Stormy Daniels Testifies She Agreed to Hush Money Payment to Keep a 'Target' Off Her Back

Donald Trump lawyer Susan Necheles grilled Stormy Daniels on why she agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement about her alleged sexual encounter with the embattled former POTUS in court on Thursday, May 9.

The adult film star claimed she'd wanted to make sure that there was legal documentation of the encounter so that she could then protect herself and keep her family from getting "hurt" if the story ever went public.

"I wanted the truth to be printed with some paper trail," Daniels added.

Necheles pressed the issue by pointing out that she could have had that documentation by publishing her story rather than taking a hush money payment.

The adult entertainer explained she felt "this was a better alternative," because if she sold the story, it might have put "a target on my back and my family's [backs]."

As OK! previously reported, Daniels and Trump met in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe where the two allegedly had a sexual encounter.

On Tuesday, May 7, Daniels claimed she'd been encouraged to go to dinner with the businessman by her then-publicist.

"If nothing else, you'll get a great story," Daniels recalled her publicist telling her. "What better excuse do you have to get out of this dinner than dinner with Donald Trump? It'll make a great story. He's a business guy. What could possibly go wrong?"

The adult movie actress quickly learned that the night could go wrong when their conversations continuously shifted to Trump's own accomplishments.

"At this point, I pretty much had enough of his arrogance and cutting me off and still not getting my dinner," she continued. "So, I decided someone should take him on. So I said, are you always this rude, arrogant and pompous?"

After Trump pulled out a magazine with him on the cover, Daniels said she told Trump that "someone should spank you with that," before ordering him to turn around and swatting him on the backside.

A reporter in the courtroom claimed Trump mouthed the word "bulls---" to himself when Daniels relayed that story to the jury.

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Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges in the history of the United States. Last year, he was indicted four times for a total of 91 felony counts.

His current trial is to determine when he is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to Daniels' hush money payment.

He's pleaded not guilty to all charges.