Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress central to Donald Trump’s landmark criminal trial, provided a graphic testimony on Tuesday about an alleged 2006 hotel encounter with the former president where both of them had sex.
Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels on the eve of his 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, fearing that the story could have harmed his campaign if it ever hit the press.
The story did hit the press but Donald Trump emerged victorious but almost eight years later the case continues to give legal woes to the former president as he spearheads another campaign to take over the White House.
Daniels, 45, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
She was 27 and Trump was “probably older than my father,” she said, adding that she reluctantly agreed to have dinner with the real estate tycoon.
On the witness stand, she made clear the sex was consensual and said he told her “that was great.”
As the trial proceeded, Daniels started sharing salacious sexual content that wrong-footed the judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan.
Despite his best efforts, Daniels’ testimony often veered into graphic sexual detail.
“My clothes and shoes were off, I think I still had my bra on. We were in a missionary position,” Daniels said.
Was he wearing a condom? “No.”
Was it brief? “Yes.”
“When I opened the bathroom door to come out, Mr. Trump had come into the bedroom,” Stormy Daniels told the New York court.
“The intention was pretty clear, someone stripped down to their underwear posing on the bed waiting for you.”
She told the court Trump called her “Honeybunch,” and she described multiple phone calls with him — some of which she put on speakerphone to entertain her friends.
The encounter took place in 2006, she recalled, when Trump had pushed to have dinner with her at a golf tournament.
When she arrived via the penthouse elevator, Trump greeted her in silk or satin pajamas before changing into casual clothes after she teased him.
Trump, His Son Shake Their Heads
Throughout the trial, Daniels stared at Trump while the latter did not return her gaze.
Daniels said their lengthy conversation touched on Trump’s wife Melania — with Trump saying “we actually don’t even sleep in the same room” — as well as whether Daniels should go on Trump’s hit show “The Apprentice.”
“He said I reminded him of his daughter because she’s smart and blonde,” Daniels added in another excruciating comment.
When Trump showed her a magazine with him on the cover, she joked: “Someone should spank you with that,” she told the court.
“He gave me the look that he dared me to do it… so I swatted him with it right on the butt.”
Judge Juan Merchan detailed that moment as one of the times Trump could be seen shaking his head.
The former president and 2024 Republican candidate — wearing a blue suit and yellow tie — sat back in his chair, his head tilted, sometimes conferring with his lawyer.
Trump’s son Eric looked on, also shaking his head.
Daniels appeared to have gotten under Trump’s skin even before she entered the shabby courtroom in a Manhattan skyscraper.
“I have just recently been told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare,” he fumed on social media, later deleting the post.
Trump’s lawyers called for a mistrial, saying much of Daniels’ testimony had nothing to do with the fraud charges that the ex-president faces.
(with AFP inputs)
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