Porn star Stormy Daniels testified at Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday, describing her 2006 encounter with him in unflattering terms. She stated that she tried not to think about the sex while it took place and feared it would become public. Daniels, 45, provided riveting details on the witness stand about her encounter with the 77-year-old Trump and the hush-money deal she reached to stay quiet about it ahead of the 2016 election when he won the White House.
She told jurors that her life descended into “chaos” after the arrangement became public in 2018, saying she was ostracized and harassed at her home. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked her about a social media post by Trump, displaying it and questioning, “Who do you understand Mr. Trump to be referring to as horseface and sleazebag in this post?” Daniels replied, “Me.”
Questioned by Trump’s lawyer, Daniels stated that she hates Trump and hopes he goes to jail if found guilty. Daniels’ testimony prompted Trump’s legal team to request a mistrial, arguing that her account, including details such as Trump not wearing a condom, “inflamed” the jury and were irrelevant to the case. Justice Juan Merchan denied the request.
Trump, the Republican candidate for president again this year, watched her testimony without reaction. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels and denies ever having sex with her. His legal team has suggested that Daniels was angling for a spot on “The Apprentice,” a popular reality TV show then hosted by Trump, a New York real estate mogul. Daniels confirmed that she hoped he would cast her on the show following their encounter.
Daniels said Trump made sexual advances after inviting her to his hotel suite at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. She testified that she “blacked out” despite consuming no drugs or alcohol after Trump prevented her from leaving the room by blocking the door. She said she woke up on the bed with her clothes off, stating, “I was trying to think about anything other than what was happening there.”
I didn’t say anything at all
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she did not tell Trump to stop. “I didn’t say anything at all,” she said. She said she left the hotel room quickly afterward. Trump greeted her at his hotel suite wearing satin pajamas. She said she grew annoyed by Trump’s frequent interruptions and asked him, “Are you always this arrogant and pompous?” Trump then dared Daniels to spank him with a magazine and she obliged. She stated, “He was much more polite after that.”
The alleged encounter took place while Trump was married to his current wife Melania. Daniels said she confided in only a few people about the sex. She said she saw Trump at public events on several occasions in the years that followed, but then fell out of touch with him after he did not put her on “The Apprentice.”
Daniels said she was determined to keep the incident private after being threatened in a parking lot in 2011 but changed her mind during Trump’s 2016 presidential bid when he faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior. “My motivation wasn’t money, it was to get the story out,” she said.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles grilled Daniels on apparent inconsistencies in the account of the parking-lot threat she has told over the years. “The whole story was made up, wasn’t it?” Necheles asked. “No, none of it was made up,” Daniels replied.
Daniels ultimately negotiated a $130,000 payment with Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, and prosecutors say Trump falsified business records to obscure the fact that he reimbursed Cohen for the payment. The case is widely seen as less consequential than three other criminal prosecutions Trump faces, but it is the only one certain to go to trial before the election. The other cases charge Trump with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all three.
