Last updated on May 17th, 2023 at 01:07 am
Who is Stormy Daniels?
Stormy Daniels, born Stephanie Gregory Clifford on March 17, 1979, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is primarily raised by her mother in a single-parent household. She begins her career in the adult film industry in 2002 and quickly becomes one of the most well-known performers in the industry, winning numerous awards for her work.
In addition to her work in the adult film industry, Daniels makes appearances in mainstream media, including a guest appearance on the television show “The Wrong Guy” and a role in the film “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” She also works as a director and producer in the adult film industry.
In 2018 she faces controversy due to her alleged affair with former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2006 and her involvement in a legal case against him and his lawyer, Michael Cohen.
How did it all happen?
Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, is a well-known adult film actress. In 2006, she met Donald Trump at a celebrity golf event in Utah when she was 27 and he was 60. Trump was a New York real estate billionaire and a reality TV star through the NBC show, The Apprentice. Daniels claimed in her memoir, Full Disclosure, that Trump asked her to spank him with a copy of Forbes magazine and even offered her a spot on The Apprentice. Trump also reassured Daniels that he and his wife, Melania, slept in separate beds. They had sex after this encounter. They met again to discuss Trump’s fear of sharks, but they did not have sex again. Daniels attempted to sell the story of their affair in 2011 but was stopped by Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen later paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence during Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to this payment and was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018. Daniels was ordered to pay Trump $300,000 in a defamation suit the same year. In 2021, news broke of an indictment against Trump on 34 counts related to the cheques he sent to Cohen, and both Daniels and Cohen commented on the news.
Stormy Daniels goes public with affair claim:
The alleged affair between Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and former US President Donald Trump broke in January 2018, after the Wall Street Journal reported the existence of a non-disclosure agreement. In a 2011 pre-non-disclosure interview with In Touch, Daniels discussed her alleged sexual encounter with Trump just months after Melania gave birth to their son in 2006. Daniels threatened to cancel her non-disclosure agreement in October 2016 when Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was late in paying her $130,000 hush money. She received the money 10 days later and has since launched a strip club tour called “Making America Horny Again.” Daniels claims the non-disclosure agreement has been voided by Cohen’s admission that he paid her the money, but has not yet revealed all about the alleged affair.
Year by Year update of the Case:
Here are the year-by-year details and updates of the legal battle between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels:
2011:
Stormy Daniels allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, and in 2011 she shopped the story around to various media outlets. However, the story never became public because Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, intervened and negotiated a non-disclosure agreement with Daniels in exchange for a $130,000 payment.
2016:
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Daniels was reportedly offered money by a tabloid magazine in exchange for her story about the alleged affair with Trump, but the magazine did not publish the story.
2018:
In March 2018, Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump and Cohen, seeking to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement. She claimed that the agreement was not valid because Trump had never signed it. Trump and Cohen filed a counterclaim against Daniels, seeking $20 million in damages for breaching the non-disclosure agreement.
In April 2018, FBI agents raided Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room and seized documents related to the non-disclosure agreement. Cohen later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to the payment to Daniels, and he implicated Trump in the scheme.
In July 2018, Daniels was arrested at a strip club in Ohio on charges of touching a patron in violation of state law. The charges were later dropped.
In October 2018, a federal judge dismissed Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump and ordered her to pay Trump’s legal fees.
2019:
In March 2019, Daniels’ former attorney, Michael Avenatti, was arrested on charges of extortion and fraud related to his representation of Daniels and other clients. Avenatti had been involved in publicizing the Daniels-Trump affair and had filed a separate lawsuit against Trump on behalf of Daniels.
2020:
In September 2020, Daniels filed a new lawsuit against Trump and Cohen, alleging that they conspired to defame her and ruin her reputation. She claimed that Trump had falsely accused her of lying about the affair and had suggested that she was a con artist.
2021:
In January 2021, it was reported that federal prosecutors in New York were investigating Trump’s role in the hush money payments to Daniels and other women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. In October 2021, a grand jury indicted Trump’s company and its chief financial officer on charges of tax fraud and other financial crimes, but the charges were not directly related to the Daniels case.
Trump Indictment:
According to March 2023 reports, a grand jury convened by New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg has reportedly voted to bring criminal charges against former US President Donald Trump over the money paid to Ms. Stormy Daniels. This development marks the first time a former US president has faced criminal charges. The details of the charges are not yet known and this is a big question will Donald Trump be indicted or not? However, Mr. Trump has taken to his social media platform, Truth Social, to label the investigation a political witch-hunt and criticize the justice system as corrupt and weaponized.