Trump lawyer calls for mistrial over Stormy Daniels' testimony

Reuters/Jane RosenbergCopyright: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Now court has wrapped up for the day, let's recap exactly what happened when Stormy Daniels was called as witness in Donald Trump's hush-money trial.

Here's what the court heard:

• Michael Cohen paid Daniels so late that she nearly cancelled the agreement. She eventually received $96,000 after her lawyer and agent took their cut from the $130,000
• Daniels said she hired a lawyer to get out of the deal after media began asking questions
• Daniels awkwardly read a social media post by Trump, in which he calls her "horseface"
• In a heated cross-examination, Trump's lawyer tried to portray Daniels as a woman motivated by money and her hatred of Trump
• At times, Daniels and Trump's lawyer were nearly yelling at one another
• Daniels hasn't paid Trump $560,000 she owes after she sued him for defamation and lost. She said she does not intend to pay

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

With court finished for the day, Donald Trump walked into the courthouse hallway to speak to the waiting cameras.

He called today a "very big day, a very revealing day".

The former president claimed the prosecution's case was "totally falling apart" and labelled it a "disaster" for the district attorney.

Donald Trump's hush-money trial has adjourned for the day.

The trial does not sit on Wednesdays, so it will back on Thursday for more of Stormy Daniels' testimony.

We can expect more to come from what has been the most dramatic day in the courtroom yet.

Coming in after the break, Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, just told Justice Merchan that her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels would continue into Thursday.

And the prosecution's Susan Hoffinger is expected to question her again, too.

A reminder that court does not sit on Wednesdays.

It's notable that we have women from both legal teams doing the questioning of Stormy Daniels.

The prosecution and defence may be considering the optics of Daniels being aggressively questioned by a man, and how that would play with the jury.

The defence may also be thinking about another Trump trial, where lawyer Joe Tacopina grilled E Jean Carroll about her allegations that Trump had raped her. A jury later found Trump liable of sexual abuse and Tacopina withdrew from a subsequent case.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

After a very short afternoon recess, Donald Trump has walked back into court.

He tells reporters it's going "very well".

Usually court wraps up at 16.30 local time (21:30 BST). But with such a late afternoon break, that could possibly be extended.

The court has taken a short afternoon break and should be back soon.

It’s hard to tell what the jury is making of today’s courtroom drama and Daniels’ often salacious testimony.

The 12 members are engaged, looking frequently at the witness and Susan Necheles.

But their facial expressions and actions - occasional note taking - are pretty much the same as any other day in court.

Necheles is using excerpts from Daniels' book to make her seem like a liar.

She presses Daniels about whether she attended an exercise class after she says she was threatened not to tell her story of the alleged sexual encounter in a parking lot.

Daniels testifies she did not go to the class, but Necheles quotes a part of Daniels' book where she appears to say the opposite.

Earlier today the prosecution tried to use books that Trump had published about business to establish that he is on top of how money flows through his organizations.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The temperature in this cross-examination keeps rising.

Necheles is pressing Daniels on whether she told high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred that she allegedly had sex with Trump.

In a page from Daniels' book, she says she did not tell Allred the pair had sex.

Daniels clarifies that she later told Allred during an in-person conversation.

“You’re making this up as you sit there, right?” Necheles asks her.

"No," Daniels responds, frustrated.

Daniels has been ordered by federal courts to pay Trump more than half a million dollars.

She had sued him for defamation over a 2018 tweet, lost the case, and was made to cover his legal bills. She appealed the decision, saying the amount of $293,000 was too high, but instead she had $245,000 added to the total.

On the day he was charged in this case, Daniels was ordered to pay $121,972.

In the tweet he called her a "total con job" and dismissed her allegation that she had been threatened in a parking lot to keep quiet about him.

We heard the prosecution ask Daniels about the parking lot incident earlier today.

During prosecutors’ questioning of Daniels, we heard lots of objections from Trump’s lawyers, many of which were sustained by Justice Merchan.

We’re now hearing many objections from prosecutors to Susan Necheles’ questions - and many of those, too, have been sustained by the judge.

Right now, Necheles is focusing on the judgment that Daniels has not paid to Trump over the defamation case she lost - and the state of her finances.

This seems to be a part of the defence's broader attack on Daniels' credibility as a witness.

Necheles and Daniels have moments where they are nearly yelling at each other as they go back and forth.

Necheles reads a quote from Daniels in which she says she won’t pay Trump over the defamation case.

“I don’t owe him [expletive] and I’ll never give that orange turd a dime,” the tweet reads.

“You call him names all the time, right?” Necheles asks.

"Yes," Daniels replies.

“You despise him and you made fun of how he looks,” Necheles says.

“Only because he made fun of me first,” Daniels says.

Trump’s lawyer is asking about a defamation case that Stormy Daniels lost to Donald Trump.

She sued him for defamation in 2018 over a tweet in which he attacked her account of being threatened in a parking lot.

Daniels was ordered to pay Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars after losing the case.

Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, at times raising her voice at Daniels, notes that Daniels has said she will never pay Trump the amount.

Stormy Daniels confirms this.

Trump's lawyer Necheles is asking a series of questions in an attempt to portray Daniels as a woman motivated by money and a hatred of Trump.

“That motivates you a lot in life, making more money, right?” she asks.

Daniels says money motivates many people.

“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” Necheles asks.

“Yes,” Daniels says.

She has at times sounded defiant in her answers, telling Trump’s lawyer that she doesn’t understand what she’s asking.

And with that, prosecutors have finished their initial round of questioning.

Trump's attorney Susan Necheles is now at the podium for what could be a tense cross-examination.

It’s an awkward moment in the courtroom as Daniels is asked to read one of Trump’s social media posts in which he calls her “horseface”.

“I did nothing wrong in the ‘Horseface’ Case,” Trump’s Truth Social post reads. “She knows nothing about me … Never had an affair with her.”

Trump is reading the post on the computer screen in front of him.

Daniels says it’s not the first time he’s called her “horseface”.