I relish the day i can face him and speak my truth. Stormy daniels take the stand telling the jury what happened with donald trump. The door to the hotel opens, and what is donald trump wearing . Silky pajamas. And how she was paid for her silence. What is illegal is the hush money. If i did not sign the nda, he would not be indicted. Tonight, the impact of her testimony on the case. We are talking a colorful witness. And what her testimony says about the defendant. This is a man who felt entitled to have his way with women. Lisa rubin and harry litman watched it happen and they join me tonight. One candidate in the courtroom and the other on the campaign trail, how are the polls this type . Jen psaki is here when all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. I am chris hayes. I think its fair to say today was the biggest of Donald TrumpsNew York Criminal Trial so far. This morning, the star witness for the prosecution took the stand. Stormy daniels, the woman at the center of the case, testified under oath today. Daniels is a former Adult Film Actors who prosecutors say any sexual encounter with donald trump in 2006 and was the recipient of the subsequent Hush Money Payment in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election to hide the fact from the american public. Theres no disputing the details are salacious. Some may find them uncomfortable to hear. The encounter between donald trump a Stormy Daniels is relevant as this man once again competes to be the president of the United States. The question of whether or not donald trump interfered in the 2016 election by engaging in Business Record fraud by shielding relevant information from voters from Hush Money Payments should be front of mind for voters as the rest to vote for him again which is one of the reasons why all eyes are and Stormy Daniels today in lower manhattan. With the expresident in the room, listening, brow furrowed, and it points according to the judge, Cursing Audibly about 10 feet away, dennis told the jury about her initial encounter with trump nearly two decades ago. Sheet described meeting that then reality tv hosted ice golf event when she was 27 years old and he was 60. After initially believing she was going to have a meal with trump, daniels arrived at his Penthouse Suite defend him wearing silk pajamas rather than dinner attire. She said she made him change his clothes than the two discussed her career in the adult film industry. Trump described his problems with his wife at the time at home taking care of their 4 monthold son. Daniels eventually grew tired of trumps questioning. She told the jury, quote, at this point, i pretty much had enough of his arrogance and cutting me off it still not getting my dinner. So i said, are you always this rude, arrogant, and pompous . She also said they did not eat dinner. Instead, she went to the bathroom to touch up her makeup and in a moment she described as a, quote, jump scare, return define the future president on the hotel bed and only his underwear. She said the two had a brief, unprotected sexual encounter after which trump told her quoting here again, oh, it was great. Lets get together again, honeybunch. In response and as such he left as quickly as she could. Daniels testified about the actual Hush Money Payment itself. She said interest in her story grew dramatically following the release, infamously, of that Access Hollywood t. A keep him little moment in the story, and she wanted her story to be made public ahead of the 2016 election. Ultimately, she said she sign the Nondisclosure Agreement with trump via Michael Cohen for 130,000 in order to put the ordeal behind her. She said, it was her understanding she was supposed to pretend they never met. She said the fear of violating that deal is why she initially signed onto a statement that denied the affair. Trumps lawyers attempted to use a testimony which at times was both granular and freewheeling as justification for a mistrial. They petitioned for one after she testified. Judge merchan deny the request and said shes a little difficult to control but ultimately concluded, quote, i do not believe were at the point where mistrial is warranted. Adding the defense itself didnt put up much of a fight for crossexamination, quote, im also surprised there were not more objections. Wallowing crossexamination during which trumps attorney tried to discredit daniels, court adjourned for the day. We are far from over. She will retake the stand thursday morning after the wednesday day off break, and i imagine there will be more to learn from the. Joining me at two people watched it all happen live at the courthouse. Lisa rubin a former Deputy Assistant attorney general harry litman. Its great to have you here. Lets start in the morning which is, we did not know that Stormy Daniels was going to take the stand today. We did not. I was standing in line when the Associated Press reported this morning that Stormy Daniels would be the witness. I have to tell you, i was surprised for a couple of reasons. I was surprised to had that gotten up before. I was surprised given where we were in the case, we heard perhaps the driest day of testimony in the trial so far yesterday. All about the false documents, or allegedly false Business Records, that constitute the heart of the crime that has been charged here. To then go from that and instead of moving forward with other witnesses who would testify about the false Business Records, to go backward in time, but also upward in interest to Stormy Daniels, was i think a little Surprise Narratively for me. We didnt know when