Stormy Daniels' cross-examination could get "wild and unpredictable" as Donald Trump's lawyers seek to disrupt her carefully delivered evidence, a New York attorney has said.
Janos Marton, who previously ran for Manhattan district attorney, told Newsweek that prosecutors will try to keep the adult film star's evidence as close to the indictment's wording as possible, but Trump's team will likely try to draw her into other areas of her life.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments to Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, Daniels not to discuss an alleged affair they had. Trump denies the affair.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney via email for comment on Friday.
Marton said that Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, "has said she is excited to testify, and we should expect the prosecution to call her."
He said the Manhattan district attorney's office is known as "by the book straight-shooters" and so their questioning of Daniels will likely "follow the contours of their indictment and statement of facts."
"We shouldn't expect any salacious bombshells or any more than necessary to prove what happened between Trump and Daniels. The cross-examination from Trump's team could be more wild and unpredictable, though," he said.
Marton added that prosecutors' safe and steady approach was seen in the testimony of National Enquirer publisher David Pecker when the DA's office asked questions that were close to the wording of the indictment.
"Nearly everyone has seen The National Enquirer on their supermarket stand, and David Pecker's testimony today was a startling look behind the curtain about how that publication has bought and suppressed numerous stories over the past few decades," he said.
"The prosecution got exactly what they wanted from Pecker in their direct examination, a confirmation of their allegations that Pecker and Trump had an arrangement to "catch and kill" three negative stories about Trump before the 2016 election."
"On cross-examination, the Trump team got Pecker to admit that this "catch and kill" practice was very common when dealing with celebrities, like Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They also got Pecker to share that he learned the phrase 'catch and kill' from the prosecution," he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
