Who is Stormy Daniels and what did she say happened with Trump?

Porn star Stormy Daniels is a central figure in the case that on Monday made Donald Trump the first former US president to face a criminal trial.

Here are some facts about Daniels and her alleged relationship with Trump.

Stormy Daniels, adult film star

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is 45 years old and from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has been a well-known personality for more than two decades in the adult entertainment business, appearing in and directing numerous videos.

What does Daniels say about Trump?

She has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, a year after he married his wife Melania and more than a decade before he became president. Daniels was paid the $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election in return for keeping publicly silent about the alleged encounter. Trump, denying any such relationship, has said the payment was made to stop her "false and extortionist accusations." Daniels in 2023 said she does not think Trump should go to prison if convicted in the case.

What was the encounter that Daniels has described?

Daniels has said she was introduced to Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. She said he invited her to dinner and they dined at his hotel suite, where he showed her a copy of a golf magazine with his picture on the cover.

"And I was like, 'Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it,'" Daniels told the CBS programme 60 Minutes in 2018.

Daniels said Trump asked her about herself and whether she would like to appear on his TV show Celebrity Apprentice.

"He was like, 'Wow, you — you are special. You remind me of my daughter.' You know, he was like, 'You're smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you,'" Daniels said. Daniels said she excused herself at one point to use the bathroom and when she returned Trump was "perched" on the edge of the bed.

She said the two had consensual sex.

Daniels said Trump made telephone calls to her over the following year and she met him again at his request in July 2007 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss her possible appearance on Celebrity Apprentice. Daniels said he wanted to have sex again at the hotel but she declined.

Payment and non-disclosure agreement

On October 28, 2016, days before the presidential election that Trump won, Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement in which she pledged not to discuss publicly her relationship with him in exchange for a $130,000 payment, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Defamation lawsuit

Daniels filed a 2018 defamation lawsuit against Trump in federal court over a Twitter post in which he accused her of a "con job" after she described being threatened over publicizing her account of the alleged sexual encounter. A Los Angeles-based federal judge decided in 2018 that Trump's remarks were not defamatory and were protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The judge's decision was upheld on appeal.