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Porn Star Testifies Against Trump At Hush Money Trial

Published

1 year ago

May 8, 2024

The porn star at the heart of Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial, Stormy Daniels, testified on Tuesday about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the former president in a hotel penthouse suite.

Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels on the eve of his 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, when the lurid story of marital infidelity could have sunk his campaign.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger announced “The people call Stormy Daniels,” as Trump, who is seeking to recapture the White House in November, sat at the defense table in the Manhattan courtroom flanked by his lawyers, AFP reports.

What followed was detailed testimony about the sexual encounter Daniels said she had with Trump – his pajamas, his boxer shorts, the sexual position, that he did not wear a condom – all while the former president, sitting just feet away, stared on in silence, stony-faced.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, and his defense team sought, unsuccessfully, to have a mistrial declared.

The extraordinary courtroom face-off comes six months before election day when Trump will try to defeat Democratic President Joe Biden.

Daniels walked prosecutors through her difficult childhood in Louisiana, a stint as a stripper and her eventually joining the adult film industry.

The 45-year-old, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe where she was employed as a greeter by X-rated movie company Wicked Entertainment.

Daniels said she was 27 at the time and Trump was “probably older than my father.”

She said a member of Trump’s security detail told her the real estate tycoon wanted to have dinner with her. She was reluctant but agreed after discussing it with her publicist.

When she arrived at the penthouse where Trump was staying he emerged wearing “silk or satin pajamas which I immediately made fun of,” Daniels told the jury.

“I said ‘Does Mr Hefner know you stole his pajamas?’” she said in a reference to the outfit favored by the late Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

Trump changed clothes and they began talking about adult movies.

“He was very interested in a lot of the business stuff,” Daniels said.

Trump, who was married at the time to his current wife, Melania, suggested Daniels be on his hit reality television show, “The Apprentice,” she said.

Daniels said she went to the bathroom at one point and when she emerged Trump was on the bed in boxer shorts and a T-shirt.

“It startled me,” she said. “The intention was pretty clear.”

“I was not threatened verbally or physically,” Daniels said, although there was an “imbalance of power.”

She said they had brief sex on the bed “in missionary position” and Trump did not wear a condom.

“I felt ashamed I didn’t stop it, didn’t say no,” Daniels said.

Daniels said she met with Trump again on several occasions but cut off contact when it became clear she would not appear on “The Apprentice.”

After Trump announced his candidacy for president, Daniels said her publicist suggested she could sell her story and put her in touch with Keith Davidson, a Hollywood lawyer who testified previously at the trial.

“My motivation wasn’t money, it was to get the story out,” Daniels said.

She said she entered into a non-disclosure agreement in October 2016 on the eve of the presidential election negotiated by Davidson and Cohen for which she was paid $130,000.

“I couldn’t tell my story, he couldn’t tell the story,” she said.

After a lunch break, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to declare a mistrial, objecting to some of Daniels’ testimony, particularly her claim that she was threatened in 2011 by a man in a Las Vegas parking garage who allegedly warned her not to talk about Trump.

“It’s extremely prejudicial to insert safety concerns into a trial about business records,” Blanche said.

Merchan denied the motion, saying “I don’t think we have reached a point where a mistrial is in order.”

Trump is under a partial gag order prohibiting him from publicly attacking witnesses, the jury or court staff.

Merchan has already fined him $10,000 for breaching the gag order and warned Trump he may face jail time for future violations.

Headline

Alarming Food Shortage Forces People To Eat Animal Feed In Sudan

Published

15 minutes ago

August 8, 2025

Editor

Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a “gender emergency” in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.

Particularly hard hit is El Fasher, where hunger is growing, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warning of a deteriorating situation that is putting even more civilians’ lives at risk.

UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq disclosed the alarming shortages of food in the war-torn country on Thursday at the UN Headquarters in New York.

“With increasingly alarming food shortages and spiralling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation,” Haq said.

El Fasher has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide at nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families.

This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country, Haq said.

“These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation,” he added.

He noted that engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is “more important than ever”.

Similarly, OCHA’s Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said the suffering was immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to face communities in ruins.

She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship.

Warnings also came from UN Women, the gender equality agency of the UN.

“This crisis is a gender emergency,” Salvator Nkurunziza, the agency’s representative in Sudan, said.

“Displaced women and girls can be subject to the risks of exploitation and abuse, especially during the delivery of aid, where protection mechanisms are weak or absent in some locations.”

NAN

Headline

30 Injured As Train Derails In Iran

Published

24 minutes ago

August 8, 2025

Editor

A train derailed in the southern Iranian province of Kerman on Friday, injuring more than two dozen people though no deaths were reported, according to local media.

“Thirty people were injured when a train derailed on the Kerman-Zarand railway path,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.

A statement from the public relations office of the national railway body carried by the Tasnim news agency reported that after “the timely arrival of railway technical personnel and rescue forces, all passengers safely exited the train”.

Train derailments are not uncommon in Iran, and while they do not generally result in deaths, there have been fatal disasters in the past.

In June 2022, 21 people were killed and dozens were injured when a train derailed near the central Iranian city of Tabas after hitting an excavator beside the track.

In 2016, two trains collided and caught fire in northern Iran, killing 44 people and injuring scores.

AFP

Headline

Authorities Order Evacuations In Los Angeles Zones As Wildfire Spreads

Published

26 minutes ago

August 8, 2025

Editor

A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations in two US counties, scorching nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), authorities said Friday.

At least 10 zones in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were under evacuation orders, with 2,700 residents displaced as of 11 pm (0600 GMT) Thursday, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd told AFP.

At least 400 personnel have been deployed to contain the fire, according to Dowd.

The blaze erupted as firefighters battled a separate wildfire — California’s largest of the year so far — which raged for an eighth straight day and engulfed more than 99,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, threatening hundreds of homes.

The latest fire has so far burned 4,856 acres and remains zero percent contained, Dowd said.

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the area, urged residents to heed evacuation guidelines.

“The #CanyonFire is spreading fast under extreme heat & dry conditions near Ventura–LA County line,” Barger wrote on X.

“If you’re in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously — when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep aware–please don’t risk lives.”

The fires follow a July blaze that scorched more than 70,000 acres and needed hundreds of firefighters to contain it.

Fire authorities at the time noted that dry brush, sustained winds and high temperatures were fueling the flames.

That came after several earlier fires, stoking fears of a difficult season in a state still reeling from wildfires that killed 30 people in January.

Earlier this week, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re said natural disasters caused $135 billion in economic losses globally in the first half of this year, fuelled by the Los Angeles wildfires.

AFP