Stephanie Clifford and Donald Trump: The porn star and the President

TYCOON and TV host Donald Trump was one of the main attractions at the celebrity golf tournament.

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Stephanie Clifford's claims have dogged Trump since 2011 but he has always denied them

But that day, back in 2006, it is claimed that the future President of the United States took his eye off the ball.

It was here, on the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, that Trump was introduced to a striking blonde woman called Stephanie Clifford.

To her thousands of male fans she was much better known as Stormy Daniels, a porn star who had recently been awarded the title “Favourite Breasts” by adult entertainment aficionados.

She has alleged that her new admirer first invited her to dinner, then into bed in his luxury hotel suite, before promising her a role in his hit TV show The Apprentice.

Ms Clifford’s claims about the tryst, alleged to have happened a few months after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron, have dogged Trump since 2011 when they were first made, but he has always denied them.

A sex tape of me isn’t going to pop up and shame me – there are 150 of them at the video store

Stephanie Clifford

Now, however, they have resurfaced with a vengeance after the President’s lawyer confirmed that £95,000 was paid to Ms Clifford, now 38, in 2016. Curiously Michael Cohen, who is said to be the President’s chief fixer, insists the cash came from his own funds.

The timing, just before Trump took office, appears to give credibility to allegations of a cover-up and his worried aides are bracing themselves for a raft of further revelations.

“Everything is off now and Stormy is going to tell her story,” says the adult film star’s manager Gina Rodriguez, adding that the announcement of the payment ends a non-disclosure agreement so her client is now free to give her full version of events.

The President’s team has not revealed precisely why the cash was handed over, but this has all the hallmarks of a political sex scandal.

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Michael Cohen, who is said to be Trump's chief fixer, insists the cash was from his own funds

The focus is naturally on Stormy Daniels and her background. Stephanie Clifford was born into a poor family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1979. She has said there were times when her parents, who divorced when she was four, could not afford electricity.

She began stripping in clubs when she was 17 years old, soon branching out into the porn film industry.

Her working name was taken from her love of the heavy metal group Motley Crue – whose bassist Nikki Sixx called his daughter Storm – and Jack Daniel’s whiskey. In 2002, she won a contract with the porn studio Wicked Pictures and two years later added directing films to her CV.

When she met Trump in 2006 she had also just been voted Starlet Of The Year.

Before accepting the £95,000 payment in 2016, which effectively silenced her until now, Ms Clifford spoke about that first meeting with Trump.

At the golf tournament, held at the exclusive Edgewood Tahoe course on the California-Nevada border, she was working in hospitality handing out gifts to competitors.

“Donald kept looking at me and we ended up riding on the same golf cart,” she said.

“Then he asked me if I wanted to have dinner that night. And I was like ‘Yeah, of course’. Who would pass up an opportunity to talk to someone so interesting? I wasn’t trying to date him or anything like that.”

In her account, given to a magazine in 2011, she told how she arrived at the billionaire’s penthouse hotel room to find him sprawled out on a couch in his pyjama pants while watching TV.

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She has alleged that Trump first invited her to dinner, then into bed in his luxury hotel suite

“We ended up having dinner in the room,” added Ms Clifford, who later excused herself to use the bathroom.

She revealed: “When I came out he was sitting on the bed and he was like ‘Come here’, and I was like ‘Ugh, here we go’ .”

Ms Clifford went on to describe the encounter in detail. Afterwards she claimed Trump asked her to sign one of her porn DVDs and promised her an appearance on The Apprentice, which never materialised.

To add to the woes of the beleaguered US leader, he’s been forced to deal with recent rumours that his third marriage is on the rocks.

The claims by Clifford could be especially damaging because Trump arrived at the White House pledging to clean up Washington.

However, despite her candid account Ms Clifford, who has been married twice, later backtracked and denied ever having an affair with the President.

She is even said to have signed a statement to that effect, while he has always insisted her original claims were fiction.

In all, Stormy Daniels has more than 150 racy films to her name, including Operation Desert Stormy in which she plays a sexy CIA agent fighting terrorists.

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The claims are alleged to have happened months after Trump's wife Melania gave birth to son Barron

She had minor roles in the 2005 mainstream sex comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the 2007 romcom Knocked Up.

Intriguingly, in 2009 she tried to launch a political career by standing in Louisiana to become a member of the US Senate.

At the time Ms Clifford, who has a seven-year-old daughter, said she would be a perfect candidate because she was open about her sexuality.

“I have nothing to hide,” she stated. “A sex tape of me isn’t going to pop up and shame me – there are 150 of them at the video store.”

Asked if she would quit making porn films if she happened to be elected, she added: “Probably, but only because of gravity.”

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Her bid never took off and she blamed the flop on people not taking her seriously. She has said her political leanings are Republican but has also spoken of her admiration for Democrat Hillary Clinton, which will fuel the President’s ire.

In 2014 Stormy Daniels was inducted into the Adult Video News Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of Buck Adams, Alexis Amore and Gail Force, for her work in the porn industry over the past decade.

“I really enjoy my job,” she said in an interview a few years ago, before adding that her family is comfortable with what she does for a living.

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She has also spoken of being hurt by criticism that she’s not fit to be a mother, insisting: “Just because a mom works in the adult industry doesn’t mean she can’t be a good parent.

When my daughter is old enough I’ll tell her mommy has a job that some people don’t approve of but mommy’s proud of it and it’s for adults.”

President Trump is not the first US leader to have become embroiled in a sex scandal.

Others before him, including JFK and Bill Clinton, have simply carried on regardless but their reputations and legacies were tarnished.

As the porn star prepares to bare her soul it seems certain that there are Stormy times on the horizon for the Donald.

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