Porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is at the heart of the years-long investigation into former President Donald Trump’s finances — a probe that led to the unprecedented indictment of Trump earlier this year.
Porn star and director Stormy Daniels says she met President Donald Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006, and the two allegedly began an affair. He was married to Melania Trump at the time, who had just given birth to their son Barron.
Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 so Daniels would keep silent about the alleged affair, which Trump has denied.
In January 2018, news of the hush money broke, and Daniels was thrust into the national spotlight.
Nearly five years after the Manhattan district attorney’s office was reported to be eyeing criminal charges related to the hush-money payment, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump last month at the conclusion of an investigation into the former president’s finances.
The former president surrendered himself on Tuesday where he was booked and arraigned on 34 felony charges.
Here’s what you should know about Stormy Daniels:
Daniels was born and raised in Louisiana.
She started stripping as a teenager and soon entered the porn business.
In 2002, she became the lead actress in a film for Wicked Pictures, a porn movie studio based in California.
She has won numerous awards for her roles as both a performer and a director in adult scenes and films.
She has also had minor roles in more mainstream movies, including “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” and “Finding Bliss.” She appeared in the Maroon 5 music video “Wake Up Call” in 2007.
Sources: The Daily Beast, YouTube
She’s been married four times.
Her current husband is fellow adult film actor Barrett Blade.
Source: Daniels’ Instagram
Before her marriage to Blade and ex-husband Brendan Miller, Daniels stirred a bit of controversy after it was revealed that she was having a baby girl with her former boyfriend.
Source: The Daily Beast
In a 2012 interview, she addressed those who thought she was not fit to be a mother: “It’s just all the negativity towards the adult industry in general, or people’s fear,” she said.
Source: The Daily Beast
In 2009, she considered entering politics and challenging Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who had been accused of engaging with a prostitute, for his seat. She told a reporter at the time that while she doesn’t think she’s the best person for the job, “I just think I’m a better choice than the senator they already have.”
Source: New York Daily News
That same year, she was arrested for a domestic violence misdemeanor following a dispute with her then-husband.
Source: The Huffington Post
She ultimately decided to not run for the Senate.
But in January 2018, she reemerged on the political scene, although perhaps not the way she had planned. The Wall Street Journal reported that she was paid more than $100,000 in hush money over an alleged sexual encounter with President Donald Trump over a decade ago.
Source: WSJ
In an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after Trump’s 2018 State of the Union speech, Daniels refused to answer questions about the payment. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, initially denied the existence of any payment.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
In February 2018, Cohen admitted that he personally paid Daniels the money.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
In response, Daniels’ manager said Cohen’s admission invalidates a non-disclosure agreement her client signed that forbid her from speaking publicly about the money. The manager said things have changed. “Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story.”
Source: Associated Press
Then on March 6, 2018, Daniels sued Trump, arguing that he never signed his portion of the agreement. The lawsuit also said “attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up’ in order to ‘protect Mr. Trump’ continue unabated.”
Source: Business Insider
Daniels began to tell her side of the story about her and Trump’s alleged 2006 affair in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on March 25, 2018.
Source: Business Insider
She told Anderson Cooper a man threatened to keep quiet about her relationship with Trump in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011. Daniels also wouldn’t rule out that there may be photos or videos proving she had an affair with Trump.
Source: Business Insider
In April, 2018, Trump publicly acknowledged the $130,000 payment to Daniels for the first time by denying he knew about the payment or where the money came from.
Source: Business Insider
The FBI seized records of the $130,000 payment to Daniels and recordings of phone calls between Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer during a raid on Cohen’s office and home in April 2018.
Source: Business Insider
Also in that month, Daniels released a sketch of the man she says threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot to stay quiet about her affair with Trump in 2011.
Source: Business Insider
Outside of a Manhattan courthouse, Daniels said Cohen “acted like he is above the law” and “played by a different set of rules.” “That ends now,” Daniels said.
Source: Business Insider
In a stunning admission, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president was aware of the $130,000 payment to Daniels at the time and reimbursed Cohen in installments over several months as part of Cohen’s salary.
Source: Business Insider
In a highly criticized statement, Giuliani took aim at Daniels’ credibility: “If you’re a feminist and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials. I respect women—beautiful women and women with value — but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don’t respect.”
Source: Business Insider
Cohen said in his guilty plea that Trump directed him to make the illegal campaign contribution to Daniels in order to influence the election. Trump has called Cohen a liar, and accused him of making up the story to get a plea deal.
Source: Business Insider
The hush-money trial kicked off April 15, 2024, and Daniel took the stand on Tuesday.
Daniels’ testimony included new details about when she says she met Trump at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006. She said she went to his hotel suite that night after accepting a dinner invitation.
Daniels testified that she and Trump had sex and that afterward, she felt scared and ashamed.
She said she and Trump kept in touch afterward and even met in person occasionally, though she said they did not have sex again.
In her cross-examination of Daniels, Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, said, “Am I correct that you hate President Trump?”
“Correct,” Daniels said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
