Originally Published: May 23, 2024 2:49 p.m.

NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels was almost done testifying. She was showing signs exhaustion after hours of withering cross-examination from Trump attorney Susan Necheles, who prompted Daniels to describe her open hatred of Trump, her encounters with the paranormal, and her "Make America Horny Again" strip tour.

Necheles, an experienced New York City litigator, looked poised to go in for the kill. She brought her questions back to the Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament where Trump and Daniels met, and asked one of her final questions:

"President Trump was the biggest celebrity, probably, at that tournament, right?"

Daniels seemed confused. "It depends on what you're a fan of," she replied.

But Necheles pushed: People recognized Trump? They "followed him around?" He did very well at golf? He played on his own?

"I don't remember what the scores were," Daniels said.

It was one instance of a pattern that emerged throughout testimony in Trump's criminal hush money trial: his attorneys went out of their way to massage his ego, loading questions with praise for their boss or having witnesses testify to how big and successful Trump is.

After sitting through the entirety of the trial, I wasn't entirely sure that my impression about this flattery — its scope and its frequency — had been correct. So, I pulled up all of the transcripts from testimony, and entered a few search terms: "success," "big," "golf," "huge," and "admire."

It's a less than scientific method, but it yielded results. What I found were dozens of instances in which Trump's legal team directed their questioning towards eliciting testimony about the greatness of their client. At times, the questioning seemed to serve dual purposes, leading witnesses to both acknowledge the bigness of the defendant while testifying in ways that helped Trump's case. But other times, it came off as irrelevant, leading to objections that Judge Juan Merchan sustained.

One such example took place early on during the cross-examination of Rhona Graff.

Necheles handled the examination, focusing on a relatively friendly witness: Graff, who had her legal expenses covered by the Trump Org, had spent decades as Trump's personal assistant. Graff came off as professional and warm as she shared her memories of working for Trump.

One of Graff's duties, Necheles had her affirm, was to work with producers of The Apprentice.

"It was a very popular television show, right?" Necheles asked.

"At the time it was probably the most popular television show," Graff replied.

Necheles followed up: did it make Trump into a "big star"? Whether Graff knew she was flattering the boss or not, she was happy to play along: it "elevated him to a whole other platform," and granted Trump "almost rock-star status."