Who is Donald Trump accuser Stormy Daniels?
- Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, allegedly had affair with Trump
- She received $130,000 ‘hush money’ in 2016 from Trump’s lawyer at the time
Stormy Daniels first rose to fame outside the adult film industry for her alleged affair with former president Donald Trump.
She claimed that Trump had paid her ‘hush money’ to keep quiet about their sexual encounter in the run up to the 2016 election.
While Trump still denies having sex with Daniels, he admitted in 2018 to reimbursing his lawyer Michael Cohen for the money paid to his alleged mistress.
About their sexual encounter Daniels said in March 2023 that they had ‘textbook generic sex‘.
Trump could face felony charges if the $130,000 hush money paid to Daniels are counted as an illegal contribution to Trump’s campaign for the purpose of influencing the election by keeping the scandal from emerging, as this would violate federal election laws.
Stormy Daniels (right) rose to fame outside the adult film industry for her alleged affair with former president Donald Trump (left) (picture taken in 2006)
Before working in porn, Daniels had her first experience stripping at the early age of 17. She later began working at the local Gold Club in Geismar
Trump claimed on March 18, 2023, that he will be arrested over claims he paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair.
If Trump’s claims about an imminent arrest are true, it would make him the first former president ever to face criminal charges.
Stormy Daniels wanted to be a journalist or vet but turned to stripping then entered porn business
Born in 1979 in Louisiana, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, grew up in a rough neighborhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – where she developed a passion for riding horses and writing.
In an interview with the New York Times, Daniels said that she wanted to be a journalist when she was younger and that she was also interested in working with animals growing up.
Daniels, who has described herself as ‘smart’ on social media, is also remembered as ‘serious’ and ‘unobtrusive’ in her earlier years, according to her former colleagues.
‘I wasn’t like the popular girl, and I wasn’t the jock, and I wasn’t the ditz. I don’t know. I was just sort of in the middle of the road,’ Daniels told the Times about her status in school.
She continues to compete in equestrian shows, which she takes very personally, one of her trainers, Dominic Schramm, told the Times.
Before working in the porn industry, Daniels had her first experience stripping at the early age of 17. She later began working at the local Gold Club in Geismar.
Born in 1979 in Louisiana, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, grew up in a rough neighborhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – where she developed a passion for riding horses and writing
In 2011, Daniels decided to try and sell a story about their relationship to In Touch weekly
Daniels toured strip clubs throughout 2018, at one point being arrested after a show in Columbus
As she rose in the ranks of adult film she won numerous industry awards and has been inducted into several porn halls of fame.
She later also incorporated her love for writing as she worked as a director and writer in the adult film industry.
Daniels also acted in mainstream films and videos, like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and a Maroon 5 video.
Like her alleged affair partner, Daniels wanted to go into politics in 2010 when she considered running for a US senate seat in Louisiana but called of her run as she said she would not be taken seriously.
What does Stormy Daniels claim happened between her and Donald Trump and when did she first make claims?
Daniels said she met Trump in 2006 at a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a resort area located between California and Nevada.
She first made the claims in 2011, shortly after her political aspirations failed when she withdrew her candidacy for a senate seat.
She told In Touch Weekly in an interview – which was only fully released in January 2018 – that Trump invited her to dinner and to meet him in his hotel room: ‘He was sprawled out on the couch, watching television or something. He was wearing pyjama pants.’
Daniels claims that Trump invited her to dinner after being introduced to him at a golf event and she met him at his hotel suite
Daniels claims the pair then had sex in Trump’s hotel room, which Trump repeatedly denied since Daniels first came forward.
The alleged sex affair is said to have taken place just four months after Trump’s youngest child Barron was born, who is his only child with his second wife Melania.
‘It may have been the least impressive sex I’d ever had, but clearly, he didn’t share that opinion,’ Daniels wrote in her memoir, published in 2018.
Daniels claimed she was threatened to stay quiet about the affair in an interview in March 2018, during which she said that a man approached her in a Las Vegas car park in 2011, telling her to ‘leave Trump alone’ after she agreed to speak to In Touch Weekly about the alleged affair.
She said she last spoke to Trump in 2010, at around the same time she called off her campaign for senate.
Why did claims about her and Donald Trump resurface and when?
Rumours of the alleged affair resurfaced in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
An article in the Wall Street Journal claiming Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen had bought Daniels’ silence with a one-off payment of $130,000 in October, one month before the election in November.
The money reportedly came with a non-disclosure agreement for Daniels, which said that she couldn’t talk about the affair.
The White House denied the allegations, like Cohen who denied paying any hush money to Daniels, only to confess in February 2018 that he indeed paid her $130,000 – ‘out of his own pocket and without Trump’s knowledge’.
On May 3, 2018, Trump then admitted that he reimbursed Cohen for the payment but denied ever having an affair with Daniels.
Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has argued that since Cohen received the non-disclosure agreement while working in an office in the Trump Tower, there can’t really be a separation between Cohen and Trump.
Daniels wrote a memoir, Full Disclosure, that published in 2018
An article in the Wall Street Journal claiming Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen (pictured) had bought Daniels’ silence with a one-off payment of $130,000 in October, one month before the election in November. The money reportedly came with a non-disclosure agreement for Daniels, which said that she couldn’t talk about the affair
Daniels’ (left) lawyer, Michael Avenatti (right), has argued that since Cohen received the non-disclosure agreement while working in an office in the Trump Tower, there can’t really be a separation between Cohen and Trump
What is Donald Trump accused of and could he be indicted?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating claims Trump and his business hid the real purpose of the payments, and instead falsely filed them as a legal retainer.
Trump said on Saturday that he is expecting to be arrested on those charges, which carries a four-year prison sentence, on Tuesday.
Bookkeeping fraud, only a misdemeanor in New York, has a two-year statute of limitations as a misdemeanor, but five years as a felony.
Under New York law, that can be extended if the defendant spends long periods outside the jurisdiction.
Trump lived at the White House until January 2021 and spends most of the year in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The New York Times also reported that the statute of limitations was extended by a year during the COVID pandemic.
Manhattan prosecutors could also be considering another charge that Trump violated state election laws with the payments.
The suggestion would be that Trump paid off Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged affair to benefit his election campaign.
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