Stormy Daniels testifies about hush money in Donald Trump's New York criminal trial
Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who was paid to silence claims she had sex with Donald Trump, got a chance to tell her story during Trump's hush money trial
Trump is on trial in Manhattan on charges of falsifying business records. The $130,000 payment arranged by Trump's personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is at the heart of the first criminal trial in history against a former president. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with making 34 false entries in his business records while reimbursing Cohen with company funds.
Beyond the salacious details, legal experts contend the payment was effectively an illegal campaign contribution because of the value of preventing the news from breaking weeks before the 2016 election. Cohen has already pleaded guilty, and was imprisoned, for a campaign finance violation in making the payment to Daniels, as part of a broader federal case.
New York Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Daniels and Cohen can testify because their allegations are "inextricably intertwined" with the criminal allegations.
Trump contends the payments were personal and had nothing to do with the campaign. He has questioned the credibility of Daniels and Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
What does Stormy Daniels say about Trump?
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said the sex happened in July 2006, after a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, where she and two colleagues greeted golfers between holes. She said one of Trump's bodyguards served as a proxy to invite her to dinner with the future president and they had sex after she met him in his hotel suite. Trump was married at the time to Melania Trump, who had recently delivered their son Barron Trump.
Days before the 2016 election, Cohen arranged to pay off Daniels with $130,000 in exchange for her keeping silent about her claims. Cohen also arranged a $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who also claimed an affair with Trump.
Daniels wrote in her book, "Full Disclosure," that after the release of an "Access Hollywood" tape in October 2016, in which Trump described lewdly grabbing women, she arranged for an interview on "Good Morning America."
Cohen contacted Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented both Daniels and McDougal, to offer her money in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement and the television interview never happened, Daniels wrote in her book. Daniels said she wasn't sure how the lawyers arrived at the figure of $130,000 but that she wanted to put the episode behind her.
“I knew what a creep Donald Trump is," Daniels wrote. "He could wait until after the election and then just not pay me. If he lost nobody would care that he had sex with me. If he won, he’d be the president of the United States and could drop a nuclear bomb on me if he wanted."
Trump tweeted in May 2018 that Cohen "received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign," as reimbursement for "a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement."
Trump has denied the sex and insulted Daniels' appearance, calling her “Horseface” in a tweet.
Judge rules Stormy Daniels could provide 'necessary background' for jurors
Cohen denied the money was a retainer. He testified at the House Oversight and Reform Committee in February 2019 that Trump reimbursed him a total of $420,000 for his role in the payments, in part to cover his taxes and a $60,000 bonus for himself. The payments were made – including nine checks signed by Trump – in $35,000 monthly installments under the guise of a legal retainer, Cohen said.
"There is no retainer agreement," Cohen testified.
Cohen said he created a shell company called Essential Consultants to pay Daniels and hide the deal from his own wife.
Cohen transferred $130,000 to Davidson on Oct. 27, 2016, according to court records. Davidson then transferred $96,645 to Daniels on Nov. 1, 2016, with the annotation “net settlement” on the wire transfer, according to court records.
Trump opposed having Daniels or Cohen testify at the trial. But Judge Merchan ruled that they could testify to describe how Trump sought to reduce the flow of negative information during the campaign "and is necessary background for the jury.”
Stormy Daniels says she's been threatened over Trump
Daniels has been grappling with fallout from her meeting with Trump for years. "In Touch" magazine contacted her in May 2011 for a story about her relationship with Trump, which her ex-husband proposed without her knowledge, according to a lawsuit she filed later against Trump. She cooperated in exchange for a $15,000 payment she never got, she wrote in her book.
As part of the interview, Daniels took a lie-detector test and the examiner found her "truthful," she wrote. "Ding, ding, ding — told ya I wasn’t a liar," Daniels wrote.
An editor at the magazine notified her he would ask Trump for a response. A few weeks later, a man approached Daniels and her infant daughter in a parking lot in Las Vegas and told her, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” The man also said “it’d be a shame if something happened to her mom,” which she took as a threat, according to the lawsuit.
No story ran in the magazine. Daniels said she later learned that Cohen had persuaded the magazine not to publish.
Daniels said she has received death threats since Trump was indicted.
Stormy Daniels lost defamation case against Trump
Daniels said she hadn’t contacted police after the threat because she was frightened to go public at that time. But in April 2018, she had a sketch of the man created and released. She described him wearing blue Converse shoes, expensive jeans and a gray hoodie.
Trump replied on social media calling the sketch “a nonexistent man” and a “total con job.”
Daniels sued in April 2018 for defamation, for attacking her veracity, and lost.
U.S. District Judge James Otero dismissed the complaint in October 2018 by ruling Trump’s tweet was “rhetorical hyperbole” and a “protected opinion.” Otero ordered Daniels in December 2018 to pay Trump nearly $300,000 in legal fees.
Daniels appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also rejected her and ordered her to pay Trump another nearly $122,000 in legal fees.
But Daniels has said she’d rather go to jail than pay Trump.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump hush money criminal trial
