Stormy Daniels explains the affair between Donald Trump and a pornstar
Donald Trump did an about-face in his defense against the accusations of porn actress Stormy Daniels: he now admits to having bought his silence for 130,000 dollars just before the 2016 presidential election, about their alleged relationship in 2006.
It is an alleged relationship that turned into a politico-media scandal, coupled with legal proceedings. Donald Trump is in trouble in what observers call the "Stormygate," the Stormy Daniels affair, named after the pornographic actress who says she had sex with the current President of the United States in 2006. Stephanie Clifford, whose real name is, in early March filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles to invalidate the confidentiality agreement of November 2016 that binds her to Donald Trump's personal lawyer. An agreement at 130,000 dollars concluded a few days before the US presidential election ...
What would have happened between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels
The encounter
It all started in July 2006 during a posh golf tournament organized on the shores of Lake Tahoe, which marks the border between California and Nevada. At that time, businessman Donald Trump was a hit with the reality show The Apprentice, launched two years earlier. He has been married to Melania Trump since January 2005 and has just had with her a son, Barron Trump, born in March 2006. But on the Tahoe green, he meets Stormy Daniels, 27, who has already died. made a name for itself in pornographic cinema.
The actress recounted having first turned him down during their first conversation and pretended to spank him with a magazine he appeared in front page. Before finally going for a ride with him in his cart and spending the evening with him, where they allegedly had sex. The two would then have remained in contact in 2006 and "a good part" of 2007, mainly, according to her, because Donald Trump dangled her a place in his show, a promise that has not been followed up. They wouldn't have spoken to each other afterwards.
The threats
Things would have stayed there until 2011 and an interview that Stephanie Clifford gives to In Touch magazine, for $ 15,000. The porn star reveals her relationship with Donald Trump but the interview will never be published. On the other hand, she now claims to have been threatened physically at that time. While in a Las Vegas parking lot with her a few months old daughter, she was reportedly approached by a stranger who said to her, "Leave Trump alone. Forget this story" then "It's a very pretty little girl, it would be a shame if something happened to her mother ".
Stormy Daniels said she did not contact police out of "fear" and did not identify the individual. But according to his lawyer, Michael Avenatti, there can be no doubt about "the source of this threat", thereby targeting the Trump clan.
The financial agreement
The third part of this case takes place on October 28, 2016, ten days before the US presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. That day, Stormy Daniels signed a confidentiality clause with Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, never to evoke his old history with the one who was to be elected President of the United States. A transfer of $ 130,000 is made in favor of the actress, named in the agreement under the name of Peggy Peterson.
Beyond the mores affair, the question therefore arises as to whether the payment of this sum violated the law on electoral financing, as the association for monitoring good electoral practices, Common Cause, believes. complaint. According to her, the sum should indeed have been included in the campaign accounts of the Republican candidate "because the funds were used in order to influence" the poll.
How Donald Trump changed his defense
The affair broke publicly on January 12 when the Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of this agreement of 130,000 dollars in exchange for the silence of the actress. The reaction of the White House comes the same day, through a press release that denies any sexual meeting between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels. This is the start of a series of muddles and twists in the defense of the president's camp:
- On February 14, lawyer Michael Cohen confirms this payment without giving the reason. He assures that it is his personal funds and that he has not been reimbursed by Donald Trump. In the meantime, these revelations have grown thicker with the broadcast of the interview with Stormy Daniels carried out in 2011, followed by the complaint of the association Common Cause.
- On March 7, the case takes a judicial turn with a first complaint filed by the actress. The goal for her is to have the confidentiality clause invalidated because Donald Trump himself did not initial it. This complaint is also a response to the press release from Michael Cohen, since the latter revealed "the existence of a confidentiality agreement without the consent" of the person concerned. She therefore no longer feels bound by this text and, according to her lawyer, is ready to return the money. Once again, the White House ensures that Donald Trump "denies" all the accusations of the actress.
- First TV interview with Stormy Daniels since the case began, March 25 on CBS. The actress confirms what has already been said by her lawyer, namely her consensual sexual relationship with Donald Trump in 2006, and details the threats of 2011. CBS ensures that it is indeed Michael Cohen who threatened at the time the In Touch magazine of prosecution if it aired the interview. Once again, the White House "strongly and clearly" denies these claims.
- In turn, the American president is speaking for the first time on this subject. On April 5 on board Air Force One, he said he was ignorant of the agreement and the payment of $ 130,000. It is immediately denied by the accuser who demands her testimony under oath. Stormy Daniels, however, had just been dismissed on this subject by a federal judge in Los Angeles.
- On April 26 on Fox News, Donald Trump affirms that his lawyer represented him well in "this crazy Stormy Daniels affair", without specifying his point. Michael Cohen is a little more in the crosshairs of justice since the search on April 10 of his office and home, with the seizure of "several electronic devices and documents" without their content having been specified. The lawyer also invoked the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution which gives him the right to refuse to testify so as not to risk self-incrimination.
- May 2, twist: member of the president's team of lawyers, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani assures us that Donald Trump has finally reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $ 130,000 he himself had paid. But assures that this money "was not campaign money". The next day, the manager confirmed this turnaround with a series of tweets. According to him, this transaction "was used to put an end to the false and extorting accusations which she made about an affair despite having previously signed a detailed letter admitting that there had been no affair".
What can happen now?
The show should continue by July 27, the date of the next hearing in Los Angeles. Judge S. James Otero agreed last week to postpone the hearing of Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen for 90 days. But Stormy Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, has indicated his intention to appeal the ruling.
Donald Trump's change of defense line is in any case a boon for the accuser, who can claim that the president lied at least about his knowledge of the agreement. The actress also implied that if this agreement was invalidated by justice, she could then "publish any messages, photos and / or videos related to the president that she may have in her possession, without fear of reprisals nor legal consequences ".
Stormy Daniels also filed a second lawsuit last week, this time for defamation in federal court in New York. This would follow a tweet from Donald Trump calling Stormy Daniels' approach an "absolute scam". In her summons, she estimates that in view of the 50 million people who follow her account on Twitter, the damage suffered is estimated at "more than $ 75,000".
Finally, Michael Cohen is himself the subject of a criminal investigation in Manhattan, as part of Special Prosecutor's Robert Mueller's investigations into a possible collusion between Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia in 2016. C ' It is in this context that the search of its offices had been carried out, without it being known to date whether the elements seized could be exploited within the framework of the "Stormy Gate".
Note that this is not the only alleged mistress to threaten Donald Trump: a former playmate of Playboy magazine, Karen McDougal, has just been released Wednesday from her confidentiality commitment by the press group AMI, which had bought it. exclusivity, and will now be able to publicly tell about his supposed affair with Donald Trump. Liaison which, too, would have taken place for "10 months in 2006 and 2007" ...
