‘I was ashamed for not saying no’: Stormy Daniels describes the sexual relationship she says she had with Trump

She is a central character in the trial of Donald Trump. Former porn star Stormy Daniels gave critical testimony Tuesday about a sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with the former president of the United States. This episode is at the heart of a case pending in New York.

A little nervous, the 45-year-old actress began recounting the day in 2006 when she met Donald Trump, then a leading figure in the business and political world, on the sidelines of a golf competition.

“It was a very short meeting,” and then the security officer “told me: Mr. Trump would like to know if you would like to have dinner with him? “,” she told the jury, who were clearly engrossed in her story. Donald Trump remained impassive as she entered the packed hearing room.

Wearing a black pantsuit and heavy eyeliner, Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she then had a sexual relationship with the billionaire in his hotel room, which the Republican categorically denies. During her testimony, prosecutors showed a now-famous photograph of her and Donald Trump posing together.

“I felt the blood drain from my hands.”

The actress detailed their conversation in the hotel room, “a hotel room that was three times the size of my apartment,” where Donald Trump greeted her “dressed in silk or cotton satin pajamas,” which she mocked. She talks about a rather humorous conversation during which Donald Trump became interested in her. “We don’t sleep in the same room with my wife Melania,” he told her, according to his testimony. The billionaire could appear on his famous reality show The Apprentice.

Then, in response to questioning from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Stormy Daniels recalled the moment she came out of the bathroom and said she found Donald Trump naked on the bed. “I felt the blood leave my arms and legs, like you get up too quickly,” she recalled. If she did not feel threatened, she insists that the businessman’s intentions “were quite clear” and that “the balance of power had been upset.” “I ended up having sex with him,” she adds, likening the situation to a “power outage.” “I was ashamed that I didn’t stop it, that I didn’t say no,” and “I told very few people about it.”

In the tense questioning, Judge Juan Merchan seemed irritated by some of the prosecutor’s questions, and one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Susan Necheles, asked that the sexual relationship not be mentioned. “It’s too harmful,” she added.

Payment of $130,000.

This meeting is at the heart of the case in which Donald Trump is being tried. Ten years later, in the 2016 presidential campaign, Stormy Daniels received $130,000 to remain silent about the episode. The money was paid by the billionaire’s former lawyer Michael Cohen through a shell company. The latter were reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s business group, the Trump Organization, and the costs were recorded as “legal expenses.”

The payment itself is not disputed, but Donald Trump’s lawyers deny any criminal wrongdoing. The latter also always denied a connection with the former American porn star. He criticized her authority and called her a “horse face”.