Trump trial live updates: Stormy Daniels to return to the witness stand

Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on May 9, 2024

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

Here’s how the news is developing:

May 09, 9:28 AM
Trump enters courtroom

Former President Donald Trump has entered the courtroom.

As he made his way down the isle to his seat at the defense table, a man seated on the right side of the court room stood up — something that is not allowed — and gave Trump a thumbs-up as he passed.

May 09, 9:20 AM
Prosecutors arrive in courtroom

Prosecutors have entered the courtroom.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was not with them when they came in.

May 09, 9:15 AM
Five members of public are in court after waiting overnight

Members of the public lined up as early as 12:30 a.m. to get a spot in the courtroom to see Stormy Daniels’ testimony this morning.

Two friends who live in Brooklyn, who identified themselves as Shmuel and Levi, said their first attempt to watch the trial from the courtroom on Tuesday failed. They said they arrived at 3:30 a.m. but could only secure a spot in the overflow room, so they changed their approach this morning.

“We went back home last night … and decided to come at like 12:30 a.m.,” Shmuel told ABC News. “We figured that it would be safe.”

Both said they stayed awake while waiting overnight and appreciated the weather cooperating.

“It was really a beautiful night,” Levi said.

A total of five members of the public made it into the courtroom this morning.

May 09, 8:18 AM
Stormy Daniels arrives at courthouse

Stormy Daniels has arrived at the lower Manhattan courthouse ahead of her second day of testimony.

Proceedings are scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET.

May 09, 7:54 AM
Judge said defense’s concerns can be address on cross

On Stormy Daniels’ first day on the stand on Tuesday, her graphic testimony about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump — which Trump denies took place — prompted attorneys for the defense to seek a mistrial.

Daniels told the jury about noticing an “imbalance of power” with Trump, how she was “blacking out” and found herself nearly naked on the bed of Trump’s hotel suite, and how the two engaged in unprotected sex.

Defense attorneys for Trump argued that the testimony did enough damage to merit tossing the trial entirely on the grounds that it was prejudicial in the eyes of the jury.

Judge Juan Merchan denied the bid, saying the defense will have its say during their cross-examination — which began Tuesday and is scheduled to continue today.

May 09, 7:33 AM
Stormy Daniels to return to the witness stand

Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress whose allegations of a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump prompted the hush money payment that lies at the center of the Manhattan DA’s criminal case against Trump, is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning.

On Daniels’ first day on the stand on Tuesday, she testified that first met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, and that he invited her to his hotel suite. Daniels told the jury that when she came out of the bathroom, she found Trump on the bed dressed in only his underwear and a T-shirt.

“The next thing I know, I was on the bed,” said Daniels, who then described how they had sex. Trump has denied that the two ever had a sexual encounter.

Daniels told jurors that she became afraid to go public with her story of the encounter after she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot in June 2011. She said that the 2016 offer from then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to buy her silence for $130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election allowed her to keep the allegations private while profiting from the deal.

“They were interested in paying for the story, which was the best thing that could happen because then my husband wouldn’t find out, but there was still documentation of a money exchange and a paperwork exchange, so that I would be safe and the story wouldn’t come out,” Daniels said.