Trump team defeated in narrowing gag order, seeking mistrial over Stormy Daniels

Trump made his usual remarks upon leaving the courtroom once the trial proceedings ended for the day.

He spoke to reporters briefly, relaying that he believed the judge overseeing the case was “corrupt” and that the trial was a “disgrace.”

The judge had just denied two major requests by Trump’s team, one to narrow a gag order in order to respond to Stormy Daniels’s testimony and another to declare a mistrial over revelations she made on the stand.

The trial will resume Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Court proceedings ended around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Just before the mistrial decision was made, Merchan also denied a request by Trump’s lawyer to narrow a gag order request in order for Trump to respond to Stormy Daniels’s testimony.

A gag order imposed on Trump in this case requires him to not speak about people involved in the case, including witnesses. Stormy Daniels had completed her testimony earlier Thursday.

Read more about the gag order refusal here.

Judge Juan Merchan has denied Trump’s second motion for a mistrial over porn actor Stormy Daniels’s salacious testimony this week.

“I disagree with your narrative that there’s any new account,” Merchan told the defense.

The court then adjourned for the day.

— Zach Schonfeld

Though Judge Juan Merchan sympathized with concerns that Stormy Daniels’s testimony went into too much detail, he questioned why Trump attorney Susan Necheles didn’t object to testimony that Trump didn’t use a condom during the alleged sexual encounter.

“I agree, that shouldn’t have come out. I wish those questions hadn’t been asked, and I wish those answers hadn’t been given,” Merchan said.

“But for the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object,” the judge continued. “Why on earth she wouldn’t object to a mention of a condom, I don’t understand.”

— Zach Schonfeld

The arguments are going longer than those held for Trump’s earlier mistrial motion.

Judge Juan Merchan had warned prosecutors during Stormy Daniels’s testimony to move along and not go into so much salacious detail.

“We tried very hard to respond to your honor to pull back testimony despite the fact that details of the sexual act would corroborate her story,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

But Steinglass insisted that the details that were shared were relevant and speak to Trump’s motive to keep the porn actor’s allegations quiet during the 2016 campaign.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass took issue with Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s argument that Stormy Daniels has been changing her story.

“That was a lot Mr. Blanche just said, must of which was just untrue, that this is a new account. This is not a new account,” Steinglass said.

As Steinglass is making his arguments, Trump wrote a note and passed it to Blanche, who nodded his head before passing it back.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump’s lawyers are making a second motion for a mistrial, citing porn star Stormy Daniels’s risque testimony that concluded earlier in the day.

The development follows a similar motion made yesterday before her questioning, which Judge Juan Merchan swiftly denied from the bench.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutor Chris Conroy is pushing back against Trump team’s request, calling the gag order effective and saying they are living in an “alternate reality.”

“There’s not another side out there, there is a proceeding that this order is designed to protect,” Conroy said.

— Zach Schonfeld

In their next motion, Trump attorney Todd Blanche is urging the hush money judge to narrow Trump’s gag order so he can speak publicly about Stormy Daniels’s testimony this week.

Trump’s gag order limits his attacks against witnesses, among others, forcing the former president to stop pummeling Daniels on social media or risk jail time.

Blanche said Daniels has changed her version of events, and Trump must be allowed to respond to the press coverage of her claims to the jury.

“He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people, and the reason for the gag order are over. She is no longer a witness,” Blanche said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump’s attorneys were planning to ask the judge, again, to block ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal from testifying in the trial.

But prosecutors are now saying they don’t intend to call her to the stand, Trump attorney Todd Blanche just indicated in the courtroom.

McDougal was paid $150,000 ahead of the 2016 election to remain quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump a decade earlier. Though Trump is not directly charged over that payment, prosecutors say it underpins a broader conspiracy meant to clear his path to the White House.

— Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee

Before breaking for the day, Trump’s lawyers are expected to hand up to the judge three applications. They briefly previewed them earlier today:

1. A second motion for a mistrial
2. A renewed attempt to block the possibility of ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal from testifying
3. A motion related to Trump’s gag order

— Zach Schonfeld

Westerhout’s cross-examination has ended for the day. She is expected to retake the stand tomorrow.

Jurors were then dismissed at 4 p.m., a half hour early today so that Trump’s defense team could present three new applications.

Asked about working with Trump, Westerhout said that the former president was a “really good boss” whom she found “enjoyable” to work for.

“I don’t think anyone should feel they deserve to be in the West Wing, but he never made me feel like I didn’t belong there,” she said.

Westerhout also confirmed that Trump had a “close relationship” with his children and a “loving” relationship with his wife, Melania.

She recalled that the former president would sometimes summon Melania to a window in the White House residence that had a view of the Oval Office, so that he could wave to her and say hello.

Westerhout also said he would call her before boarding Air Force One, which the aide found “funny” because “of course” Trump’s wife knew his schedule.

Westerhout’s testimony, which has offered humanizing details of the former president, could help Trump’s case.

— Ella Lee

Westerhout testified that Trump was “very upset” when news broke of his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.

Questioned about Trump’s wife, Melania, Westerhout said she “really respected” their relationship, calling it “special.” The Trump aide recalled that they “laughed a lot” when Melania visited him in the office.

“No one else put him in his place,” she said. “He was my boss, but she was definitely the one in charge.”

She also said that nothing about Trump and his wife’s relationship changed after the Daniels story became public, to her knowledge.

Minutes later, she broke into tears remembering how she lost her job at the White House after sharing details she “should not have said.” She later wrote a book about the mistake and to share about “the man I got to know.”

“I don’t think he’s treated fairly and wanted to tell his story,” she said.

Prosecutors concluded their direct examination, and cross examination by Trump attorney Susan Necheles began with a clarification that Trump ultimately forgave her.

— Ella Lee

Westerhout testified that when she received checks to give to Trump, they were unsigned.

“Did Trump sign each by hand?” asked Mangold, the prosecutor.

“To my knowledge,” she said. “I can’t speak to the ones I didn’t see him sign.”

She also confirmed that Manochio and Schiller were involved in sending and receiving checks, bolstering previous testimony.

— Ella Lee

When Westerhout took the stand, prosecutor Becky Mangold asked her if she was nervous.

“I am now,” she joked.

Throughout her testimony, she has appeared unnerved to testify in her former bosses’ criminal trial, though it has not impaired her ability to answer questions from the prosecutor. Her eyes have repeatedly darted over to where Trump is sitting at the defense table.

Trump is not watching Westerhout as intently as he has eyed other witnesses, though he has made several whispered remarks to his attorneys.

— Ella Lee

Westerhout described working as an assistant to Trump during the first year in the White House, saying she worked to “learn his preferences.”

She said Trump liked hard copies of documents and that he liked to work in a room adjacent to the Oval Office to read documents and notes.

She said in her experience, Trump paid attention to details.

“My understanding is he was attentive to things that were brought to his attention,” she said.

She said he preferred to sign things himself, adding that he used sharpies a lot of the time. She also said she could recognize his signature.

— Lauren Sforza

Westerhout said she worked for leadership of the Republican National Committee when the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape was reported on before the 2016 election. The tape included comments from Trump bragging about kissing and groping women, among other disparaging comments.

“At the time, I recall it rattling RNC leadership,” she said when Mangold asked what “impact’ the tape had.

She said there were conversations “about how it would be possible to replace him as the candidate if it came to that,” noting that Trump ultimately became the candidate.

— Lauren Sforza

Next, prosecutors have called to the stand Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s personal assistant in the White House and later his director of Oval Office operations.

Her role gave her close access to the then-president when he allegedly met with Michael Cohen about the hush money deal and signed repayment checks to him that now partially make up his charges.

She oversaw the president’s schedule and had intimate knowledge of who interacted with Trump.

