Donald Trump’s legal team requested Judge Juan Merchan call a mistrial in the Alvin Bragg-led prosecution of the former president—but the judge shot them down. The drama came after former porn performer Stormy Daniels took the stand to talk about her alleged past sexual relationship with Trump, testimony that the defense thought was prejudicial because it did little to prove anything about misclassifying business records, which is ostensibly what the case is about.
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The Judge denied the request, although he agreed with Trump’s team. “I think the witness was a little difficult to control,” said Judge Merchan.
Although Merchan denied the mistrial request, he did admit that he wished some things hadn’t been discussed by Daniels and prosecutors:
Defense attorney Todd Blanche, after court’s lunch break, told Judge Juan Merchan that Daniels’ testimony Tuesday morning was prejudicial.
Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted, and stated that he was doing everything he could to control the witness — including once objecting to Daniel’s testimony himself.
“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said.
Blanche said the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he says does not matter. Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016.
Blanche argued that Daniels’ story has changed, and also wondered how the Trump Team could bounce back from what they see as her prejudicial testimony:
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Blanche said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and said that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” Blanche also said that Daniels is testifying about consent, and said that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.”Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could but she was able to say what she said.”
Prosecutors said, however, that the defense had been fully briefed on Daniels in pre-trial motions prior to trial and argued that Daniels’ statements could prove Trump’s intent. They also accused the defense of trying to attack Daniels’ credibility (although I wasn’t aware that she had any).
During the lunch break, Trump posted an angry response to his Truth Social platform:
The trial, which at this point resembles a bad R-rated movie more than it does an actual criminal proceeding, continues Tuesday afternoon.
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