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Stephanie Clifford, more popularly known as adult film performer Stormy Daniels, took the witness stand in former President Trump‘s New York criminal trial on Tuesday, offering detailed and often sordid testimony about their alleged sexual tryst nearly two decades ago.
Trump is accused of falsifying business documents to cover up a hush money payment to Daniels to prevent news of their alleged affair from coming out during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He also denies he had sex with Daniels.
Daniels, wearing thick-rimmed glasses and her blonde hair pulled back in a clip, discussed her encounter with Trump during a celebrity golf event near Lake Tahoe in 2006 — a year after he married his wife, Melania, and soon after their son was born.
Highlights:
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Before things could even begin, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger assured the judge that her team merely intended to establish that Daniels and Trump had intercourse but testimony would not “involve descriptions of genitalia” or other raunchy details. “It will be very basic,” Hoffinger said.
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On the night of their alleged encounter, Trump invited Daniels to his hotel suite, where they had sex, she said. She detailed the floor pattern in the room and admitted to looking through Trump’s toiletry bag when she excused herself to the bathroom.
- Daniels said her publicist had encouraged her to the meet-up, essentially saying, that, if anything, she’d at least get a good story out of the experience.
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Daniels herself thought the meeting could possibly lead to an appearance on the then-wildly popular “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show Trump hosted.
- Daniels said she told Trump that Melania is “very beautiful.” But he told her not to worry about his wife, because they don’t sleep in the same room. Trump also quizzed Daniels about the porn industry, safe sex and her STI status, she said.
When Trump’s lawyers cross examined Daniels, they homed in on her dislike for Trump. She was asked whether she hated the former president (“Yes”), and to confirm some tweets mocking Trump as an “orange turd” and other insults.
Trump’s attorneys had unsuccessfully sought to block her trial testimony, insisting Daniels’s salacious story is false and would be unduly prejudicial to the former president, and they pressed for a mistrial after Tuesday’s lunch break.
Judge Juan Merchan told Trump’s lawyers testimony had gone into “too much detail,” but he denied their petition.
“I don’t think we have reached the point where a mistrial is in order,” he said.
Related coverage:
Meanwhile…
Biden condemns antisemitism as Trump watches Stormy Daniels testify
From The Hill’s Brett Samuels: “A striking split-screen between the two leading candidates for November’s presidential election played out Tuesday, as President Biden delivered remarks condemning a rise in antisemitism while former President Trump sat through salacious courtroom testimony.
In Washington, Biden stepped to the lectern at the U.S. Capitol for a particularly somber occasion: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Days of Remembrance Ceremony.
In New York City, Trump sat in court during his hush money trial, where porn star Stormy Daniels was recounting the time she spanked Trump with a rolled up magazine before they allegedly had sex in 2006.”
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Liz Crisp, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.
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Greene softens threat to force vote on ousting Johnson
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has softened her threat against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), offering to give him more time to prioritize conservative positions in the razor-thin GOP majority before forcing a vote on her resolution to give him the boot.
Greene and Johnson — who took on the House speaker roll in October after the ouster of his predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — spent more than three hours over two days trying to come to some sort of solution.
“We’ll see,” Greene said when asked if she would make good on her threat to Johnson’s job after the duo’s latest confab Tuesday. “It’s up to Mike Johnson.”
Greene has dangled the threat of an ouster over Johnson for some time. She said last week that she would “absolutely” force a vote on her motion to vacate this week.
The House Republican caucus has been deeply fractured as it has struggled to balance the mostly revenge-driven priorities of former President Trump and policy wins that more moderate members hope to see heading into November.
Greene and her small coterie of far-right allies have taken issue with Johnson’s support for aid to Ukraine and deals he’s hashed out with Democrats and President Biden on key legislation.
Greene spoke to Trump, who supports Johnson, by phone Sunday. A source familiar with the conversation told The Hill that Trump urged Greene to abandon her push, and a second source said he actively encouraged unity.
Greene wouldn’t elaborate.
“I have to tell you, I love President Trump. My conversations with him are fantastic,” she told reporters. “And again, I’m not going to go into details. You want to know why? I’m not insecure about that.”
Meanwhile, Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he plans to remain in his position for the long-haul and dismissed assertions his job could be at risk, particularly after November elections.
“I intend to lead this conference in the future,” Johnson said during a news conference. “And the most important thing that we have to do right now is govern the country well — show the American people that we will, and that we are, as we’ve been doing.”
Johnson said his “number one job and responsibility” is winning in November and growing the House majority.
“That’s my singular focus right now,” he said.
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62 percent of young adults wouldn’t live in state with abortion ban: Survey
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Nearly two-thirds of young adults say they don’t want to live in states that have banned abortion, according to a new survey.
The CNBC/Generation Lab poll found 62 percent of the 18-34-year-old respondents would “probably not” (32 percent) or “definitely not” (30 percent) live in a state that outlaws abortion.
About 38 percent of respondents said they “definitely” (17 percent) or “probably” (21 percent) would live in a state that bans abortion.
The findings were similarly reflected in the young respondents’ employment preferences.
About 45 percent said they would either “definitely” (14 percent) or “probably” (31 percent) reject a job offer in a state that bans abortions, while 55 percent said they would not consider it a dealbreaker at all. The survey did not ask whether respondents would apply to jobs in those states. (The Hill)
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Biden decries antisemitism, protests that forget ‘terror’ of Oct. 7
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President Biden wants Americans who are “ignoring” the events of the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel to stop, saying during his keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony that “too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring.”
“Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans, calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state,” he said in remarks at the U.S. Capitol, lobbing criticism again at the tone of some protests that have erupted on college campuses in recent weeks. “It’s absolutely despicable and it must stop.”
Jewish students have been “blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class,” Biden said, just hours after pro-Palestinian protesters retook their encampment on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus Monday evening.
The demonstrations have taken hold in opposition to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian crisis it has exacerbated in Gaza.
The president stressed his support for peaceful demonstrations but said some have crossed the line on college campuses.
“I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate, disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard. I understand; that’s America,” Biden said. “But there is no place on any campus in America, no place in America, for antisemitism, hate speech, or threats of violence of any kind.” (The Hill)
Related coverage:
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TikTok files suit over potential US ban
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TikTok has followed through on its threat to sue the federal government over a potential ban on the popular video sharing app.
President Biden signed the measure to ban TikTok, tucked into a broader foreign policy deal, last month after it received bipartisan support in the House and Senate.
The law requires the social media platform’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest to prevent TikTok from being banned in the U.S. Officials have cited national security concerns over the potential for user data breaches by the Chinese government.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, TikTok argued the mandated “qualified divestiture” is “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally,” and the law ultimately would lead to the program being shuttered in the U.S., cutting off millions of users, and violate the First Amendment.
TikTok also took issue with being singled out by name in the law. (The Hill)
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“The role of campaign finance in our ‘rigged’ political system,” writes Jeff Mayhugh, founding editor of Politics and Parenting, president of East Coast Operations for No Cap Fund and editor at large for Freemen News-Letter.
“Rooting antisemitism out of K-12 schools requires proven, bipartisan solutions,” writes Guila Franklin Siegel, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
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69 days until the Republican National Convention.
104 days until the Democratic National Convention.
181 days until the 2024 general election.
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10 a.m. Wednesday: House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on D.C.’s response to pro-Palestinian protests on the George Washington University campus. Mayor Muriel Bowser is expected to testify. (Watch)
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