Stormy Daniels testifies in Donald Trump’s hush money trial

“I said, ‘Does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pyjamas?’” Daniels recalled saying, referring to the trademark outfits of Playboy boss Hugh Hefner.

Daniels, now 45, told the court that she found Trump to be “pompous” and “arrogant” that night, and when he dared her to spank him with a magazine, she obliged.

Asked by the prosecutor where she swatted him, she replied: “on the butt.”

She later went to the bathroom, and came out to find him on the bed in boxer shorts and a tee-shirt.

They had “brief” sex, she told the jury, and at one point she felt like she had “blacked out” even though she had not been drinking, evidence that led Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche to demand a mistrial on the basis that it went too far.

While much of Daniel’s salacious story has been made public before – in TV interviews, books and documentaries – this was the first time the details had been laid bare for the 12-member jury who hold Trump’s fate in their hands.

However, before she took the stand, Trump’s defence team asked Judge Juan Merchan to limit lurid details about the sexual encounter, including specifics about “genitalia”, arguing that it could be unduly prejudicial.

Merchan agreed with that request, and expressed frustration as prosecutors allowed Daniels’ to air salacious details that skirted close to the edge of his directive, such as whether Trump was wearing a condom or what sexual position they took.

In asking for a mistrial, Blanche argued that these details were added to embarrass the former president and “inflame” the jury. However, Merchan denied this while acknowledging that at times the witness had been “a little bit difficult to control.”

It took two hours before prosecutors finally moved on to the substance of the case, which is not about whether the pair had an affair but rather, whether Trump fraudulently paid hush money to stop his campaign for office being derailed.

Daniels was paid $US130,000 by Trump’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to silence her story on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump then reimbursed Cohen, but is alleged to have falsified business records in order to disguise the payment as a legal retainer.

On his way into the courtroom, Trump once again railed against the trial, claiming without evidence that it had been orchestrated by Joe Biden.

His team sought to attack her credibility on the stand by painting her as someone who was after fame and fortune by repeatedly shopping her story around during the 2016 election campaign.

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Daniels initially denied the allegations when they were first raised in 2011, something she now claims she did for fear of retribution.

She told the court about being threatened by various people to not tell her story. One case, she said, involved an unknown man approaching her in a parking lot in Las Vegas while she was with her daughter.

But in cross-examination, defence lawyer Susan Necheles suggested Daniels was out for revenge. Asked if she hated Trump, Daniels answered “yes”. Pressed if she wanted him jailed, she replied she wanted him to “be held accountable.”

The trial continues.