Daniels Says She Hates Trump, Wants Him 'Held Responsible'

Before Donald Trump's hush-money trial adjourned for the day on Tuesday, there were some tense exchanges between Stormy Daniels and Trump lawyer Susan Necheles. The New York Times reports that Daniels was "almost yelling" as she denied Necheles' accusations that she had lied and attempted to extort money from Trump. The cross-examination followed the adult film star's description of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, which led Trump lawyers to unsuccessfully push for a mistrial. More:

• At the start of the cross-examination, Necheles asked, "Am I correct that you hate President Trump?" After Daniels responded, "Yes," Necheles asked if she wanted Trump to go to jail, ABC News reports. "I want him to be held responsible," Daniels replied.

• Daniels said she was in good shape financially in 2016, when she authorized her manager to try to sell her story of her encounter with Trump, the AP reports. "My motivation wasn't money," she said. "It was to get the story out." Necheles noted that Daniels has refused to pay Trump more than $500,000 in legal fees she owes him from a failed defamation suit. The lawyer read out a Daniels tweet from 2022, saying, "I don't owe him s--- and I'll never give that orange turd a dime." Daniels said the insult was "in retaliation for what he said about me." Trump has referred to Daniels as "Horseface" and "Sleazebag."
• "You've been making money by claiming you had sex with Donald Trump for more than a decade, correct?" Necheles asked Daniels, per the Washington Post. Daniels agreed, but added that the story "has also cost me a lot of money."

• ABC News reports that in a transcript of a sidebar conversation released at the end of the day, Judge Juan Merchan asked Trump attorney Todd Blanche to speak to his client. "I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous," the judge said. "It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that."
• Reuters reports that Trump didn't discuss the "often lurid details" of Daniels' testimony when he spoke to reporters, but he called it "a very big day, a very revealing day" and claimed the prosecution's case was "falling apart." Cross-examination of Daniels is expected to continue when the trial resumes on Thursday.

(More Trump hush-money trial stories.)