👉🏼honeybunch," SD says Trump told her, and she just wanted to leave, she says
Q: Did you say no at any point?
A: No.

77/ McB:

"He didn't give me anything, he didn't offer to pay me, or give me his cell phone number," she says.

Did he ask you to keep this confidential? No.
Any concern he expressed about his wife? No.
Did you end up having dinner with him that night? No.

78/ McB:

McB CORRECTION: I was typing too fast—Daniels said Trump was NOT wearing a condom during the encounter, and that that concerned her. My apologies.

"I told very few people we actually had sex because I felt ashamed I didn't try to stop it or say no," Daniels says.

79/ McB:

There were also details she didn't remember initially, but some of these details came back to her over the years, can she tell us about that? Objection—overruled

Hoffinger tries to clarify there were certain things Daniels always remembered, like the fact that they had sex, but when she continues another objection from Necheles, and counsel approaches.

This has been pretty stop-and-go so far, with frequent objections and sidebars.

80/ McB:

Daniels says she saw him again in Tahoe the next day at her hotel, at a nightclub restaurant downstairs.

👉🏼The jurors are now fully rapt with attention once again, and some of their heads ping pong back and forth from Hoffinger to Daniels, much like spectators at a tennis match.

81/ McB:

Daniels says Trump was in the club with his friend, Ben Roethlisberger, and Trump introduced her as👉🏼 "his little friend Stormy" to "Big Ben" the football player, who let her try on his Super Bowl ring. Trump continued to talk about getting Daniels on The Apprentice.

82/ McB:

Daniels says she told her best friend/photographer Keith—not to be confused with another Keith, Trump's bodyguard— her makeup artist and confidant, and her personal assistant, but not many others about the sexual encounter.

Trump would call her often, "I would always put him on speaker phone. I thought it was funny." Dozens of people would hear these conversations, "it was not a secret."

83/ Klasfeld:

Daniels says that Trump eventually gave her the number of his assistant: Rhona.

Earlier in the trial, Rhona Graff entered Daniels' phone number on Trump Org's Outlook database into evidence.

84/ McB:

During these calls Trump update her (or offer "non-updates") about the Apprentice, 👉🏼ask Daniels if she missed him, and always called her honeybunch—"which was weird."👈🏼

She starts to digress at the next question, and Merchan asks her to "please just answer the question."

Daniels says Trump gave her his personal assistant Rona's phone number in late summer 2006.

She answers more briefly and succinctly now, taking Merchan's instructions to heart.

85/ Press:

Prosecutor: Did he know he was on speaker phone?
Daniels: No.
Prosecutor: Why did you continue to take his calls?
Daniels: My publicist bragged

86/ Klasfeld:

Daniels entered her number on her phone as:

"D Trump Rona [sic]."

Klasfeld Analysis:

The dirty details of the testimony will dominate the headlines, but pay attention to any corroborating evidence that emerges as trial continues.

87/ McB:

We see some evidence now: the contact page in Daniels' iPhone for Rona Graff, which she saved as "DTrump Rona," & another contact page (not from iPhone) for "Stormy" with Daniels' phone no. (only last 4 digits unredacted).

Daniels says Trump reached out and asked her to attend the a party for his vodka brand, which she accepted to maintain the relationship and the "chance to be on The Apprentice" was still up in there air, especially since Trump framed it as her writing and directing.

88/ McB:

At the vodka event, Trump greeted her, unconcerned by the optics, Daniels says, and he introduced her to his friend "Karen"—Karen McDougal.

She says he asked her to go back with him that night, but she lied to him that her and a friend were flying out on a girls' trip.

89/ Please note: As I type this thread, Pres. Biden is giving an important speech about antisemitism. I'll try to post about it later, if time.

90/ McB:

We fast forward now to 2007, she says Trump told her to contact him if she was in NY—she "hit him up" to get him to come to the club where she was performing, but he "invited me to his office tower" instead. Why? 👉🏼"It was a public place, lots of witnesses"—objection, sustained.

91/ 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ [Me: "In a very short period of time. In 2 weeks..."]

McB:

Daniels says she had a "very brief" discussion in his office in Trump Tower. She says he was very busy.

👉🏼"It was always, 'I'm still working on The Apprentice thing,'" Daniels says.

92/ McB:

Now to the 2007 Miss USA Pageant, tickets to which Trump had left under Daniels' name at will call, she says. Then, summer 2007, she met with Trump in LA for dinner at his bungalow in Beverly Hills Hotel.

Q: Did you tell your boyfriend what happened in the hotel with Trump?
A: Not the sexual part. Because I was ashamed.

93/ McB:

Daniels' boyfriend waited outside while she went into the bungalow, she says. Trump was busy, watching TV (a documentary about some sailors who got killed by a shark when the submarine sank), and👉🏼 kept trying to "make sexual advances." 👈🏼But no "real update" on The Apprentice.

94/ McB:

She says Trump still did not ask her to keep the sexual encounter confidential, nor did he seem concened about it.👈🏼

Trump called her a few more times—once to tell her he couldn't get her on The Apprentice ("his overruled had been overruled"), Daniels says.

95/ Hi Melania.

Klasfeld:

Daniels recalls meeting with Trump at a bungalow in Los Angeles.

"He kept trying to make sexual advances, putting his hand on my leg," she says.

Q: What was your response?
A: I told him I was on my period.

96/ McB:

Eventually, Daniels says 👉🏼she stopped answering his calls and moved on with her life.

