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The main question in former President Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush-money trial is not about guilt, but something far more fundamental. Is District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case a joke? mischief? farce?
On Thursday, the answer became clear. that’s all. Former porn star Stormy Daniels proves that. But it is also an abhorrent abuse of the judicial system and a disastrous attack on the rule of law.
I can’t imagine a worse prosecution witness than Daniels. Her testimony under withering cross-examination was an astonishing example of self-immolation. By the time she slipped off her witness stand, her already dubious narrative was strewn across the courtroom floor. The stripper was stripped naked.
Legal expert slams Stormy Daniels’ testimony in Trump trial: ‘disastrous’ response ‘backfires’
The stunned prosecutors must have muttered to themselves, “Why did they call her as a witness?” Their goal, of course, was to humiliate and smear Trump with sexual gossip stories that had nothing to do with the criminal charges at issue. It was a gamble by the sophomore, but it backfired spectacularly.
Ms. Daniels insisted she always tells the truth. However, she admitted that her two signed statements denying her relationship with Trump were false. She is not interested in making money, she declared. Still, she asked for cash. She wanted President Trump’s comments made public, she insisted. Still, she eagerly promoted herself to remain silent.
Daniels is only casually acquainted with the concept of truth. She massages it or pisses it off when it suits her. Her motto might be “Honesty is for assholes.” But if she thought she could escape the rampant deception in the courtroom; she A real sucker.
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Her many out-of-court statements troubled her. Daniels’ stories seemed to change dramatically depending on the audience and her motives for personal gain. And that’s the problem with lying witnesses. That stain is also ingrained in the prosecutor’s office that called her.
I can’t imagine a worse prosecution witness than Daniels. Her testimony under withering cross-examination was an astonishing example of self-immolation.
Mr. Daniels’ simmering hatred for Mr. Trump came into the spotlight Thursday as his defense team removed him as a reliable witness. She had already admitted that she “disdained Trump,” but sought to backtrack on her personal hostility. It didn’t work. Her reaction was dashed by her own earlier words.
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Daniels faced social media posts in which she bragged about helping put President Trump in jail and called herself “the perfect person to flush orange filth down the toilet.” When he was charged, she popped the cork in celebration, adding, “I don’t want to spill the champagne.”
Stormy Daniels and her attorney Clark Brewster pose for a photo in the witness room at Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Brewster & DeAngelis Law Office)
Does this seem like an objective and reliable witness? Or someone with malicious intentions? Or is it someone who is missing a few screws in their head? One of her jaw-dropping moments came when she told the court how she posed as a medium communicating with the dead. no kidding. It turns out that appearing on television as a psychic with paranormal powers is lucrative. Was all her testimony just a gag?
Trump team claims Stormy Daniels’ sordid affair story keeps changing because they never met
Hostility aside, Daniels’ shameless greed seems to dictate her every move. The defense presented evidence showing that she was a shakedown artist. When Trump was running for president in 2016, she used a brief encounter with him a decade earlier to extract money from him under escalating threats.
Isn’t that blackmail? Yes…there certainly could be a compelling criminal case. But that never happened. That’s largely because prosecutors saw a perfect opportunity to exploit Daniels for their own political purposes. If Mr. Trump made a mistake, it was in following the advice of his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, and giving in to Mr. Daniels’ blackmail plan.
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Daniels was an unnecessary and largely irrelevant witness. There was no need to call her to the stand. She was kept in the dark about her bookkeeping decisions, which are at the heart of the 34 charges Trump faces. She even laughed at her idea that she knew anything about the actual charges or what laws were broken.
But once prosecutors made the wrong decision to put Daniels in front of a jury, damage to their own case was inevitable. At one point, she doubled down on President Trump’s main defense.
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Daniels acknowledged during questioning that the contract she signed was a legal issue covered in a legal contract. This simple statement supports President Trump’s defense argument that the agreement he negotiated with Daniels was properly labeled as “litigation costs” because that’s what they were. This was previously corroborated by accountants who actually made such entries in the Trump Organization’s ledgers.
Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, attends the Exxxotica Expo at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on April 22, 2023 in Rosemont, Illinois. (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency, Getty Images))
Nearly every witness called by prosecutors so far has helped Trump more than hurt him. Thursday ended with a press conference from White House personal secretary Madeleine Westerhout. She acknowledged that Trump signed the check, but that did not further the DA’s office’s case. But then along came the boomerang. Westerhout twice told the jury he believed his former boss was not treating him fairly. Of course, that’s an understatement.
New testimony released every day only strengthens President Trump’s claims that the case is a partisan “witch hunt,” a trial pursuing fictitious crimes. It can’t be found because it doesn’t exist. Concealing legal activity is not a crime. Elections cannot be illegally influenced after the election. The prosecution’s legal theory makes no sense.
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The case against Trump has been on life support from the moment prosecutor Alvin Bragg drafted the indictment. A fair and competent judge would have long ago ordered the DA’s office to cease investigating brain death cases.
But since Donald Trump is the defendant, Bragg and his unscrupulous prosecution team are determined to keep him on the ventilator…Biased jury resuscitates case with wrongful conviction I hope so.
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