A judge denied a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers for a mistrial in his criminal hush money trial. The request was denied after a failed attempt to scrap the trial altogether. The ruling came after a request to pare back Trump’s gag order was also rejected. Defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that Stormy Daniels’ testimony about an alleged encounter with Trump was irrelevant to the case and prejudicial for the jury to hear. Prosecutors no longer plan to call Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, to testify, without providing a reason for the reversal.
During her second day of testimony, Daniels said publicly discussing her alleged encounter with Trump has been detrimental to her life. Under cross-examination, Daniels faced tough questions from Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles. The case centers on a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels from Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels dismissed Necheles’ suggestion that she would want to publicly claim she had sex with Trump, stating that nobody would ever want to do so. Prosecutors also called other witnesses, including Trump Organization assistant Rebecca Manochio and HarperCollins executive Tracey Menzies.
While the trial was ongoing, Senator Rick Scott appeared outside the courthouse to criticize the judge’s daughter and the district attorney’s wife. Scott alleged that the lead prosecutor has ties to Democrats, and criticized the political affiliations of those involved in the case. Trump is currently under a gag order that prevents him from speaking about the judge, prosecutor, witnesses, and others involved in the case. The judge has held Trump in contempt of court for violating the gag order multiple times and warned him of possible jail time if he continues to do so.
Trump is facing charges related to falsifying business records concerning the hush money payment to Daniels. Prosecutors claim the payment was part of an illegal scheme to benefit Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The case is likely to be the only one to make it to trial before the upcoming presidential election. Other criminal cases against Trump have faced delays, including a state-level election interference case in Georgia and federal cases related to illegally taking classified documents. A federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., is on hold while the Supreme Court considers whether Trump is immune from the charges due to his status as president at the time of the alleged crimes.
