US adult star says Trump knows 'I'm telling the truth'

Stormy Daniels told 60 Minutes about threat received over alleged affair

Stormy Daniels, an adult film star and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford appeared in a interview on Sunday night. Reuters

Adult film star Stormy Daniels says she was threatened to keep silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006, telling her story in a highly anticipated interview with CBS' 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday night.

Ms Daniels said she was threatened by an unidentified man in Las Vegas to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with the president, an incident that she said happened while she was with her young daughter. She said in the interview that she had one encounter of consensual sex with Mr Trump.

"He knows I’m telling the truth,” said Ms Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She does not allege that she was coerced in her encounter with Mr Trump, saying, “This is not a ‘Me too' [a popular campaign on sexual harrassment]. I was not a victim.”

The adult film actress provided little new evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with Trump but said she faced intimidation tactics aimed at ensuring her silence in 2011.

Ms Daniels said that in the 2011 incident, in a parking lot, the man told her: “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” She said he then looked at her daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”

She received a $130,000 payment days before the 2016 presidential election for her silence and has sought to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement.

_______________

Adult film star sues Trump over 'invalid' hush agreement

Is there hidden meaning behind why Melania Trump wore white?

_______________

The White House did not immediately comment on Sunday on the interview. Mr Trump, through his representatives, has denied the allegations. His attorney Michael Cohen has said the president never had the affair. Mr Cohen has said he paid the $130,000 out of his pocket.

The lawyer has said neither Trump's office nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Daniels and he was not reimbursed for the payment.

Ms Daniels was asked why she is talking now: "Because it was very important to me to be able to defend myself," she said.

"I'm not OK with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, 'Oh, you're an opportunist. You're taking advantage of this.' Yes, I,m getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they've been making, doing the same thing that they've always done?"

The CBS interview came as Mr Trump deals with allegations about his sexual exploits long before he ran for president.

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal told Anderson Cooper in a CNN interview broadcast on Thursday that her affair with Mr Trump began at a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2006. Ms McDougal said she ended the relationship in 2007 out of guilt.

She has filed suit in Los Angeles seeking to invalidate a confidentiality agreement with American Media Inc, the company that owns the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer. It paid her $150,000 during the 2016 presidential election.

The lawsuit alleges that Ms McDougal was paid for the rights to her story of an affair, but the story never ran. It also alleges that Mr Cohen was secretly involved in her discussions with American Media.

The president is also facing a New York defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice. She has accused Mr Trump of unwanted sexual contact in 2007 after she had appeared on the show with him and sued after he dismissed the claims as made-up.

A judge ruled the lawsuit can move forward while the president is in office.