Trump's Lawyer Just Said Stormy Daniels Made Up Sex Story. Her Response: 'I Would've Written It a Lot Better'
Daniels held her ground on the witness stand in Trump's criminal trial — and elicited laughter — as the former president's attorney belittled her sex work career and aimed to find holes in her story
Elizabeth Williams via AP
A courtroom sketch from May 7, 2024, of Donald Trump attorney Susan Necheles cross-examining witness Stormy DanielsStormy Daniels held firm in her account of an alleged affair with Donald Trump as the former president's defense attorney cross-examined her on the witness stand.
The prosecution in Trump's Manhattan criminal trial called Daniels, 45, to testify this week about a sexual encounter she claims happened in 2006 with the former reality television star (an encounter Trump has repeatedly denied).
Throughout hours of cross-examination by the defense on Thursday, May 9 — during which courtroom reporters say Trump seemingly dozed off again — defense attorney Susan Necheles grilled Daniels about the details of her story and attempted to tarnish her credibility in front of the jury by bringing up her previous work as a medium and as an adult film actress and producer.
"You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real," Necheles said at one point, to which Daniels — briefly taken aback, according to a New York Times reporter — responded, "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."
Related: Stormy Daniels Testifies That Donald Trump Did Not Wear a Condom When They Had Sex
Nordin Catic/Getty
Stormy Daniels speaks at The Cambridge Union on June 12, 2022During the questioning Daniels was quick-thinking and at times defiant, challenging Necheles' mischaracterizations and highlighting that some of the defense's criticisms of her apply to Trump as well.
Necheles tried picking Daniels apart for calling Trump "orange turd," even as her client — who is known for spewing insults — nicknamed Daniels "horseface." When the defense accused Daniels of making money off her allegations and turning to online commerce, she said, "Not unlike Mr. Trump."
In one of the more memorable exchanges that came after the defense relentlessly belittled Daniels' "porn star" career, Necheles implied that the witness fabricated the entire story (despite at least some evidence that the two knew each other, like Daniels having Trump's bodyguard and assistant's cell numbers saved in her phone).
Daniels drew laughter from the courtroom with her rebuttal, according to the Times, saying that if she made the story up, "I would have written it to be a lot better."
WIN MCNAMEE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump, accompanied by attorney Susan Necheles, prepares for the first day of Stormy Daniels' testimony in his Manhattan criminal trial on Tuesday, May 7Later in the cross-examination, Daniels reportedly grew frustrated by the accusations. "You’re trying to make me say [my story has] changed, but it hasn’t changed," she shot back at the attorney.
Necheles eventually stopped mincing words: "You made all this up, right?" she asked. Daniels replied, "No."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
Trump is being tried on 34 felony counts of falsified business records over how payments related to Daniels' hush money agreement were documented.
Though the charges are white-collar in nature, it's an election interference case at its core, as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office makes a broader argument that the real estate mogul swayed the 2016 presidential election in his favor by unlawfully suppressing information from the voting public.
If convicted on any of the counts, Trump faces up to four years in prison.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
