Topline
Stephanie Clifford, better known by the stage name Stormy Daniels, will be a central figure in former President Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial set to start next week over alleged hush money payments she received in exchange for her silence about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in 2006, which Trump has repeatedly denied but Daniels has detailed to the public several times over the years.
Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims to have slept with Donald Trump over a decade ago, opens ... [+]
Timeline
Daniels described a 2006 affair with Donald Trump in an exclusive interview with InTouch magazine, saying "the sex was nothing crazy" and that she could "describe his junk perfectly, if I ever have to." She said that after the encounter, he asked her to sign a DVD of a film she’d starred in. The next time they met, Daniels said they did not have sex but instead watched a “Shark Week” documentary. InTouch did not publish the interview with Daniels until 2018.
Daniels spoke with journalist Jacob Weisberg of Slate and described a sexual relationship with Trump that lasted nearly a year and included promises to buy her a condo and feature her as a contestant on "Celebrity Apprentice." She said her attorney had negotiated a six-figure deal with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to buy her silence; Weisberg did not publish details of their conversation until January of 2018.
A statement signed by Daniels was released weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump arranged a $130,000 payment through Cohen to stop Daniels from talking about their 2006 affair. The statement said Daniels was "denying this affair because it never happened.”
Daniels was interviewed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that evening and told the ABC talk show host she didn't know where the statement came from, suggesting her signature had been forged.
Hours after the show, representatives said Daniels was standing by the statement and denying the affair.
In a bombshell interview with "60 Minutes," Daniels described the alleged encounter with Trump in detail, saying she spanked the him with a magazine featuring a photo of Trump on the cover (rumors it was a copy of Forbes magazine have been debunked) before the two had sex. Daniels told Andersoon Cooper the statement recanting the affair was a "lie” and said she only participated because those involved “made it sound like I had no choice.” She also said an unknown man had threatened her and her child to keep quiet about the affair.
Daniels released a tell-all book called "Full Disclosure" in which she said her interactions with Trump were "the least impressive sex I’d ever had" and described the then-president's sex organs in graphic detail.
Daniels posted to Twitter, "Told ya'll he exaggerates about the size of things" in her most popular post ever; the commentary was in reference to a COVID-era rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma after Trump said tickets to the event were sought by more than one million people but, in reality, the 19,000-seat arena was at least one-third empty.
Peacock released a two-hour, Judd Apatow-produced documentary called "Stormy" calling Trump a "playboy" who was "used to getting his way.” “The next thing I know, he was humping away and telling me how great I was," she said of their 2006 tryst. "It was awful, but I didn’t say no.”
Daniels said a circulating quote attributed to her on X, formerly known as Twitter, was not real. The fake quote read, "I had no idea if he penetrated me—and I am a professional. He just kept yelling, 'I'm yuge! I'm the greatest!' and then he made gurgling sounds and fell asleep. Hey, it was a job and the check cleared."
Donald Trump at the GRAMMY Foundation's A Starry Night Benefit held on July 22, 2006.
Key Background
Trump’s alleged affair with Daniels became mainstream news in January of 2018, when the Wall Street Journal reported Cohen had paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016, weeks before the election, to stay quiet about their encounter. Weeks later, Cohen admitted he'd made the payment but said he did so with his own money, and that the president and Trump Organization were not involved. Later, when under oath, Cohen said Trump did direct him to make the payment and then reimbursed back. Trump said the same in an ethics disclosure in May 2018. Daniels has filed several lawsuits against Trump in relation to the alleged hush money payments. A civil suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in March 2018 claimed her nondisclosure agreement was invalid because Trump never signed the document (she won, but the case was dismissed because Trump and Cohen agreed not to enforce the document). Daniels then sued Trump for defamation and lost, and the third lawsuit claimed collusion on the parts of Cohen and her lawyer at the time the hush money payment was negotiated. That case was settled. In April of 2023, Trump was charged in Manhattan with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The case claims he misidentified a series of payments made to pay back Cohen for the hush money as payments for legal services. Jury selection in the trial will start Monday despite repeated attempts by Trump to have the trial delayed.
Chief Critic
Trump has repeatedly denied he had an affair with Daniels, alleged to have taken place a year after he married his now-wife and former First Lady Melania Trump. Then-Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks first denied the affair in 2016, calling the allegations "absolutely, unequivocally" false. Trump called the hush money case a "witch hunt" last year, and in March of 2023 posted to Truth Social that he never had an affair with “Stormy “Horseface” Danials.” Days later, he wrote "I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I have wanted to have an affair with Stormy Daniels."
Tangent
Daniels has frequently taken to Twitter to share more about her alleged encounter with the president and comment on his presidency, legal issues and personal issues. Her account, @StormyDaniels, has 1.3 million followers. Here are some of her most popular posts:
July 21, 2020 - "Told ya'll he exaggerates about the size of things.” (84,000 retweets and 555,000 likes).
Oct. 16, 2018 - "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president. In addition to his...umm...shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality. Game on, Tiny.” (45,000 retweets and 172,000 likes).
March 20, 2018 - “Technically I didn't sleep with the POTUS 12 years ago. There was no sleeping (hehe) and he was just a goofy reality TV star. But I digress...People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, etc. And PS...I am NOT going anywhere.” (32,000 retweets and 159,000 likes).
March 26, 2023 - "True. He used a 3 inch one." (25,000 retweets and 257,000 likes). The tweet was a reply to a post that said "President Trump wouldn't touch you with a 10ft pole."
Nov. 10, 2018 - "Did the president literally take the side of a natural disaster over Americans losing their lives and homes today? Yes. Yes, he did." (16,000 retweets and 98,000 likes).
Further Reading
