New York: Donald Trump’s historic criminal case reopened on Tuesday with testimony that a former bank executive paid large sums of money to porn star Stormi Daniels.
Trump is the first former president of the United States to face criminal charges, and his appearance in court limits the 77-year-old’s time on the campaign trail to seven months before the election against President Joe Biden.
The Republican accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for $130,000 Daniels gave him the day before the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.
Daniels, 45, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, threatened to release a story about her having sex with Trump in 2006, which could have hurt her White House campaign at the time.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels and, speaking in a Manhattan courtroom, railed against the accusations, saying it was a “witch hunt” by Democrats to derail the former president’s bid to retake the White House in November.
Gary Farro, a former chief executive of First Republican Bank, where he now works, was on the witness stand Friday when the trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
Trump’s “fixer” Cohen opened an account with First Republic under the name of a company called Essential Consultants to manage Daniels’ payments.
Cohen, who has been a vocal critic of Trump, and Daniels are expected to be star prosecution witnesses in the trial.
Trump has said he wants to testify, but it’s unclear if his lawyers will actually take the witness stand.
Chief Justice Juan Mercant will hold a hearing Thursday on whether Trump violated an executive order barring him from assaulting witnesses, jurors, judges or their relatives.
Prosecutors asked the judge to impose a $1,000 fine on each of Trump’s repeated alleged violations of the executive order.
