Porn star Stormy Daniels says she spanked Donald Trump and he told her: 'You remind me of Ivanka' as actress opens up on 'affair'

David Gardner26 March 2018

Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen were accused of “thuggish behaviour” today over alleged attempts to stop porn star Stormy Daniels from going public with claims she had an affair with the married tycoon.

In a TV interview last night Ms Daniels, 39, claimed she slept with Mr Trump in 2006 and was threatened with physical harm in a Las Vegas car park in 2011 if she went public over the alleged tryst.

Her own lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Mr Trump’s lawyers have claimed she is liable for damages “in excess of $20 million” for violating a non-disclosure agreement she signed in exchange for £92,000 days before Mr Trump was elected president in November 2016.

Mr Avenatti said: “This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behaviour from people in power.”

Ms Daniels, 39, claimed she slept with Mr Trump in 2006 and was threatened with physical harm
REUTERS

The interviewer on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, asked Mr Avenatti if the president’s lawsuit was an attempt at intimidation.

Mr Avenatti responded: “There’s no question. You threaten someone with a $20 million lawsuit, it’s a thuggish tactic. It’s no different than what happened in the parking lot in Las Vegas.”

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said that in 2011, weeks after she told her story to the magazine In Touch, a man approached her in the car park as she was about to go into an exercise class with her young daughter.

Ms Daniels said she was threatened with physical harm in a Las Vegas car park in 2011 if she went public over the alleged tryst

She said: “A guy walked up and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone — forget the story,’ and then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mum.’” Mr Cooper asked: “You took it as a direct threat?” She replied: “Absolutely. I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class, and my hands are shaking so much.” She said she was too scared to tell the police but would “instantly” recognise the man if she saw him again.

After the CBS interview aired, a lawyer for Mr Cohen said he had nothing to do with the alleged threat, accused Ms Daniels and Mr Avenatti of defaming him and demanded a public apology. Ms Daniels was the second woman in four days to detail her alleged affair with the president, 71, who married his third wife, Melania, 47, in 2005. A former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, 47, said she had unprotected sex “countless” times with him during a 10-month affair from 2006 to 2007.

Stormy Daniels claimed she had a sexual relationship with Mr Trump, which he has strongly denied
Getty Images

Both she and Ms Daniels are suing to break confidentiality agreements, claiming they were tricked into deals. Mr Trump has denied their claims.

Ms Daniels has previously denied having a sexual relationship with Mr Trump but told CBS that she had lied. She claimed she was told: “They can make your life hell in many different ways.” Asked why she decided to speak out on TV, she said it was “very important to me to be able to defend myself. I’m not okay with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money.”

She said she was 27 and Mr Trump was 60 at the time of the “entirely consensual” fling, which was like a “business deal” for her to go on his reality show The Apprentice.

She said she first met him at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, in July 2006 and ended up joining him for dinner and going to his hotel suite. She claimed she came out of the bathroom to find him sitting on the side of the bed. “I realised exactly what I had gotten myself into. And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go,’ ” she said. She said she was not attracted to him but added: “This is not a ‘MeToo.’ I was not a victim. I’ve never said I was a victim.”

She laughed as she said Mr Trump showed her a copy of Forbes magazine featuring his photograph on the front cover. She said: “I was like, ‘Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.’”

She said Mr Trump feigned shock then “turned around and pulled his pants [trousers] down a little — you know, he had underwear on and stuff, and I just gave him a couple of swats. From that moment, he was a completely different person.”

She said he told her: “You remind me of my daughter… you’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you.” In her own TV interview days earlier, Ms McDougal also said Mr Trump likened her to his daughter Ivanka, 36.

Ms Daniels said Mr Trump phoned her several times and discussed getting together to discuss an appearance on The Apprentice but she did not sleep with him again. She said he waved off questions about Melania and their son Barron, who was born in March 2006. “He brushed it aside, said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don’t worry about that. We don’t even — we have separate rooms and stuff,’” she said.

During a second meeting in July 2007, allegedly at Mr Trump’s bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, she said he “made me watch an entire documentary about shark attacks” before fobbing her off again about the TV appearance.

She said he told her: “I’m almost there. I’ll have an answer for you next week.” She said: “I was like, ‘OK, cool. Well — I guess call me next week.’ And I took my purse and left.”

She said she did not meet Mr Trump again but that he continued to call her until 2010. In 2011 she sold her account of the alleged affair to In Touch for £10,500.

However, the story never ran because Mr Cohen threatened to sue if it was published. The magazine eventually published her full interview in January this year.

Mr Trump has not responded to the latest allegations. He was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida over the weekend but returned to the White House before the 60 Minutes interview aired. Mrs Trump remained in Florida.

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