Porn star Stormy Daniels testified on Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial and recounted a sexual encounter she said she had with the former president in 2006.
Stormy Daniels Testifies in Hush Money Trial of Donald Trump
According to the Associated Press, Stormy Daniels provided a detailed and explicit account of the sexual encounter during her first day of testimony.
Daniels allegedly got paid days leading up to the 2016 presidential election to silence her about what she said was an intimate encounter with Donald Trump in a celebrity golf outing at Lake Tahoe, which the former president denied.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty in April, is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of the $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Cohen allegedly arranged the payment days leading up to the 2016 election to silence Daniels about the sexual encounter. Daniels' testimony brought a sensational element to the trial.
The porn star's appearance as a witness who claimed she had a sexual encounter with a former president is another historic first to the landmark case filled with claims of sex, payoffs, and cover-ups.
Despite repeated objections from defense attorneys, Daniels delved into salacious details, raising concerns about "fairness" and demanding a mistrial from Trump's legal team.
However, Judge Juan Merchan dismissed their calls for a mistrial and said they should have amplified their objections during the testimony.
Motivation of Stormy Daniels' Wasn't Money'
Stormy Daniels recounted her initial meeting with Donald Trump at the golf tournament where the former president allegedly invited her to dinner and back to his hotel suite.
Daniels said she felt an imbalance of power then and described Trump as physically "bigger and blocking the way" when she attempted to leave. Daniels noted that Trump, who was married to his wife, Melania, at the time, told her they did not sleep in the same room.
After the sexual encounter, Daniels said she struggled to retrieve her shoes because her hands were shaking so hard. She noted that they reconnected occasionally in the coming months as he dangled a potential appearance for her on NBC's "The Apprentice," but spurned Trump's advances.
In 2011, she discovered the sexual encounter story was published in a magazine. Daniels said she accepted $15,000 for an interview to control her narrative amid the media frenzy.
After the deadline for the payment from Michael Cohen came and went, the porn star authorized the cancelation of the deal. Her former lawyer, Keith Davidson, did, by email, but the deal was revived about two weeks later.
Daniels claimed to end up with $96,000 from the $130,000 payment after deductions by her lawyer and agent. According to Daniels, she had no intention of approaching Trump or Cohen to have them pay her.
She testified that her motivation "wasn't money" but "to get the story out." Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was set to return to the witness stand when the trial resumes on Thursday.
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