The porn star Stormy Daniels appeared as a witness against Donald Trump in his hush money trial, and testified to raunchy details. Her appearance wasn’t necessary but certainly was informative.
Rationally speaking, prosecutors didn’t need Stormy Daniels to appear in the historic criminal trial. The core of the indictment against Trump involves the falsification of business documents in connection with violations of New York’s tax and campaign laws. Neither the porn star’s alleged one-night stand with the reality TV star in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe golf resort nor the hush money payment 10 years later were in themselves criminal offenses.
The fact that Trump may have cheated on his wife Melania Trump, who had just given birth to their son Barron, may be shameful, immoral and embarrassing, but it was a private matter. Trump certainly wasn’t interested in this news getting out, but he wasn’t worried about the alleged affair for 10 years. It wasn’t until the high point of the 2016 election campaign when the presidential candidate became worried that there was a risk of the public catching wind of it and so he bought Daniel’s silence.
Daniels’ tempestuous court appearance helps us understand why Trump wanted to suppress the salacious details. Her testimony presented the scandalous setting against which the defendant is alleged to have concealed and falsely declared the payments. The prosecutors accounted for the fact that some jurors might find some of the porn star’s descriptions distasteful. They were introduced to the world where the accused operates. It is a place in which Trump finds himself in good company with all kinds of questionable characters.
None of Daniels’ sordid stories are central to the jury’s decision. But her testimony contributed much to the process because she clearly exposed the man who claims to not know her as a liar.
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