Trump trial latest: Judge threatens former president with jail if he disrupts hush money case again – Sky News
Donald Trump is back in court today for his hush money trial, the first criminal case against a former US president. Stormy Daniels herself is testifying – and is telling the jury how they first met in a “brief encounter”.
Tuesday 7 May 2024 16:23, UK
Stormy Daniels says Donald Trump would ask her questions about her magazine covers and then “not let her finish the answer”.
“It was almost like he wanted to one up me, which is really hilarious if you think about it, to talk about himself,” she says.
Ms Daniels describes how she became frustrated at one point as Trump pulled out a magazine while they were speaking, saying she had had enough of his “arrogance”.
“Someone should spank you with that,” she recalls telling him.
“I was like ‘are you always this rude, arrogant and pompous?’ I snapped,” she says.
Trump then rolled up the magazine and “gave me the look”, Ms Daniels tells the court.
“So I took it from him and I said turn around, and I swatted him right on the butt… and he was much more polite,” she says.
Asked what happened after Donald Trump returned in a dress shirt after she’d asked him to change, Stormy Daniels said they sat at a dining room table.
Trump was sat across from her with his back against the wall and she was sitting with the living room and bar area behind her, she recalls.
“It wasn’t even dark outside just yet, still some light coming through windows. He wanted to talk first before we went down for dinner since it was early,” Ms Daniels tells the court.
Asked what kind of things they discussed, she says it began as a “getting to know you” conversation, about her early life, growing up and any relationships.
Ms Daniels says Trump was “very interested” in how she went from being a porn star to writing and directing, and also asked her questions about the adult film industry.
The former president asked a series of questions about the business side of the industry, including how much she was paid, if she was offered health insurance and if she had a union.
He also asked her if she’d been tested for sexually transmitted diseases, she says.
Stormy Daniels is asked to describe what happened when she first encountered Donald Trump at a hotel suite.
“I said hello,” she tells the court, and describes how Trump was wearing silk or satin pyjamas.
She recalls making fun of him and saying: “Does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pyjamas?”
Ms Daniels said Trump “very politely” agreed to change at her request.
The hotel room was “three times the size” of her flat with “heavy, beautiful furniture”, she says.
Asked if she’d discussed with anyone else that Donald Trump had been interested in having dinner with her, Stormy Daniels says she told her publicist Mike.
She explained that he suggested dinner with the former president as a way of getting out of a meal that night she didn’t want to go to.
Ms Daniels said her publicist had told her “if nothing else you’ll get a great story.
“He’s a business guy.What could possibly go wrong?” she says.
It was later arranged for her to see Trump for dinner that evening.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks what her expectations were for the evening.
“I didn’t really have expectations other than what [Trump’s bodyguard] said… we would go downstairs to one of the nice hotel restaurants.”
Jurors are shown a well-known photo of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels. In the picture, Trump is wearing a yellow polo shirt and Ms Daniels is wearing a black cami top.
Ms Daniels confirms it is a photo of the ex-president at the Lake Taho golf course.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then pulls up another photo of Trump at the golf course that day.
Asked what Trump’s bodyguard said to her in the gift room, Ms Daniels says: “That Mr Trump was interested in having me join him for dinner.”
She explains that she “wasn’t interested” and said “no with an expletive in front”, but gave her number to the bodyguard, whose contact she saved in her phone.
A photo of this contact in Ms Daniels’ mobile, saved as “Keith Trump”, is also shown to court.
Stormy Daniels said she and Donald Trump met again on that day in July 2006, in the gift room of the golf course.
She tells the court she saw Trump speaking to another man, and that someone then told her that Trump wanted to know if she’d have dinner with him.
Asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger to identify him in the court, Ms Daniels leans out of her seat and points to Trump “in the blue jacket”.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking Stormy Daniels about the day she met Donald Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Ms Daniels, who was 27 at the time, says she was working for adult film company Wicked Pictures, and would pose with celebrities at one hole of the course.
“Did you meet Donald Trump on the golf course at that celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe?” asks Ms Hoffinger.
“Yes I did… it was a very brief encounter,” Ms Daniels responds. She says they didn’t discuss “very much”, but recalls the former president saying: “Oh you direct, too – you must be smart.”
Asked what she knew about Trump at the time, she says she was aware he was a golfer and had a TV show [Celebrity Apprentice].
“I knew he was as old as my father. 60?” she says.
Stormy Daniels says as well as her adult film work, she has directed music videos, written books, hosted comedy shows and hosted a podcast.
She tells the court she was fired from the podcast as she was reluctant to speak about “just that one narrative”.
“I was told I could talk about a variety of things and it kept going down that one subject line,” she says.
Asked how she came to start nude modelling, Stormy Daniels said she wanted “a reason to come in and be the star” like those who did shows at the clubs where she worked.
“You had to have credits so I started posing to get the accolades,” she says.
She says she was 21 when she started this line of work.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then asks how she started in the porn industry.
Ms Daniels explains that the people who made the most money were those who did adult films – but recalls that she was “so scared” when she did her first shoot at the age of 23.
Stormy Daniels says she worked at a stable where her horses boarded while she was at high school, and later got into dancing at the age of 17.
She tells the court that she started dancing on the weekends as no one ever checked her ID.
“I made more in two nights than I did shovelling manure eight hours a day,” Ms Daniels says.
She then describes how she moved away from home at the age of 17 and has supported herself ever since.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free