Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels face off on tense day in court

BBC:

For years, Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump have been locked in a public battle over an alleged sexual encounter, a hush-money deal paid by the former president’s fixer, and their respective efforts to own the very public narrative.

Those tensions – and the salacious details that surround them – spilled out in court on Tuesday when Ms Daniels took the stand in Mr Trump’s criminal trial to face him in court for the first time.

The former adult-film star, wearing loose-fitting black clothes and her hair pinned back, did not look at the former president for most of the day, except when she noted his dark blue suit after she was asked to point him out.

She spent much of her time on the stand recounting the sexual encounter that she claims to have had with the defendant – an act that sparked the allegations at the heart of the case – and pushing back at his legal team’s scathing questions.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, spent parts of her evidence cursing and shaking his head. That prompted a warning from the judge, according to court transcripts published at the end of the day.

The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from an alleged attempt to conceal a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels aimed to keep her quiet about the purported tryst.