Trump trial turns to sex, bank accounts and power: Highlights from the third week of testimony

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

71% : WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESEJurors got a glimpse at the high-rolling social life Trump enjoyed before becoming president, full of celebrity wattage and bold-faced names.
59% : Daniels’ testimony about her time with Trump was by far the most awaited moment of the trial, which now enters its fourth week of witnesses as prosecutors come close to wrapping up their historic case.
54% : Their contact details were redacted, but the information nonetheless offered a window into the celebrity universe inhabited by Trump.
51% : They elicited testimony that most of the checks used to reimburse Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer and fixer, for the payments to Daniels were drawn from Trump’s personal account — which went by his initials, “DJT.”Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, said that once Trump became president, checks written from his personal account had to first be delivered, via FedEx, “to the White House for him to sign.
48% : When the sex was over, she added, “It was really hard to get my shoes on; my hands were shaking so hard.”
42% : Apart from that exchange, Trump drew a separate $1,000 fine for comments about the case made during an interview last month and was warned in the most direct manner yet about the possibility of jail time for further violations of Merchan’s gag order.
41% : A look at what happened over the last week:THE (IM)BALANCE OF POWERThe jury heard for seven-and-a-half hours from Daniels, who testified in vivid detail about a 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with Trump, which he has denied.
40% : The judge also rejected a separate request to permit Trump to respond publicly to Daniels’ testimony in spite of a gag order barring him from incendiary out-of-court comments about witnesses.‘PHONY STORIES ABOUT SEX’Given the salacious nature of Daniels’ testimony, and the volume of objections from defense lawyers as she spoke, it was hardly surprising that she faced a combative cross-examination in what was easily the most heated back-and-forth of the trial so far.
40% : Still, she and another witness, Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization controller, acknowledged not getting direct instructions from Trump himself about the ins-and-outs of the payments.
38% : Just like what happened to me in that room.”The lawyer also implied that Daniels’ experience in the porn industry made it unlikely that she would have been rattled or frightened by the sight of Trump on the bed.“You’ve acted and had sex in over 200 porn movies, right.
37% : Prosecutors worked to tie Trump directly to the hush money payments to Daniels.
34% : Though she’s shared details before, one striking aspect of her testimony centered on her perception of an “imbalance of power” in the Lake Tahoe hotel suite where Daniels said she and Trump had sex.
32% : With a bodyguard positioned outside the suite, she described Trump as “bigger and blocking the way.”
30% : Manhattan jurors saw documentary evidence meant to directly tie Trump to the hush money payments that were sent to Daniels in what prosecutors say was an effort to buy her silence in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
28% : Her statements — she said she felt “lightheaded” and “blacked out” while with Trump — amounted to a “dog whistle” for rape, Trump attorney Todd Blanche said.
25% : Tarasoff, for instance, conceded that she did not interact much with Trump over the years and had no reason to believe that he was hiding anything or that there was anything improper about the checks.
19% : At one point, Merchan summoned defense lawyers for a quiet discussion at the bench, where he told them he had observed Trump reacting in improper ways during Daniels’ testimony.

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