Donald Trump and the judge presiding over his hush money trial are staring each other down with profound implications for the former president, the coming election and the rule of law in the United States.

Juan Merchan is now closer than any judge in American history to putting an ex-president behind bars after laying down a red line he says he may have no choice but to enforce if Trump does not start obeying the rules.

Merchan on Monday found Trump had yet again violated a gag order that precludes attacks on witnesses, the jury and others, days after he fined him $1,000 each for nine previous transgressions. But he noted that the defendant wasn’t getting the message and warned he would have to escalate if necessary and appropriate in the future, as much as he sees the option as a “last resort.”

The timing of the judge’s warning was significant because several moments of maximum stress are approaching for Trump with testimony expected soon from his former lawyer Michael Cohen and former adult film star Stormy Daniels.

  • ZagamTheVile@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I have a question. Was Daniels really a star? I mean now we all know her name but when all this shit hit the fan, was she really a star? I’m not huge on who’s who in porn, or an authority in any reguard, but I do recognize some names and I’d never heard of her before all this.

    • zigmus64@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I wanted to say yeah… but I couldn’t be sure. Looking on her wiki page:

      In 2004 Daniels won the Best New Starlet Award from Adult Video News…

      Daniels was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame on January 18, 2014,[16] and was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame on April 16, 2014.

      Don’t think she’d have those awards if she wasn’t pretty popular among her peers, and all of that was before the big scandal we’re seeing unfold now.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      6 months ago

      A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie.

      Don’t overthink it

    • Stern@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Star in porn is comparable to actor in cinema. You don’t gotta be the Leonardo Di Caprio or Tom Cruise of porn to be a porn star.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      iirc, they met when she was working a booth for her video company at a golf event. She felt she had a reasonable shot at getting on ‘The Celebrity Apprentice.’