Donald Trump seemed to be in an impish mood, on Thursday morning, as he walked into his criminal trial in lower Manhattan. He wore a light-blue shirt and a cerulean tie underneath his navy suit jacket, looking not unlike a clear spring day, and when he passed by the reporters in the courtroom gallery, he cocked a finger gun at Greg Kelly, the conservative Newsmax host, who responded with a reassuring smile. This air of playfulness, however, was replaced by a rigid sobriety as the adult-film star Stormy Daniels approached the witness stand for her second day of testimony, her heels clicking loudly on the courtroom floor. The former President jutted his chin forward and trained his gaze on Daniels, who was dressed in a form-fitting green dress underneath a loose black jacket, her eyeglasses set on top of her long blonde hair. She looked like a no-nonsense administrative manager of, say, a C.P.A.’s office—attractive, bright, can-do.
Stormy Daniels’s American Dream
Donald Trump’s lawyers tried to portray the scrappy adult-film actress as a lying profiteer. Instead, she emerged as an intelligent, credible witness who is also very good at making money.
