On May 9, a lawyer representing former President Donald Trump announced that former model Karen McDougal would not be appearing as a witness in the trial of the former president.
“The People informed me they no longer intend to call Ms. McDougal,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche stated.
He didn’t offer an explanation.
Ms. McDougal had alleged that she engaged in an affair with President Trump between 2006 and 2007, which he has denied. Prosecutors allege that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Ms. McDougal not to speak publicly about the alleged relationship and that his campaign falsified business records.
A former lawyer of Ms. McDougal, Keith Davidson, testified earlier in the trial that “Ms. McDougal alleged she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump some years prior.”
Earlier on May 9, Mr. Blanche informed Judge Juan Merchan that the defense intends to address concerns regarding recent testimony and plans to file a motion for a mistrial following witness Stephanie Clifford’s testimony. Additionally, they requested that the judge permit President Trump to publicly address the allegations made by Ms. Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, during her testimonies on May 7 and May 9. Ms. Clifford has claimed to have had an affair with the former president.
“We ask that President Trump be allowed to respond publicly to what happened in court the past day and a half,” Mr. Blanche said during the May 9 hearing. “The press [has been] reporting over the past 24 hours about the current version of the story that we believe is completely false. It is significant.”
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued against modifying the gag order to permit comments about Ms. Clifford, asserting that such remarks could intimidate other witnesses. He cited a conversation he had on the night of May 8 with a witness tasked with authenticating records, who expressed concerns about testifying.
However, Judge Merchan denied the attempt to modify the gag order to allow him to respond to her claims.
Earlier this week, Trump’s attorneys sought to have the judge declare a mistrial due to certain aspects of Ms. Clifford’s testimony regarding an alleged affair, which President Trump had previously denied. However, the judge dismissed the motion, stating that defense attorneys should have raised objections sooner.
“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Judge Merchan said on May 7 when he denied the motion.
Earlier on May 9, Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles suggested that Ms. Clifford, who worked as a pornographic performer, was trying to cash in because of her notoriety. The attorney attempted to get Ms. Clifford to say that her allegations about an encounter with the former president were made up; she asked her about details she had previously given in other interviews.
“Your story has completely changed, hasn’t it?” Ms. Necheles asked at one point.
Ms. Clifford replied, “No, not at all. You’re trying to make me say it’s changed, but it hasn’t.”
The former president has denied Ms. Clifford’s claims and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Ms. Necheles also implied that Ms. Clifford has been targeting President Trump following a court ruling that required her to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees after losing a defamation lawsuit against the former president.
Prosecutors say the payments to Ms. Clifford were falsified and are tantamount to election interference during his 2016 campaign. Lawyers for the former president, who has pleaded not guilty, say they were standard payments and that nothing illegal was done.
On May 8, President Trump wrote on social media that he could not respond to the “lies and false statements” during the trial because of the gag order. He and his attorneys have argued that the order violates his constitutionally protected speech.
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