Trump’s defense team has moved for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ testimony
“We move for a mistrial based on the testimony this morning,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said following the lunch break.
“The guardrails by this witness answering questions by the government were just thrown to the side,” Blanche said.
“There is no remedy that we can fashion … to unring this bell,” Blanche said about the impact of Daniels’ testimony.
Blanche argued the prosecutors wanted to embarrass Trump and inflame the jury and was far afield from a case about falsification of business records.
“She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell,” Blanche said. “We heard a completely different story.”
Blanche argued that the testimony regarding condoms, being “blacked out” and and the “power dynamic” prejudiced the jury.
“This has nothing to do with the reason why we’re here,” Blanche said. “How can you un-ring a bell?”
The prosecution pushed back.
“Her account completes the narrative that precipitated the falsification of business records,” Hoffinger said. “It is precisely what the defendant did not want to become public.”
Interesting. Harvey Weinstein’s conviction in New York was thrown out over something like that. He is likely to be retried there though, and his California conviction still stands.
In Weinstein’s case the prosecution brought in testimony from women who weren’t part of the charges that were actually being tried, though, which is a pretty big difference from what happened here. Clifford is kind of central to this case.