Stormy Daniels, who famously shared her encounter with Donald J. Trump,

Stormy Daniels, who famously shared her encounter with Donald J. Trump,

Stormy Daniels, who Shared Sex With Trump, Returns for More Testimony on Thursday

The adult film star central to the former president's legal trial testified about their liaison at a golf event in 2006, an event that could shape American politics.

When Donald J. Trump crossed paths with Stormy Daniels, their flirtation seemed fleeting: He was a 60-year-old married mogul at the height of reality television fame, and she was 27, a Louisiana native raised in poverty and risen to pornographic film stardom.

But that chance encounter in Lake Tahoe, Nev., nearly two decades ago is now at the center of the first criminal trial of an American president, an unprecedented case that could impact the 2024 presidential election.

This week, Ms. Daniels has taken the witness stand to share her side of the story, often in explicit detail. She has endured five hours of questioning so far, and following the trial's midweek recess, she is scheduled to return on Thursday to face further cross-examination from Mr. Trump's legal team.

The allegations against Mr. Trump stem from her account of their sexual encounter during the 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a narrative she was peddling a decade later, in the final days of the presidential campaign.

Mr. Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 in hush money before Election Day, and the former president is accused of falsifying business records to conceal reimbursements for Mr. Cohen.

On Tuesday, Ms. Daniels' rapid testimony lasted nearly five hours, during which she detailed an encounter with Mr. Trump, now 77, that he has long denied.

Tension gripped the courtroom, her verbose testimony punctuating a heavy silence. She attempted jokes; they fell flat.

After about thirty minutes on the stand, she began divulging intimate details about Mr. Trump, to the extent that the judge admonished some of the testimony.

He suggested it was unduly vulgar, and the defense sought a mistrial.

Ms. Daniels recounted how the future president had invited her to dinner in his lavish Lake Tahoe hotel suite. He answered the door clad in silk robes. When he was impolite, she playfully chastised him with a rolled-up magazine.

And when she inquired about his wife, he reassured her, saying they didn't share a room — prompting Mr. Trump to shake his head in disdain and mutter "nonsense" to his attorneys, loud enough to earn a discreet reprimand from the judge, who labeled it as "contemptuous."

Ms. Daniels then detailed the physical encounter in vivid detail. It transpired, she said, after she returned from the bathroom to find Mr. Trump in his boxer shorts and T-shirt. She attempted to leave and he blocked her path, but not, she claimed, in a threatening manner.

The encounter was brief, she said, and though she never explicitly refused, there was a "power imbalance."