Donald Trump’s bid for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ salacious testimony Tuesday was denied by the judge — who still noted the former adult film star was a “difficult” witness for prosecutors to control.
The former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche after the lunch break at trial asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to toss the case, claiming Daniels’ testimony about a tryst she allegedly had with Trump in 2006 was “prejudicial” to him.
While Merchan denied the motion, he acknowledged that “there are some things that would have been better left unsaid.”
“I believe that the witness was very difficult to control,” the judge added.
As the ruling came down, Trump, 77, wrote something on a legal pad and pushed the notebook on the defense table toward Blanche.
The attorney had argued that Daniels’ testimony that there was an “imbalance of power” between her and Trump could “inflame the jury” — and noted it didn’t have anything to do with the allegations of fudging business records his client faces.
Prosecutors spoke with Daniels — born Stephanie Clifford — outside the courtroom to ensure she stayed “focused” as she resumed her testimony Tuesday afternoon.
Jurors struggled to keep straight faces — with at least two of them smirking — when Daniels, 45, earlier Tuesday told the court about rolling up a magazine that had Trump’s face on the cover and spanking him with it.
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She also detailed how they had sex in his luxury hotel suite in the “missionary position” during a brief encounter in which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee wasn’t wearing a condom.
During the testimony, Trump’s lawyers repeatedly lodged objections, which Merchan at times granted, warning prosecutors that the “degree of detail” Daniels was going into was “unnecessary.”
