At Trump’s trial, Stormy Daniels describes her alleged sexual relationship with the former president

Former porn star Stormy Daniels, a central figure in the politically charged trial of Donald Trump in New York, gave key testimony Tuesday about a 2006 sexual relationship she claims she had with the former president of the United States at the heart of the matter.

A bit nervous, the 45-year-old actress began to talk in detail about that day in 2006 when she met Donald Trump, then a figure in the business and political world, on the sidelines of a golf competition.

“It was a very short meeting”, then a security guard told me “Mr. Trump would like to know if you would like to have dinner with him,” she said to jurors visibly engrossed in her story. Donald Trump remained impassive when she entered the packed courtroom.

Dressed in a black pantsuit, with a thick line of eyeliner on her eyes, Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she then had sex with the billionaire in his hotel suite, which the Republican categorically denies. During her testimony, prosecutors showed a now-famous photo of her and Donald Trump posing together.

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The actress detailed the conversation they had in the suite, “a hotel room that was three times the size of my apartment,” where Donald Trump met her “dressed in silk or cotton pajamas,” which she mocked. She talks about a rather playful conversation, during which Donald Trump takes an interest in her. “We don’t sleep in the same room” with his wife Melania, she confided in him, according to her testimony.

The billionaire would appear in his famous reality show “The Apprentice”.

Then, answering questions from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, who is leading the examination, Stormy Daniels recounts this moment when, coming out of the bathroom, she said she found Donald Trump naked on the bed.

“I felt the blood leave my hands and my feet like when you stand up too quickly,” she recalled. If she did not feel threatened, she assures that the businessman’s intention “was quite clear” and that “the balance of power was unbalanced.”

“I ended up having sex with him,” she adds, comparing the situation to a “blackout.” “I was ashamed that I didn’t stop it, that I didn’t say no” and “I told a small number of people”.

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In the tense atmosphere of the questioning, Judge Juan Mercan seemed irritated by certain questions from the prosecutor, while one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Susan Necheles, asked not to mention the sexual relationship. “It is excessively harmful,” she added.

The meeting is at the heart of the matter. Ten years later, at the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Stormy Daniels received $130,000 to remain silent about the episode, a payment hidden at the heart of the case.

The money was paid by the billionaire’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, through a fake company. Donald Trump’s business arm, the Trump Organization, reimbursed him in 2017 for expenses billed as “legal fees” that are at the center of the lawsuits.

As of April 15, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee appeared before a jury on 34 counts of falsifying accounting records, which could earn him the first criminal conviction of a former president of the United States and, in theory, prison time.

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The payment itself is not in dispute, but Donald Trump’s lawyers deny any wrongdoing.

Even if he is found guilty, Donald Trump could run on November 5 against Joe Biden.

Since the payment was revealed by the Wall Street Journal in January 2018, in the middle of Donald Trump’s presidency, the latter has always denied a relationship with the former American porn star.

He attacked her credibility and called her a “horse face”.

A judge has banned Donald Trump from publicly attacking witnesses or jurors outside the courtroom and has already imposed ten $1,000 fines, the maximum amount, for as many violations of the ban.

On Monday, he threatened for the second time to shut him down if he did it again.

Challenges with (AFP)