the morning, but actually before the jury came in, the defense raised something about her testimony. We knew it was going to be she before the jury did. We could watch them there was a definite when it happened. You could zone in on the jury and their keen interest. This was a name they had been waiting to hear. And famous other person involved in this encounter. Youve got direct examination. Let me hear from each of you how you view whats important if youre setting up this under rick, what you need if youre the prosecution of this witness . Ill tell you what the prosecution said because it was largely what i anticipated. You need Stormy Daniels in the case because you need her to elaborate on what she wouldve told the public had she, and october 2016, not signed any agreement at all but instead come forward. You need the jury to believe that so they understand better what trumps motivation was for entering into the conspiracy in the first place and authorizing Michael Cohen to enter into the hush money settlement. You need to see her. Thats the other thing. Legally tangential but narratively at the heart. The jury is curious. She is the human figure that puts everything in motion. You need the jury would be dissatisfied if it doesnt hear her story. When i saw she was going to be on, one of the challenges for a witness like this, the way human beings work is when we tell the same story over again we dont tell it the same way every time. Its how people are. Its how memory functions. One of the things that happens another Litigation A Criminal Trounces when you have someone, they do the Deposition Man you dont want them talking a lot about it because then you said this and you said this. Youve got this person and she has talked about this quite a bit. We played her on jimmy kimmel. She wrote a book. What was your expectation of what kind of witness she would be . Lets start with the premise that the problem you identified as a problem for virtually every witness across this trial, something prosecutors talk to prospective jurors to. Peoples memory fluctuate and the events happened a long time ago. You will not blame people if there are minor inconsistencies because you will understand that human nature. They are prepared for that, but what makes Stormy Daniels or different than that is she has a story its rooted in a sexual trauma. Yes, she said today, trump never physically or verbally threaten here, but its clear in her retelling is its a problematic sexual encounter from her perspective. Like many sexual victims, the details that are most memorable and vivid are not the ones that are cognizable or important or relevant for a court of law. Confining her story to what the court thinks is important and what the defense will tolerate her testifying to his added challenge on top of those inconsistencies built from the fact these events happened, 2006 sexual encounter was 18 years ago. That is true as to the sexual act itself because judge merchan was worried it was president ial to trump. She speaks quickly. The da does not control her that much and judge merchan , he is peaked and actually at one point makes his own objection and sustains ethics a go too far. Thats the core narrative of the sex itself. More broadly, she tells a story, a sort of version of an american Success Story that is hardscrabble but exotic for lack of a better word. She humanizes herself to the jury which they will need. They know shes an Adult Film Actress and she tells something to really kind of try to dimensional eyes herself as a human being with hopes and careers and think she has done. And yet, does the jury next to it because theres the sensational kind of exotic aspect to it . I think what you said was relevant to in terms of the question of motivation. I was following along and people noted and i think it comes up in cross. It has a darker cast. Her telling is less sort of buffoonish, kind of and more this is gross. She is clear. It was not Sexual Assault but legal consent in a sense. But her experience, shes in a Power Position and she kind of got badgered into it. Theres an imbalance of power and she testified of looking at the ceiling at one point and thinking to herself, how did i misread the situation . How did i get to hear . I have to tell you, for me, where that called me back to his may 2023 sitting in a federal courthouse, not that far away, thinking about e. Jean carroll who was a victim of a Sexual Assault thinking after bantering with drum, they get she was going to have a Cocktail Party store and that lingerie floor, walking out after the assault, shaking thinking what did i i screwed up . What did i do to let it go here . It was murky and she was disassociated in the key event. This is my light malt light bulb moment from afar is putting them together which is to say its the access Hollywood Tape is the biggest crisis that Trump Campaign had to face. Accusations On The Record by women who said he sexually assaulted me. He groped me. This story and the way she told it today it seems much more of a possible deathblow then the version i think had been may be communicated before or how i understand it. It was like, Buffoonish Hijinks and less predatory. The reason that matter to me is because the motive here which is this is about the campaign. To put a finer point on it, when youre talking about the campaign on a day by day basis, Stormy Daniels signs the first iteration of the Nondisclosure Agreement thats not paid for by the trump people on the same day the New York Times reports that these other women are coming out of the woodwork to say they have been