'Best point she scored': Experts hail Stormy Daniels' reply to 'ludicrous' Trump questions
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — Adult film star Stormy Daniels may have scored a major point in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial as his lawyer pursued a line of questioning that accomplished "nothing," legal experts said Thursday.
Trump attorney Susan Necheles hammered Daniels with repeated questions trying to disprove one small detail of the adult film star's account of her sexual encounter with Trump in 2006: that she never ate dinner.
"This is not a particularly good line of cross," said legal expert Andrew Weissmann. Added George Conway, “This line of cross accomplishes nothing.”
Necheles asked at least a dozen questions — quoting Daniels from past interviews and statements — trying to prove that she had indeed been served dinner.
"You said you had dinner but you didn't," Necheles said. "Your words don’t mean what you say, do they?"
Daniels repeatedly confirmed that she had come to Trump's hotel room for dinner expecting a meal she did not receive.
"I needed dinner, I didn’t get dinner," Daniels said. "I maintain I never saw any food."
Daniels was defending testimony delivered Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court during Trump's ongoing trial on charges he falsified business records to hush money paid ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels says she was paid to keep quiet about an affair that Trump denies. He also has pleaded not guilty to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s charges against him.
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Necheles then brought up an interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in which she claimed Daniels had described having been fed.
Daniels demanded to see the interview and, upon reviewal, recalled that she'd had a long conversation with the CNN anchor.
“You’re showing one sentence in an entire conversation," Daniels said.
This moment caught the attention of former federal prosecutor Harry Litman, who shared his take on X.
"Stormy suggesting elsewhere in interview w/ Anderson Cooper she says didn't have dinner,' he wrote. "If that's accurate and it comes out on redirect, it's very bad for Necheles. This is the best point she's scored to date."
As the questions continued, Conway chimed in again: "This is ludicrous. That's all the defense has?"