NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s lawyer pressed porn star Stormy Daniels on apparent inconsistencies in her various tellings of having sex with Trump in 2006, part of an effort on Thursday to undermine her credibility as a witness in the first criminal trial of a sitting or former US president. Daniels’ unflattering account of a sexual encounter with Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite in 2006 while he was married to his wife Melania riveted jurors on Tuesday, reminding US voters of some more lurid aspects of his 2017-2021 presidency as he campaigns to win back the White House this year.
Trump, 77, is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 election about the alleged encounter.
In nearly four hours of cross-examination on Tuesday and Thursday, defence lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels about her earlier testimony of the alleged encounter compared with versions in a book she wrote and interviews she gave over the years.