Jan 2008-May 2011, her life was "pretty awesome"—she got a raise, directed movies, started doing more mainstream things, got married, had a daughter.

Then, May 2011, she says she agreed to be interviewed for a magazine called InTouch—a "sort of tabloid."

She learned that someone had sold a story about her to a magazine, so she freaked out. "I don't know who leaked it—I just had my daughter"

97/ McB:

Daniels says that Gina Rodriguez told her you can either take control of it and get paid, or someone else will make money from it, and who knows what they'll say.

She was supposed to be paid $15k, and was doing less work at the time because she had just had her daughter.

98/ McB:

Q: Did you discuss with InTouch all of the details of what happened in the room?
A: No, I tried to keep it fairly light-hearted, and quick and to the point.

InTouch didn't end up running the story, and at the time Daniels says she doesn't know why.

Hoffinger asks to approach.

99/ Kyle Cheney:

👀From afar, I would be surprised if Trump's lawyers don't move for a mistrial when Stormy Daniels is off the stand, given the level of detail Daniels went into that even seemed to bother the judge — and even after he warned prosecutors to steer clear.

100/ McB:

If I'm not mistaken, during each of the many sidebars so far, Bove has stayed back at the defense table with Trump, the two men deep in conversation.

After Daniels was interviewed by InTouch, she had an experience about June 2011 in a parking lot in Las Vegas. She says she was approached by a man who threatened her "not to continue to tell my story"—about her encounter with Trump.

101/ McB:

She says she didn't tell the police because she was scared, and didn't want more of the story to get out because of her daughter, and the father of their daughter, who was struggling at the time and never knew about the encounter in the first place.

102/ McB:

Fast forward to Oct 2011: Rodriguez told Daniels that a story about her had been published on a celebrity gossip site called The Dirty dot com.

She says she never gave the site information, nor had she ever heard about it, and wanted the story taken down.

She remembers she was freaking out, crying and hyperventilating, and Rodriguez asked if her lawyer—another Keith, Keith Davidson—could take it down. Daniels said yes, and it was taken down a bit later.

103/ McB:

Once Trump announced his presidetial candidacy, Daniels says Rodriguez reached out to Daniels and mentioned that she could sell the story again—making money for both her and Daniels.

104/ Press:

Prosecutor: In 2015 once Mr. Trump was running for President, were you told you could sell your story for more?
Daniels: Yes. I was advised by a lawyer to have a press conference

105/ McB:

For what it's worth, Merchan has been keeping this testimony on a pretty short leash, allowing frequent objections from the defense for leading the witness, and steering Daniels back to the questions at hand.

Q: Were you aware in early Oct 2016, the Access Hollywood tape coming out publicly?
A: Yes, Gina told me.
Q: Was she successful in selling the story before the AH tape came out?
A: No.

106/ McB:

Q: Did you continue to agree that Rodriguez could keep trying to sell the story?
A: Yes, I told her she could keep trying. More people were calling.

107/ McB:

Daniels says her motivation wasn't money, it about the story getting out, and in Oct 2016 she says she learned through Rodriguez that Trump and Cohen were interested in buying the rights to her story.

👉🏼Daniels says she understood Trump and Cohen to be interested in paying for the story and killing it, which would be the best-case scenario for her: so her partner wouldn't learn about it, and the story would never get out.

108/ McB:

She says she didn't care about the figure of $130,000—she didn't try to negotiate the money, because it wasn't her main concern and she didn't need it. She was directing more, moved out of expensive California, etc.

109/ Kyle Cheney expands on his mistrial comment:

That's not to say I think he'll *get* a mistrial. I just expect him to ask for it, given the judge's clear frustrations with the scope of Daniels' testimony.

@GottaLaff NFL let's all just savor the rage Trump is having...because he could have low balled even more.

He vastly overpaid on this.

And that may be the worst part of it for his psyche

@GottaLaff NFL October 2016. Ten years after it happened they're worried about it coming out. Mmmmhmmm
@GottaLaff Damn! I hope this trial doesn’t get derailed.
@Doreen32128 @GottaLaff NFL I don't think he's right tbh, a judge would be complaining a lot more if that's gonna happen.
@lesblazemore @GottaLaff Thank you for talking me off the ledge! Lol
@Doreen32128 @GottaLaff as a judge a mistrial happening right under your nose...it's something they want to avoid for sure, but yeah I know the feeling lol!!
@GottaLaff NFL hopefully the judge issues jury instructions to mitigate any potential damage.
@GottaLaff NFL They'll ask for a mistrial but the judge is no pushover. If the prosecution went over the line in his opinion he would have stopped it. He sustained some defense objections. And while IANAL, I don't see why a mistrial makes sense: in a trial that is about disguised payments to cover up a sexual encounter, the prosecution had the audacity to provide evidence that there was a sexual encounter?

@not2b

> I don't see why a mistrial makes sense

It's not about making sense. It's (1) performative for the Defendant and (2) their legal strategy has always been "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks".

@GottaLaff NFL

@ralfmaximus @GottaLaff Well, yes: it makes sense for the defense to ask for a mistrial, nothing to lose. But it doesn't make sense that they would win one.
@not2b @GottaLaff IANAL but remember the Harvey Weinstein conviction got overturned because there was too much evidence of his behaviour.
@GottaLaff NFL Another catch-and-kill?
@GottaLaff I very sincerely can't thank you enough for everything you're doing.