But first, the dramatic moments inside a New York City
courtroom today.
Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the center of
the case,
taking the stand in former President Trump's criminal trial,
testifying for nearly four hours,
the former president sitting in his chair as Daniels entered
the courtroom the first time they had seen each other
in a decade.
Daniels describing in graphic detail meeting Trump at a golf
tournament in
2006 and the evening they allegedly spent together.
Trump's lawyers trying to intervene several times.
Daniels also describing the payment she took for her silence
and what the judge said when Trump's team called for
a mistrial right in the middle of testimony.
Stormy Daniels, as you can see right there,
was quickly LED from the courthouse.
Afterwards, she returns to the stand on Thursday.
There were times in that courtroom today when the level
of detail was quite graphic.
We will not be going that far right here tonight.
Here's our senior investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky leading us off
at the courthouse
tonight. Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels,
face to face, for the first time in more than
a decade,
an explosive day of salacious testimony in this historic trial.
Up to the last minute,
Trump's lawyers tried to block the porn star from testifying
at all.
But prosecutors argued the details of the encounter are important,
and Judge Juan Marshawn agreed.
So, with the former president staring straight ahead and the
jury watching intently,
Daniels described an explicit detail her alleged fling with Trump,
something he says never happened.
She told the jury they met at a golf tournament
back in
2006, and she was invited to have dinner with Trump
in his hotel suite.
When she arrived, she said Trump was in silk or
satin pajamas.
I told him to go change,
she said. And so he obliged,
very politely, she said. They talked for two hours.
He told her she reminded him of his daughter Ivanka,
and revealed he and Melania Trump slept in separate bedrooms.
Daniel said at one point.
She told him to stop interrupting,
saying are you always this rude?
Are you always this arrogant and pompous?
At one point she said she went to the bathroom,
and when she came out,
she testified Trump was on the bed in his boxer
shorts and T-shirt.
Daniel said she was startled,
wondering to herself, Oh my God,
what did I miss read.
She then testified in graphic detail about having sex with
Trump,
and as she did Trump,
nudging his lawyer, repeatedly urging her to intervene.
And she did, strongly objecting again and again,
even Judge Marshawn, at one point calling the level of
detail just unnecessary,
later adding there are some things that would have been
left unsaid.
Trump and his team infuriated demanding a mistrial,
his attorney declaring Daniel's testimony extraordinarily prejudicial.
But the judge saying, I don't think we are at
the point where a mistrial is an order.
On the witness stand, Daniel's also described the hush money
arrangement she entered into just weeks before the 2016 election,
selling her story for
$130,000 in a deal brokered by Trump's former fixer,
Michael Cohen.
She described the payoff as the best thing that could
have happened,
because then I'd be safe and the story wouldn't come
out.
The prosecutor asked Daniels why she didn't ask for more
money.
Because I didn't care about the money,
she replied. But on cross examination,
Trump's lawyer Susan Necklace tore into that claim.
You've been making money by claiming you had sex with
Donald Trump for more than a decade?
She asked Daniels. I have been making money by telling
my story,
Daniels responded, necklace pressed on.
And the essence of your story is you had sex
with President Trump,
and that story has made you a lot of money.
It has also cost me a lot of money,
said Daniels, the defense attorney.
Blunt, am I correct that you hate President Trump?
Yes, Daniels responded. And you want him to go to
jail.
I want him to be held accountable.
When the day was done,
Stormy Daniels was quickly taken from the courthouse,
Donald Trump coming out to address reporters.
So this was a very big day,
a very revealing day as you see their cases totally
falling apart.
Leaving court, Trump did not mention Stormy Daniels at all.
He is under a gag order that prevents him from
attacking witnesses.
The defense objected to her explicit testimony,
but the judge said it was no grounds for a
mistrial.
And prosecutors argued her graphic descriptions were relevant because they're
the very details they said that Trump wanted to hide
from voters in 2016.
And Trump still denies any of it ever happened.
David, Aaron Katersky leading us off here tonight.
Aaron, thank you.