Stormy Daniels Received a Very Good Sign From Donald Trump Jury

Jurors' lack of note-taking during Stormy Daniels' testimony is a good sign that they found her statements "consistent and riveting," a trial attorney has said.

Colleen Kerwick, a trial lawyer in New York, spoke with Newsweek about Stormy Daniels' testimony in former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial. "Taking notes are merely memory aids. If there was an inconsistency in Daniels' testimony, the jury would likely note that. As no notes were taken, they likely found her testimony consistent and riveting," she said.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, and he has said this case and other criminal and civil matters involving him are politically motivated. Newsweek has contacted Trump's attorney by email for comment about Daniels' evidence.

Kerwick said the jurors were observing Daniels' "demeanor and body language and trying to get a handle on whether there were any indications that she wasn't telling the truth."

"They don't appear to have found any noteworthy inconsistencies. What she was saying also wasn't very complicated to need notes," she added.

An attorney who goes by "Legal Nerd" on X, formerly Twitter, also considered the jury's lack note-taking a good sign for the prosecution.

"In my 41+ years criminal law experience, when jurors takes notes during a witness's direct examination but put down their note pads during cross examination that's a very good sign that they believed everything the witness said during direct examination," the lawyer wrote.

Norm Eisen, an attorney and legal commentator who was in the courtroom, also said the jurors didn't take notes during Daniels' testimony. He told CNN Wednesday: "I observed the jury put down their writing instruments. They paid more attention during the cross [examination]. She is pushing back in this case, and we will find out when there is a verdict whether the jury believed her or not."

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell, who was also in court, wrote on X: "I did not see any jurors taking notes during Trump lawyer's cross exam of Stormy Daniels. I had a clear view of all but 2 of them."

Tuesday, the defense team asked for a mistrial after Daniels told the court that Trump did not use a condom, that there was a bodyguard outside the room, that there was "an imbalance of power" between the two and that she "blacked out" while they had consensual sex.

Blanche announced that the defense was filing a motion for a mistrial based on Daniels's testimony, arguing that it was "the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from," reported Newsweek's Katherine Fung, who was in court.

Judge Juan Merchan agreed with Blanche that "some things were better left unsaid," adding that Daniels was "a little difficult to control." He ultimately denied the motion.

Merchan later told the defense he was "surprised there weren't more objections" from their side of the courtroom. He said even he stepped in to call his own objection at one point.