CNN Legal Analyst Says Stormy Daniels’ Testimony Was ‘Disastrous’

During a segment with other legal experts on CNN, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday at former President Donald Trump‘s New York City hush-money trial was “disastrous.”

Stormy Daniels Gave ‘Disastrous’ Testimony In Trump Trial, CNN Legal Analyst Says https://t.co/62QsdHpUs5 pic.twitter.com/FMLnquwCpX

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In the case brought against Trump by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to individuals including Daniels to hide damaging information about Trump.

During her testimony, Daniels told the court about her alleged 2006 hotel rendezvous with Trump. While Honig said that Daniels’ claim was believable even though Trump has denied it, he said that the cross-examination could end up hurting the prosecution’s case.

Asked by the defense during the cross-examination if she hated Trump, Daniels said “yes.” When she was asked if she wants the former president to go to jail, she said, “if he is found guilty, absolutely” as she wants “him to be held accountable.”

The defense also brought up tweets suggesting she is not willing to pay $500,000 in legal fees to Trump after a failed defamation lawsuit.

“I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” one of the tweets read while another read “I don’t owe him shit and I’ll never give that orange turd a dime.”

According to Honig, these questions brought up in the cross-examination and Daniels’ responses could pose a danger to the case against Trump.

“The cross-exam, boy, her responses were disastrous. I mean, ‘Do you hate Donald Trump?’ ‘Yes.’ Of course she does. That’s a big deal. When the witness hates the person whose liberty is at stake? That’s a big damn deal,” he said.

“The defense is going to say she’s willing to defy a court order. Why — she’s not willing to respect an order of a judge, why is she going to respect this oath she took? I thought it went quite poorly on cross-exam. At the end of direct, I thought, OK, they got what they needed. But I think the cross is making real inroads,” he added.

Daniels is set to return to the stand when the trial resumes on Thursday.