sexually assaulted by trump. Its happening in day by day starting with october 7 the Washington Post reporting the access Hollywood Tape in november 10 the New York Times reports these other women and Stormy Daniels signs of firsttime. But she does not sign the real agreement, the one that gets funded until october 20. The Trump Campaign is Fighting Valiantly to get out from under the access Hollywood Tape and the weight of it including all of these prominent republicans who dont want to associate themselves with him anymore. Had she told this story this would have been devastating. What hope hicks called a crisis wouldve been catastrophe. Until then, what if we had is maneuvering hush money. This was trump the grotesque. Trump, the foul monstrous figure that is what they were scared of in october of 2016. In the mud for the mistrial. I want to talk about that in trumps reaction because theres wild stuff from the judge which i will read in a moment. Theres more if you can stick around from this significant day including the warning from the judge that donald trump could be posting himself into jail. That might be a first in history, but its possible. Bu norman, bad news. I never graduated from med school. What . But the good news is. Xfinity mobile just got even better now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. Plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. I gotta get this deal. Thats like 20 a month per unlimited line. I dont want to miss that. Thats amazing doc. Mobile savings are calling. Visit xfinitymobile. Com to learn more. Doc . Since the start of the trial, donald trump violated his gag order 10 times. Just this week, he was find another 1000 for doing a Phone Interview where he said the jury was picked from a pool of 95 democrats. The judge gave him a stern warning sing, quote, it appears the 1000 fines are not serving as a deterrent which, obviously. The last thing i want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States. Possibly the next president as well. He warned trump his continued willful violations of this courts orders threaten the administration of justice. Constitute a attack on the rule of law and i cannot allow that to continue. It appears the judge was right. Its not serving as a deterrent because trump posted this, quote, i have been just recently told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare and no judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way. The post was quickly deleted from his account. Back at the table, lisa rubin and harry litman. That post, again, on the line. Not a direct violation but its about a witness which gets into territory. I want to read this part do i have this . Here it is. This is the sidebar between judge merchan and todd blanche at some point. You guys dont hear this . We are getting this later. I understand your client is upset, judge merchan, but he is cursing [ laughter ] audibly and he is shaking his head visually and thats contemptuous. The potential to intimidate the witness and jury can see that. I will talk to him. Im speaking at the bench because i do not want to embarrass him. Mr. Blanche, i will talk to him. I wont tolerate that. Mr. Blanche, i will talk to him. Thats pretty wild behavior. I have seen this movie before. Its my fourth trump trial in 12 months and have seen it before. Aside at the e. Jean carroll trial and the trial. I guess it went better for him for not having been there not just because he did not testify because he does stuff like this. At the second e. G. Carroll trial he banged his hand on the table and looked at the jury and said a did not happen. Absolutely you cant do that. The judge called it what it is. Contemptuous. It literally is. He has said before that he would not define a violation of the gag order, on his own without emotion. What the client does in court is not extrajudicial as he pointed out the other day. I think he is dead serious when he talks to todd blanche which is why you hear this, i will talk to him. I will talk to him. I do not think we saw that for the remainder of the day. Trump is dancing on the head of a pin. The problem is the das office knows that. They know judge merchan is prepared to send trump to jail for as little or as much time up to 30 days as possible. If they come forward with another alleged violation, they know it has to be a serious one that is worthy of the punishment that judge merchan has stated. He is willing to impose. He deleted it after half an hour. He is nervous. We said that. There is something happening. Let me ask the Mistrial Question that i want your sense of the day of Stormy Daniels and how she did. Quickly on the mistrial motion. He says as a threshold matter, i agree, things there were things that wouldve been better left unsaid. You said he was pointed on the. The witness was difficult to control but ultimately im not going to give a mistrial. Is that what you would anticipate . At most. It wasnt something that could prejudicial the entire proceedings. He had laid down these guardrails, and that was where they kept cash and the questioning, it was really stormy herself who really did go outside the answers quite a bit. I dont think he was flirting with a mistrial, and he told the da to take her back and cautioned her. Shorten her answers and she did. I was thinking of our frequent guest whose in the court for 25 years, people like theres lot of line crossing. Its like in the playoffs of the nba, you will push until you get the whistle. I want to get your sense, the cross seem to me not that effective as i read it but i was not in the room. Did you t