Stormy Daniels is daring Donald Trump to take the stand in his ongoing criminal trial in New York hours after she delivered her testimony in the case.
“Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,” Daniels wrote in a post on X/Twitter Thursday.
Earlier that day Daniels, an adult film star, and Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles engaged in a heated and sometimes uncomfortable back-and-forth for hours as she testified about her sexual encounter with Trump and the subsequent hush money payment to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 presidential election.
The $130,000 hush money payment is at the center of the ongoing criminal case where Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
After Daniels’ testimony Trump’s lawyers moved for a second mistrial arguing that she had changed her story about the alleged encounter and was allowed to testify about matters that are not relevant to the case. The former president’s lawyers also asked to waive Trump’s gag order to allow him to respond to Daniels’ testimony publicly.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, denied both requests.
Merchan argued that instead of denying the falsification of business records, Trump’s team is denying the alleged sexual encounter Daniels spoke about, according to the New York Times.
“That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her and to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied,” Merchan said.
In denying Trump’s lawyers request to waive the gag order Merchan said, “my concern is not just with protecting Ms. Daniels or a witness who has already testified. My concern is protecting the integrity of the proceedings as a whole.”
At this point it does not appear that Trump will take the stand in his case.
