A New York judge on Thursday declined a second request from former President Donald Trump’s attorneys seeking a mistrial after jurors heard hours of testimony from adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan said that he disagrees with Trump’s legal team after they had claimed that Stormy Daniel provided a new account in her testimony during the trial this week, according to CNN.
“I disagree with your narrative that there’s any new account here,” Merchan said, according to The New York Times.
“The more specificity Ms. Daniels can provide about the encounter, the more the jury can weigh whether the encounter did occur and if so whether they choose to credit Ms. Daniels’ story,” Merchan said, according to The Associated Press.
That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her and to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied,” he said, according to the Times.
[ Trump hush money trial: Judge denies mistrial request; Stormy Daniels testifies ]
The first request was denied on Tuesday based on Daniel’s testimony, according to the Times. “I don’t think we’re at the point where a mistrial is warranted,” he said.
Authorities said that days before voters hit the polls for the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — to keep quiet about allegations that she had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied that the encounter took place.
Daniels testified that she and Trump had sex in 2006 after meeting at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada and that Cohen and Trump later offered her $130,000 to keep quiet about the tryst.