Trump deletes post raging that his lawyers had ‘no time to prepare’ for Stormy Daniels
His now-deleted post came just hours before Stormy Daniels took the stand to testify on Tuesday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Former president Donald Trump fumed that there was “no time for lawyers to prepare” for Stormy Daniels’ testimony in his hush money trial, as the adult film star at the centre of the case prepared to take the stand.
“I have just recently been told who the witness is today,” Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday morning in a now-deleted Truth Social post.
“This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.”
Although he didn’t identify the witness in the post, his comment arrived moments before a lawyer for Ms Daniels announced that she would testify on Tuesday.
The adult film star, who alleges she had a 2006 affair with Mr Trump and was then paid $130,000 for her silence, took the stand at around 10.30am ET.
Judge Juan Merchan has allowed Manhattan prosecutors to keep the witness list a secret due to the former president’s online attacks against some of them, including Ms Daniels and his former fixer Michael Cohen.
The judge has also imposed a gag order on Mr Trump, barring him from lashing out at potential witnesses.
But the gag order hasn’t totally reigned him in. He has so far been fined $10,000 for repeated violations of the order.
Ms Daniels’ testimony has been highly-anticipated as she is expected to hit at the heart of the case.
Just before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence over her alleged affair with Mr Trump back in 2006. Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair ever happened.
He has been accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the so-called hush money payments. Prosecutors allege that Mr Trump gave Cohen the payments, labeling them as a legal retainer, when in actuality they were meant to hide the affair with Ms Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
On Monday, jurors were shown the paper trail in court, including the former president’s signature written in Sharpie. The bulk of the monthly checks sent to Cohen came out of Mr Trump’s own personal checking account. Prosecutors said Mr Trump later reimbursed Cohen.