Trump denies claims by adult star Stormy Daniels
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump denies he had an affair with an adult star who said in a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday that she had sex with him once in 2006, White House spokesman Raj Shah said.
“The president strongly, clearly and consistently has denied the underlying claims, and the only one who has been inconsistent is the one making them,” Shah told reporters Monday at the White House, adding “there’s nothing to corroborate her claim.”
Stephanie Clifford, known by stage name Stormy Daniels, said in the interview that she was later threatened to keep quiet about the affair.
“The president doesn’t believe any of the claims Ms. Daniels made in the interview last night were accurate,” Shah said. The remarks represent the White House’s most substantial statement on the alleged affair.
The television interview is the first time Clifford has explicitly confirmed the affair since receiving a $130,000 payment from Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, shortly before the 2016 election in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement.
The interview drew the highest ratings in 10 years for CBS’s 60 Minutes, attracting 21.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings released by the network.
Asked about the payment by Cohen, Shah said: “False charges are settled out of court all the time. This is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Clifford has sought to invalidate the agreement, in part because she says Trump didn’t sign it, and said her decision to speak out was driven by suggestions by the president’s associates that she made up the story.
Clifford’s retelling of the alleged affair largely echoed a 2011 interview with In Touch magazine about the relationship. In Touch didn’t publish the interview after Cohen threatened to sue the publication, 60 Minutes reported.
She said she had been intimidated to keep silent. Clifford said that in 2011, an unidentified man approached her in a parking lot and told her to “leave Trump alone.” She said the man looked in her vehicle and said: “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Cohen’s attorney, Brent H. Blakely, demanded that Daniels or her lawyer apologize to his client for alleging intimidation.
Clifford’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Monday morning that there was additional evidence to support Clifford’s claims. “We’re not going to get into the details of everything we have at this time,” Avenatti told NBC News.