Effective point on cross. (AP)

 By JENNIFER PELTZ

Necheles confronted Daniels with two statements she signed in early 2018 denying that she ever had sexual involvement with Trump or received money to keep quiet. She said her then-lawyer, Keith Davidson, advised her to sign it and that she was told that Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen was pressing him to get her to do so.

Necheles noted that by then, Trump wasn’t running for election — an apparent effort to buttress the defense’s argument that the then president’s reasons for wanting to squelch the claims weren’t related to his political ambitions, but rather to protecting his family and reputation.

“I wouldn’t know what he wanted to protect,” Daniels said.