(RepublicanDaily.org) – Judge Juan Merchan has denied a motion from the legal team of former president Donald Trump to declare a mistrial of the former president’s “hush money” trial.
The defense lawyers of the former chief executive filed the motion following the testimony of Stormy Daniels, who claims that she and Trump had an affair in 2006. Many have looked forward to her testimony, and after finally taking the stand recently, her recollection of her and the former presidents relations left many eyebrows raised with the amount of sordid details she included in her testimony.
Trump’s lawyers strongly objected to the testimony – Trump has also consistently and vehemently denied that he had any relations with Daniels – and moved that Judge Merchan declare a mistrial. According to Todd Blanche, one of the former commander-in-chief’s attorneys, details of Daniel’s and Trump’s alleged tryst, were completely inappropriate for the jury to hear and had no bearing on the issue at hand. Blanche also claimed that Daniel’s has repeatedly made changes to her story over the years.
Merchan agreed with the defense, saying that the testimony included “too much detail,” and imposed limitations on how the jury should take Daniel’s statements.
However, “having said that,” the judge said, “I don’t think we have reached the point where a mistrial is in order.”
The current case against Trump is how the former president supposedly illegally used campaign funds to pay Daniels $130,000 for her to keep silent about the affair. While Trump denies knowing, or much less having an affair with Daniels, the alleged payment was in order to prevent such rumors from damaging what would be his successful 2016 run for president. Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying records in relation to the allegations, but he has pled not guilty on all counts.
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