Westerhout resigned from the White House in 2019 after reportedly telling reporters during an off-the-record dinner details about Trump’s family. She later published a memoir about her time in the White House that cast Trump in a positive light.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutors called to the stand Tracey Menzies, the senior vice president of creative operations and production at HarperCollins.

The company published “Think Big,” a book by Trump and businessman Bill Zanker first published in 2007.

Menzies took the stand for only a matter of minutes to authenticate portions of the book so they could be entered into evidence.

On cross examination, Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked whether it was fair to say that Zanker and Trump may have had help writing the words that were published in “Think Big.”

The witness said she wouldn’t know about that, but said it could happen.

— Lauren Sforza and Zach Schonfeld

Necheles concluded Manochio’s cross-examination after briefly asking her questions about the differences between sending personal checks and business checks. She testified that business expense checks were sent to Allen Weisselberg or Donald Trump Jr. to be signed.

She testified that Trump did not speak to Weisselberg once he took office.

Now, prosecutors have called Tracey Menzies, who works at HarperCollins Publishers, to the stand.

— Lauren Sforza

Court has resumed after its daily lunch break.

Trump is back in the courtroom. He did not answer shouted questions by reporters in the hallway before entering, including why Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was in attendance today and not his wife, Melania.

Stormy Daniels’s current attorney, Clark Brewster, heaped praise on the porn actor after she was excused from the stand, posting a photo with her on social media.

“Stormy Daniels was on the stand in NY v Trump criminal trial for a day and a half, ending at 12:30p today. Couldn’t be prouder of my client,” Brewster wrote on the social platform X.

Rebecca Manochio testified that, when Trump was president, his checks were mailed to the home address of his personal bodyguard, Keith Schiller.

She said she was not told why the checks were mailed there, but that she was likely directed to do so by Allen Weisselberg or Rhona Graff, another Trump Organization employee.

Schiller also returned the checks in the mail to the Trump Organization.

Manochio’s testimony was backed up by several FedEx invoices prosecutors showed the jury. The Trump Organization employee, who was an administrative assistant at the time, said the only items she mailed to Schiller were checks for Trump to sign.

After Schiller stopped working for Trump, the checks were mailed to John McEntee, she said. McEntee was Trump’s bag man at the time, and the checks were sent to his home address.

— Ella Lee

Rebecca Manochio, a Trump Organization employee who worked for Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg shortly after Trump became president, testified it was her job to send checks to the White House for Trump to sign.

She said that when she sent the checks to the White House they were unsigned, and when they returned, the then-president had signed them.

She is testifying as a custodian of records for the Trump Organization.

— Ella Lee

The next witness on the stand is Rebecca Manochio, who works on the Trump Organization’s accounting team.

Manochio was an executive assistant who has since been promoted to the accounts receivable department, according to previous witnesses’ testimony.

She was also allegedly involved in shipping checks to the White House for Trump to sign that were used to repay Michael Cohen, who made the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Those checks correspond to some of Trump’s 34 charges.

— Zach Schonfeld

Daniels concluded her testimony Thursday afternoon after a tense cross-examination in the morning. 

Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper at the Trump Organization, is the prosecutors’ next witness.

— Lauren Sforza

Susan Hoffinger presented a Truth Social post by Trump claiming that he would go after his opponents, which Daniels said she believed was about her.

“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU,” the Aug. 4, 2023, Truth Social post reads.

Daniels testified she “wasn’t sure” the post was about her but “thought it was.”

The prosecutor also asked Daniels about the veracity of her testimony.

“Have you been telling lies about Mr. Trump or the truth about Mr. Trump?” Hoffinger asked.

“The truth,” Daniels replied.

The state concluded its redirect examination.

— Ella Lee

Susan Hoffinger, an attorney with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, is attempting to show jurors omissions Susan Necheles made while cross-examining Daniels.

She pointed to a series of texts between Daniels’s then-manager and a top editor at the National Enquirer, flagging that the Trump attorney did not show some messages in the exchange. She also noted that an article discussed on cross-examination was “lightly edited.”

— Ella Lee