In this courtroom sketch, Stormy Daniels testifies on the witness stand as Judge Juan Merchan looks on in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York.. A photo of Donald Trump and Daniels from their first meeting is displayed on a monitor. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — As the third week of witness testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial takes place, all eyes are on Stormy Daniels, who took the stand Tuesday morning and recounted for jurors the lead-up to meeting Trump and a 2006 sexual encounter she has said the two engaged in. Trump denies the encounter took place.

The alleged sexual encounter and the $130,000 she was paid to keep silent about it during the 2016 presidential election are at the heart of the charges against the former president.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was called to the witness stand mid-morning, following testimony from a Penguin Random House executive.

Hanging in the background of Tuesday’s testimony was the question of whether Trump will be able to abide by the terms of his now twice-broken gag order that bars him from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others connected to the case.

The trial is in its 13th day.

Former President Donald Trump, center, sits at the defense table with his attorneys Susan Necheles, left, and Emil Bove in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments — including the payment to Daniels — recording them instead as legal expenses.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

Here’s the latest:

DANIELS SAYS HER LIFE DEVOLVED INTO ‘CHAOS’ AFTER 2018 WSJ ARTICLE

Former President Donald Trump's attorneys Alina Habba, center, and Emil Bove return to the courtroom following a break in his trial, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool)

The year 2017 was Daniels’ “best year ever,” she testified Tuesday.

She was winning professional accolades for her work writing and directing adult films, living with her daughter in a neighborhood where she was respected as a mother and her horse was competing in high-level equestrian events, she said.

Daniels testified that she was also steadfast in abiding by her nondisclosure agreement with Michael Cohen. She declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal for a story published on Nov. 4, 2016, that reported she had been in discussions to tell her story on “Good Morning America” but that nothing had come of it. She also declined when the newspaper asked her for comment before it broke the news of her hush money arrangement in 2018.

“I was under the NDA. I was respecting that, and I didn’t want to comment,” Daniels testified.

After the Journal published its story about Daniels and the payoff, her life turned into “chaos,” she testified. “I was front and foremost everywhere,” she recalled. Daniels said her family was “ostracized” from her daughter’s playgroup and her riding stable.

DANIELS TESTIFIES ABOUT COHEN PAYMENT

Daniels testified that after the deadline for the $130,000 payment from Michael Cohen came and went without the funds materializing, she authorized her then-lawyer Keith Davidson, to cancel the deal. He did, by email, according to documents shown in court. But about two weeks later, the deal was revived.

After her lawyer and agent got their cuts, Daniels said she ended up with about $96,000 of the original payment.

JUDGE REJECTS DEFENSE REQUEST FOR MISTRIAL

Judge Juan M. Merchan rejected a defense request for a mistrial in Donald Trump’s hush money case.

“I don’t believe we’re at the point where a mistrial is warranted,” he said.

The judge said he agreed with defense attorney Todd Blanche that porn actor Stormy Daniels said more at times than she should have, but he blamed the defense for not objecting more vigorously when she was testifying.

“I agree there are some things that would’ve been better left unsaid,” Merchan said, noting the “witness was a little difficult to control.”

Prosecutors had defended Daniels’ testimony following the mistrial request, countering that her testimony went to Trump’s reasons for paying her to stay silent — and went to Daniels’ credibility.

Merchan said there were guardrails in place and that he sustained most of the defense’s objections — but that there should have been more.