Donald Trump has always denied having a sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels. However, the payment of 130,000 dollars in exchange for the actress’s silence on this subject is not disputed.
AFP
Former porn star Stormy Daniels, central character in Donald Trump’s politically charged trial in New York, gave raw and detailed testimony on Tuesday about the sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with the ex -president of the United States, an episode at the heart of the matter.
His testimony was particularly awaited because Donald Trump, who denies any sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels, is being prosecuted for the concealment of a payment of 130,000 dollars to the actress to buy her silence at the very end of the 2016 presidential campaign .
The hearing took place in a tense atmosphere, and the defense unsuccessfully requested a mistrial of the entire trial, on the grounds that the prosecutors’ questions were out of line and the answers were “extremely prejudicial.” for the Republican candidate for the White House, six months before the November 5 election against the Democratic outgoing Joe Biden.
After the hearing, Donald Trump assured journalists that it was “an important, very revealing day” and that “the case is collapsing.” But he made no comment about Stormy Daniels after the judge threatened him with jail if he attacked witnesses again.
“Very brief meeting”
Nervous but talkative, the 45-year-old actress recounted in great detail that day in 2006 when, on the sidelines of a golf competition, she met Donald Trump, then a figure in the business and jet world. -set.
After “a very brief meeting,” a member of security “said to me ‘Mr. Trump would like to know if you would like to have dinner with him,” she said, in front of jurors who were visibly absorbed, while the person concerned remained impassive. In a black pantsuit, a thick line of eyeliner on her eyes, Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, then remembered the hotel suite “which was three times the size of my apartment” .
The conversation is playful, the billionaire promises him an appearance on his famous reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” she says. Then Stormy Daniels recounts this moment when, coming out of the bathroom, she found Donald Trump undressed on the bed.
“I was ashamed”
“I felt the blood leave my hands, and my feet like when you get up too quickly.” If she did not feel threatened, she assures that the businessman’s intention “was quite clear” and the “balance of power was unbalanced”.
“I ended up having sex with him,” she adds, specifying, at the request of the prosecutor, that Donald Trump did not wear a condom. “I was ashamed of not having stopped it, of not saying no” and “I told very few people,” she added. Judge Juan Merchan seemed annoyed by certain questions from the prosecutor, while Donald Trump’s defense pleaded for the sexual relationship not to be mentioned.
Threatened in Las Vegas
Stormy Daniels says she met Donald Trump a few times again, then had no more contact. According to his account, when the billionaire embarked on the race for the White House, his agent advised him to monetize his story.
In the preceding months, an American tabloid, whose boss was close to Donald Trump, had already paid twice to buy exclusive rights to similar stories, which he had never published. “The money didn’t interest me,” she assures, recounting having been threatened in 2011 by a stranger in a Las Vegas parking lot, so as not to speak.
The $130,000 was paid to Stormy Daniels by the billionaire’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, via a shell company. He was reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s group of companies, the Trump Organization, for expenses counted as “legal fees” which are at the center of the lawsuits.
“Chaos”
Stormy Daniels also recounted the “chaos” that followed in her life when the payment was revealed by the “Wall Street Journal” in January 2018, in the middle of the Trump presidency. “Suddenly, I was at the forefront everywhere,” accused by the president and his supporters of being a liar, she explains.
During her cross-examination, Donald Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, sought to portray her as a venal character, who has every interest in a conviction of the ex-president. She recalled that Stormy Daniels lost a defamation case against Donald Trump and still owes him hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
The actress replied “yes” when the lawyer asked her if she hated Donald Trump. And she says she wants him to go to prison if he is convicted. The tone rose further when the lawyer claimed that she had sought to extort the former president. “False,” replied Stormy Daniels, decidedly. His testimony continues Thursday.
(afp)
