During the trial over the hush money that Trump paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, the ex-president appeared to fall asleep several times, according to reporters on the spot. On the first day the jury was selected, Trump reportedly gasped twice in court in Manhattan, according to reporters. This earned him the nickname ‘Sleepy Don’, a reference to the nickname ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden, which he often uses to describe his opponent in the presidential elections.
READ ALSO.Trump won’t keep quiet about the trial: judge fines ex-president $9,000 and threatens with imprisonment
Last week he seemed to… New York Timesreporter Maggie Haberman was sleeping again and kept his eyes “closed for an extended period of time” and again this week he didn’t seem fully awake.
Donald Trump himself strongly contradicts those reports. “Contrary to what the lying press claims, I do not fall asleep during the witch hunt, and certainly not today. I just sometimes close my beautiful blue eyes and listen attentively,” the former US president wrote on his own social media platform Truth Social.
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The criminal trial in New York revolves around the payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, who wanted to reveal during the 2016 presidential campaign that she had had an affair with Trump. The ex-president is said to have repaid that money to his then lawyer Michael Cohen with campaign funds, and to have that payment included in the accounts as “legal costs”. In total, Trump is accused of 34 criminal offenses.
“Extortion”
In court, the defense tried to discredit former porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney during his interrogation. He had negotiated hush money for Daniels with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen after her manager asked him to handle that deal.
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Hulk Hogan
Emil Bove, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, criticized that Keith Davidson often made money by keeping quiet about embarrassing secrets of celebrities. Bove called such practices comparable to “extortion.”
Davidson admitted that he was under federal investigation in the past after he negotiated the sale of a sex tape to former wrestling star Hulk Hogan. He was ultimately not prosecuted for those offences. “I made a financial request on behalf of clients (…) and did not make any threats,” he defended himself.
READ ALSO. Donald Trump says he will only accept election results “if it is fair”
