Her story is at the center of the hush money criminal trial against former US President Donald Trump.
And on Tuesday, Stormy Daniels finally took the witness stand, becoming the highest-profile person yet to testify in the historic New York trial.
Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged hush money payment intended to silence Daniels, an adult film star who says he had an affair with the Republican leader.
The payment was made against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election, which Trump ultimately won.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have argued that Trump tried to cover up the hush money payment to avoid damaging revelations in the final months of his presidential campaign.
However, Trump’s defense attorneys denied any wrongdoing and claimed their client was simply trying to protect his family. Trump denied having an affair with Daniels.
Crowds gathered outside the courtroom Tuesday morning as anticipation grew that Daniels would appear. Trump is the first former or current US president against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated.
Here are some takeaways from day 13 of his trial:
The hearing begins by discussing Daniel’s testimony
Before the trial began Tuesday, there was much excitement in the courtroom at the prospect of Daniels testifying. What would she say on the witness stand?
Defense attorney Susan Necheles opened the proceedings with a request to Judge Juan Merchan that Daniels be prohibited from discussing any “details” of her alleged affair with Trump.
Daniels wrote about her version of events in the book “Full Disclosure,” which included explicit descriptions of the former president’s appearance.
Prosecutors agreed that it was not necessary to “provide every detail of the genitals” but insisted that certain details about the relationship between Trump and Daniels were necessary.
Merchan agreed to allow limited details to establish Daniels’ alleged affair, acknowledging that she might otherwise have “credibility issues.”
First witness speaks about Trump’s books
Before Daniels could testify, the prosecution presented another witness: Sally Franklin of Penguin Random House.
Prosecutors had Franklin read excerpts from Trump’s books “How to Get Rich” and “Think Like a Billionaire,” which illustrated the former president’s practical approach to business transactions.
They also asked Franklin to read passages that suggest how Trump handles interpersonal conflict.
“I’ve been saying for many years, if someone screws you, you screw them,” Franklin read from “How to Get Rich.”
Daniels takes the witness stand
Then came the words many court watchers had been waiting for: “People are calling Stormy Daniels.”
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, began by talking about her childhood in Louisiana and how she entered the adult film industry at the age of 23. But her testimony quickly turned to her relationship with Trump, whom she said she met at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in 2006.
When Trump later invited her to dinner, Daniels recalled that her publicist was optimistic that this could be a good opportunity. “What could possibly go wrong?” She remembered the publicist saying.
She said she met Trump for dinner at his penthouse. Trump, she explained, had floated the idea of her appearing on his reality TV show The Apprentice.
“He says, ‘This is your chance for someone to see you and maybe give you this opportunity,'” Daniels said. “He touted it as a win-win situation.”
But when Daniels returned from a bathroom visit, she said she found Trump sitting on the bed naked except for his underwear.
“At first it was just scary, like a jump scare,” she said. “I didn’t expect anyone to be there, other than a lot of clothes.”
She said she and Trump had sex, adding afterward: “I just wanted to leave.”
Daniels talks about hush money negotiations
In her statement, Daniels highlighted the power imbalance between her and Trump and how she hoped he would follow through on his offer to feature her on “The Apprentice.”
But at some point it became clear that the opportunity wouldn’t arise, she said.
Then, in 2011, Daniels said a website got wind of her alleged affair with Trump and she was offered $15,000 for an interview.
“I would rather make money than have someone make money off me, and at least I could control the narrative,” she explained. The story never came out and Daniels said she was subsequently threatened to keep quiet.
In subsequent years, Daniels testified that she did not generate much interest in her story. But that changed when Trump launched his presidential bid in 2016 – and journalists unearthed an audio recording of him talking about “grabbing” women’s genitals.
Then she learned that Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen was willing to buy her silence.
“They were interested in paying for the story, which was the best thing that could happen because then my husband wouldn’t find out, but there would still be documentation,” Daniels said.
She added that she did not negotiate the $130,000 hush money sum: “I didn’t care about the amount. I just wanted to do it.”
The defense is pushing for a mistrial
After a lunch break, Trump’s defense team pushed for a declaration of a mistrial, arguing that Daniels’ testimony made it impossible for the former president to receive a fair trial.
“This is the type of statement that makes it impossible to recant,” said Trump lawyer Todd Blanche. He described Daniels’ testimony as intended to cause “pure embarrassment” for his client while simultaneously presenting “prejudicial” evidence to the jury.
“I agree that there are some things that would have been better left unsaid,” Merchan replied. But he urged the defense team to be more proactive in raising objections to Daniels’ testimony.
“When you say the bell rang, the defense has to take some responsibility for that,” Merchan said, adding that if he were the defense team, he would have objected several more times.
Ultimately, Merchan immediately dismissed the motion for a mistrial. “I don’t think we’re at the point where a mistrial is warranted,” he said, allowing proceedings to continue that day.