Stormy Daniels describes alleged sex with Trump in hush money trial

Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the center of the historic criminal case against Donald Trump, testified Tuesday – at times in considerable detail – about an alleged sexual encounter with the former president in 2006 in a hotel penthouse suite.

Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels on the eve of his election against Hillary Clinton in 2016, when the lurid story of marital infidelity ravaged his campaign could have failed.

“People call Stormy Daniels,” said prosecutor Susan Hoffinger as Trump, who is aiming to retake the White House in November, sat flanked by his lawyers at the defense table in the Manhattan courtroom.

What followed was a detailed statement about the sexual encounter Daniels allegedly had with Trump — his boxer shorts, the sexual position, his not wearing a condom — all while the former president watched in silence, stone-faced.

Trump has denied the affair and his defense team has tried – unsuccessfully – to get a mistrial, citing the “extremely prejudicial” nature of Daniels’ testimony.

Speaking to reporters after the day’s hearing, Trump called the case a “disgrace” and said he “should be on the campaign trail now.”

Judge Juan Merchan has issued a restraining order against Trump that bars him from publicly attacking witnesses, and the ex-president did not directly comment on Daniels’ appearance on the witness stand.

Trump faces four criminal charges, and he received a dose of good news on Tuesday when a federal judge in Florida indefinitely postponed the start of his trial on charges of mishandling classified documents.

District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, said the scheduled May 20 trial date was not possible because of the number of pretrial motions. She has not set a new trial date.

– “The intention was pretty clear” –

The extraordinary court battle between Daniels and Trump comes six months before Election Day, when he will try to defeat President Joe Biden.

Daniels, 45, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, where she was employed as a greeter at the adult film company Wicked Entertainment.

She is 27 years old and Trump is “probably older than my father,” she said.

Daniels said she reluctantly agreed to have dinner with the real estate tycoon after discussing it with her publicist.

When she arrived at Trump’s penthouse, he came out wearing “silk or satin pajamas, which I immediately made fun of,” Daniels told the jury.

“I said, ‘Does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?'” she said, referring to the outfit favored by the late Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

Trump changed clothes and they talked about adult films, Daniels said, adding that he was “very interested in a lot of business things.”

Trump, who was married to his wife Melania at the time, suggested Daniels appear on his hit reality TV show “The Apprentice,” she said.

Daniels said she went to the bathroom once and when she came out, Trump was lying on the bed in his boxers and a T-shirt.

“It scared me,” she said. “The intent was pretty clear.

“I was not threatened verbally or physically.”

She said they had brief sex on the bed “in the missionary position” and that Trump wasn’t wearing a condom.

“I was ashamed that I didn’t stop and didn’t say no,” she said.

– ‘Chaos’ –

Daniels said she had met Trump on several other occasions but cut off contact when it became clear she would not be appearing on “The Apprentice.”

After Trump announced his candidacy for president, she said her publicist put her in touch with Keith Davidson, a Hollywood lawyer, to sell her story.

“My motivation was not money, but to spread the story,” Daniels said.

Davidson eventually negotiated a nondisclosure agreement with Cohen, Trump’s fixer, in October 2016, on the eve of the presidential election, for which she was paid $130,000.

Daniels said her life fell into “chaos” in 2018 when the Wall Street Journal published a report about her tryst with Trump in 2006.

During a tense cross-examination, Trump attorney Susan Necheles tried to damage Daniels’ credibility by accusing her of trying to “extort” money from Trump.

“Wrong,” Daniels said.

“You made money by claiming you had sex with Donald Trump?” Necheles said.

“No,” Daniels replied, “I made money by telling what happened to me.”

In addition to the cases in New York and Florida, Trump was indicted in Washington and Georgia on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results.

The hush money trial is scheduled to continue Thursday after a one-day break with Daniels’ return to the witness stand.

gw/cl/des