Donald Trump’s bid for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ salacious testimony was denied by the judge overseeing his Manhattan hush money trial Thursday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled that the former president’s attorneys opened the door for Daniels to take the stand to “corroborate” her account of the tryst and establish her “credibility” with the jury after they ripped her as a liar who made up her story about having sex with Trump for money.
“Your denial puts the jury in a position of having to choose who to believe in, Donald Trump who denies the encounter, or Stormy Daniels” who claims that it happened, the judge said.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued Daniels’ testimony about an “imbalance of power” between her and Trump, him not using a condom and that his bodyguard was stationed at the door all suggested unfairly that Trump “raped” her.
“It’s a dog whistle for rape,’ Blanche said in the courtroom.
Merchan eviscerated another Trump lawyer, Susan Necheles, for failing to make objections to details of Daniels’ lurid testimony, including the “mention of a condom.”
“Why on earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom, I don’t understand,” Merchan said.
The judge also rejected Trump’s bid to modify the court’s “gag order” to allow him to bash Daniels publicly, ruling that allowing him to do so would likely intimidate other trial witnesses.
And prosecutors revealed that Trump’s other alleged lover at the center of the trial, the ex Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, would not be taking the stand.
The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
