Stormy Daniels appears to have done very well on the stand today. According to observers I head on TV, she was composed and poised under withering questioning from Trump lawyer Susan Necheles basically slut shaming her and claiming that she’s a nutty, grifter who extorted Trump with a lie. Most people seem to think that may have not landed well.
The reason she was called was to testify that the even actually happened which, if Trump had just stipulated that they did have sex, would not have happened. (As Andrew Weissman has said, she was essentially an exhibit in the case, not a witness to actual crime. ) But he couldn’t. He says that none of the women who have accused him of wrongdoing every happened. None of it. They are all liars and so is Daniels. I doubt anyone believes that.
The classic moment from the morning:
Necheles: You have a lot of experience making up phony stories about sex.
Daniels: That’s not how I would put it. The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room.
Then, she added that had she written the scene with Trump for a movie, she “would have written it to be a lot better.”
They tried to take her down on the stand and she stood tall.
Trump embarrassed himself far more by insisting that he didn’t do it than by just admitting it. But then nothing is more humiliating to him than admitting he did something wrong. He just can’t do it.