Who Is Stormy Daniels? The Porn Star Who Testified About Sex With Trump; Here’s All About Hush-Money Trial

Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be convicted of a felony after a grand jury in New York found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In the historic verdict, a panel of 12 Manhattan jurors  said they unanimously agreed that Trump, 77, falsified business records to conceal a USD 130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to influence the 2016 contest. Over a six-week trial, the court heard from 22 witnesses, including Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with the former president was at the centre of the case.

The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial thanked the jury on Thursday for their service and giving the case the “attention it deserved.” “You were engaged in a difficult and stressful task,” Judge Juan Merchan said after the jury convicted the former US president of 34 counts of falsifying business records. “You gave this matter the attention it deserved.” Meanwhile, the former president said the “real verdict” would be the US election in November.

Here’s all about Stormy Daniels – the porn star whom Trump’s lawyer allegedly paid to keep quiet about a sexual affair and the Hush Money case.

Who is Stormy Daniels

Stephanie Clifford, popularly known as Stormy Daniels, is a 45-year-old adult film star and director hailing from Louisiana. Despite her success in the adult entertainment industry, she also made notable appearances in mainstream Hollywood films such as ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up’. Daniels dabbled into politics, previously aligning herself with the Republican party, the same as former President Trump.

Daniels testified that she grew up with a single, neglectful mother in Louisiana on a low income. Despite these obstacles, she excelled academically, graduating in the top 10% of her high school class. She aspired to study veterinary medicine but couldn’t afford university. To support herself, she started working as an exotic dancing at 17 and later ventured into nude modeling and adult films.

She said she became one of the youngest female porn directors, won many industry awards.

Daniels said that Donald Trump once told her in 2006 that having sex with him was the only way she would get out of the “trailer park.” Nearly two decades later, she testified against Trump as a crucial witness for the prosecutors who won the first-ever criminal conviction of a former U.S. president.

About the Hush Money Case

• In 2006, Donald Trump allegedly has an affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels, not long after marrying former nude model Melania Trump.
• In 2007, Daniels appears in the mainstream Hollywood movie “Knocked Up.” Actor Seth Rogen later says Daniels told others on the set about her affair with Trump.
• In 2011, Daniels gives an interview to the supermarket tabloid InTouch and tells them about the affair.
• In 2016 -Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, allegedly pays Daniels money to keep silent about her relationship with Trump in the months leading up to his presidential campaign. She recieves the money and signs an NDA days before the 2016 presidential election.
• In 2018, The Wall Street Journal is first to report that Trump allegedly paid Daniels USD 130,000 in hush money via Cohen. A month later, Cohen acknowledges paying Daniels but says it was from his own pocket.
• Daniels then sues Trump, wanting to invalidate the NDA. She appears on ’60 Minutes’ with salacious and details about the affair, triggering blowback.
• In 2018, Daniels recalled how an unknown man had approached her and her infant daughter in a Las Vegas parking lot seven years earlier and told her to “leave Trump alone”.
• Trump then claims to be unaware of Cohen’s hush money payment to Daniels. Federal authorities launch a probe into Cohen, raiding his offices in New York.
• Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s new lawyer, tells Sean Hannity and Fox News that Trump reimbursed Cohen for hush money paid on his behalf. Trump acknowledges he paid Cohen for the hush money paid to women on his behalf for the first time.
• In August 2028, Michael Cohen pleads guilty to federal charges related to the hush-money payments to Daniels and others. He was sentenced to 3 years in prision for the scandal.
• In 2023, Trump’s current lawyer gives preview into a possible defense against Manhattan charges, claiming hush-money payment was “not a crime.”
• In March, Trump, in a social media post, says he expects to be arrested on March 21 and calls on his supporters to protest. (He was not arrested on the 21st.)
• In April, 2024 Jury selection for Trump’s hush money trial begins, marking the first time a former U.S. president has stood trial on criminal charges.
• May, 2024, Trump is found guilty of all 34 felony charges related to the hush money payments.Judge Juan Merchan schedules Trump’s sentencing for July 11, 2024.