OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
As the nation awaits the verdict in former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in Manhattan, New York, a legal analyst is noting one moment from adult film star Stormy Daniels’ testimony that could have had a lasting impact on the jury.
Legal analyst Harry Litman, reporting from the Manhattan courtroom, noted that Daniels might have caused some confusion among the jury with her “wild” testimony.
After the prosecution questioned Daniels, Litman, a former U.S. attorney, spoke with MSNBC about his observations. He suggested that Daniels’ testimony, which he described as perhaps too “colorful,” might have elicited mixed reactions from the jury.
“There was a lot to see as far as the jury. We’re talking about a very, very colorful witness who detailed kinds of events and just efforts and ways of being that I think for the jury were fairly foreign. She spoke very quickly, nervously, she told a lot of jokes, but not all of them landed,” he said.
During her testimony, Judge Juan Merchan agreed with several objections from Trump’s defense team, which included overly detailed descriptions of their encounters, such as the clothing Trump wore and mentions of products like Old Spice.
The judge said at one point that Daniels was providing “unnecessary” details during her testimony, including a description of a sexual position she claimed she and Trump were in.
Litman noted that he had never seen Merchan as “irritated” as he was by the level of detail in the testimony. Previously, the judge had to warn Trump of possible jail time after he was found in criminal contempt for the tenth time for violating a gag order.
Litman characterized the testimony as “wild” and “hyper-colorful.” Daniels recounted a moment when she humorously asked Trump if Hugh Hefner was aware that he had taken his pajamas after Trump allegedly greeted her at a hotel suite door dressed in “silk or satin” pajamas. According to Daniels, Trump “politely” changed his attire at her request.
During Daniels’ testimony, Litman noted that the jury’s attention was primarily focused on her, not the former president.
He said Trump had a “general impassiveness” as the alleged details were being revealed. “My general feeling is, like, wow, this is a colorful, maybe hyper-colorful witness,” Litman added.
The jury in Trump’s criminal hush money trial is scheduled to begin deliberating the outcome of the case on Wednesday after lengthy closing arguments on Tuesday.
“Judge Juan Merchan will begin the proceedings at 10 a.m. ET when he instructs the jury about the law in the case — a vital process that Merchan estimates will take approximately an hour. Once the jury is charged, they can begin deliberating whether prosecutors met their burden by proving that Trump falsified 34 business records to further a criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election,” ABC News noted.
On Tuesday, the jury was presented with roughly eight hours of summaries during the lengthy final arguments given by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass and defense attorney Todd Blanche.
Blanche explained to the jury that the prosecution’s reliance on the testimony of Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer, whom he referred to as the “human embodiment of reasonable doubt,” contributed to their inability to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to Steinglass, Trump’s purported record-keeping fraud before the election amounted to a “subversion of democracy” since it concealed important information from voters.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Todd Blanche suggested to the jury why Stormy Daniels was called as a witness, given there was no dispute about a nondisclosure agreement being signed and that she knew nothing about the records in question.
“I’ll tell you why — they did it to try to inflame your emotions. They did it to try to embarrass President Trump” Blanche said.
