Stormy Daniels on 60 Minutes: Adult film star says she was threatened and told to 'leave Trump alone' over alleged affair - as it happened
Mr Trump and the White House have denied the affair took place
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Your support makes all the difference.After months of headline grabbing intrigue, adult film actress Stormy Daniels has spoken publicly about an alleged affair with President Donald Trump in her first televised interview.
Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, appeared appear on CBS’s 60 Minutes, interviewed by longtime host Anderson Cooper. The interview, which was actually taped earlier this month, was broadcast even though Mr Trump’s lawyers had sought to stop the interview from being made public.
Ms Daniels claimed in the in interview that she was threatened with physical violence after she first attempted to go public with the story by a man who told her: “Leave Trump alone.”
She claimed the encounter took place in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, some time after she had arranged for the story of an alleged sexual dalliance with Mr Trump to be sold to a magazine. Ms Daniels said was on her way to a fitness class with her infant daughter when she said she was accosted.
“A guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,’” she said. Ms Daniels then claimed the man, who she could not identify, “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 mom.’ And then he was gone.”
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Ms Daniels received $130,000 from a company established by Trump attorney Michael Cohen just before the 2016 presidential election. Mr Cohen said the money came from his own funds and denies it being paid on behalf of the president.
Ms Daniels told Anderson Cooper that the agreement was appealing because it meant she would receive some money but also not have to worry about the effect the revelation of the alleged affair would have on her child. She signed the agreement 11 days before the election.
Earlier this month Ms Daniels launched a lawsuit against Mr Trump and Mr Cohen claiming the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) she signed about the alleged 2006 affair is void as Mr Trump did not sign it.
Attorneys defending Mr Trump and Mr Cohen's company have filed to move the lawsuit against their clients to federal court and are claiming she could owe in excess of $20 million for violating the NDA.
In their filing, the Trump and Cohen attorneys say that Ms Daniels agreed to pay $1 million for “each breach,” and and allege that 20 such breaches have taken place.
Ms Daniels has offered to return the money paid in the "hush agreement" in order to speak freely about her alleged relationship with Trump.
Mr Trump, through the White House and his representatives, has denied that the affair took place.
But, I will start with the opening of the transcript, while we wait.
The biggest thing out of the transcript appears to be that Ms Daniels tells Anderson Cooper that she was threatened in 2011 by a man in Las Vegas.
"I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter...
"And a guy walked up on me 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 mom.' And then he was gone."
Ms Daniels said that threat came sometime after she agreed to tell her story to a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000 dollars. The story was not published at that time.
There is no indication of who the man might be, and Ms Daniels says she has not seen him again.
When a gossip website ran a story about an alleged affair a few months later, she Ms Daniels publicly denied it
Fast forward to 2016 and In return for signing a non-disclosure agreement, Michael Cohen would pay her $130,000 dollars through a Delaware-based limited liability corporation he had established in mid-October 2016 called Essential Consultants.
Ms Daniels will tell Anderson Cooper that the agreement was appealing because it meant she would receive some money but also not have to worry about the effect the revelation of the affair would have on her child who was now old enough to watch the news. She signed the agreement 11 days before the election.
OK, basketball all over after overtime. Sure there were quite a few new basketball fans tuning in at the end there.
We will be getting the full interview, rather than just the transcript, once the advert break is over
Here we go. Ms Daniels says that she does not want to be used by other people's agendas, which Cooper says she has been.
She mentions the #MeToo campaign, and says that she should not be mentioned in the same breath as her as she "was not a victim".
About an alleged meeting at a hotel suite in 2006, she talks about how she got Mr Trump to turn around and drop his trousers (although she said he kept up his underwear) and she "swatted him a couple of times" with a magazine.
She then talks about allegedly having sex with Mr Trump, saying that she wasn't attracted to Mr Trump, and did not particularly want to have sex - but did so.
She says she was "not a victim" and it was completely consensual.
Anderson Cooper notes that Melania Trump had recently given birth just a few months before. "Did he mention his wife or child at all in this?" Cooper says. "
"I asked. And he brushed it aside, he said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even, we have separate rooms and stuff"' Ms Daniels said.
Donald Trump has denied having sex with Ms Daniels
In July 2007, a year after they met, Ms Daniels says Mr. Trump asked to meet with her privately at his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss a development about a possible appearance on Celebrity Apprentice.
Ms Daniels: I remember arriving, and he was watching Shark Week. He made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks.
Anderson Cooper: It wasn't at that point a business meeting, it was just watching Shark Week.
Ms Daniels: Yeah.
Anderson Cooper: Did you have sex with him again?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Did he want to?
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: How do you know he wanted to?
Stormy Daniels: Because he came and sat next to me and, you know, touched my hair, and put his hand on my leg, and r-- referenced back to how great it was the last time.
Anderson Cooper: How did you get out of it?
Stormy Daniels: Well, I'd been there for, like, four hours. And so I then was like, "Well, before, you know, can we talk about what's the development?" And he was like, "I'm almost there. I'll have an answer for you next week." And I was like, "Okay, cool. Well-- I guess call me next week." And I just took my purse and left.