What did Stormy Daniels reveal about 'affair' with Donald Trump? Will it hurt the former US president?

It’s been 13 days of court for Donald Trump, and on Tuesday, emerged salacious claims about the former US president made by adult film star Stormy Daniels. Claims that may go on to hurt Trump as he stands on trial in the hush money case in a New York court.

For those who need a quick catch up, 77-year-old Trump, who is seeking to become president a second time, 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.

On Tuesday (7 April), prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said: “The people call Stormy Daniels”, while Trump sat at the defence table in the Manhattan courtroom flanked by his lawyers.

What emerged next were lurid details of their alleged affair, which included ‘satin pajamas’, questions about STDs and much, much more. In fact, as the Washington Post wrote, the jury got an earful — maybe far more than they ever wanted to know — about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels.

What exactly unfolded in court? What did the adult film star reveal? How did the former US president react? And will her claims hurt him in the case?

Who is Stormy Daniels?

Stormy Daniels , also known as Stephanie Clifford, is at the centre of the hush money payments trial . She received a $130,000 payment from Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in 2016 while Trump was running for president.

The 45-year-old Louisiana-born adult film star claims she had an affair with Trump after he had married Melania and in the aftermath of the birth of his youngest son, Barron. While Trump has denied having an affair with her, in 2018, Cohen admitted to the payments.

What did Daniels testify on Tuesday?

Dressed in all back, Daniels appeared in court on Tuesday and delivered perhaps the most detailed account of the affair she allegedly had with Donald Trump.

She testified that she first met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in 2006. During that event, which was sponsored by the adult film company she was working for, Daniels said she was invited to have a private dinner with Trump. During the dinner, Trump encouraged her to join his show, The Apprentice — a role she was eventually turned down for — and she detailed the alleged sexual encounter.

She stated that when she first arrived at Trump’s penthouse for the dinner, he emerged wearing silk or satin pajamas. She told the jury, “I said ‘Does Mr Hefner know you stole his pajamas?’”

She further testified that during their dinner, the former US president asked Daniels about her work as an adult entertainer and even asked her questions such as: “What about testing? Do you worry about STDs?”

“Yes, of course, and I volunteered it as well,” she said. “He asked me, oh, well, have you ever had a bad test, I said: ‘Nope, I can show you my entire record’.”

Daniels said that one point during the dinner she went to the bathroom and when she came out 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.”

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,” she said.

She also told jurors about when she “spanked” Trump “right on the butt” with a copy of one of his magazines.

Amid her testimony, came a flurry of defence objections. Some of the details of the testimony were so graphic that even Judge Juan Merchan cut her off.

In her lengthy testimony, she adds that after her initial encounter with Trump, she stayed in touch with him even coming to briefly see him at Trump Tower to talk about the reality show.

It was then in 2016, Daniels testified, that her agent sought to sell her story after Trump announced his candidacy. “My motivation wasn’t money, it was to get the story out. I didn’t care about the money,” Daniels said. “I was the best I’d ever been. … Things were very good.”

She told the jury that in October 2016 she was presented with a nondisclosure agreement between herself and Trump. The jury was shown an email from Cohen to Daniels’ lawyer for a $130,000 settlement agreement and a side letter agreement identifying the pseudonym for Daniels and Trump in the settlement.

How did Trump react to Daniels’ testimony?

Donald Trump was visibly unhappy with Daniels’ testimony. While she delivered her testimony about their alleged sexual encounter, Trump was seen shaking his head in disgust. At one point, he even muttered “bulls**t” to his lawyers, loud enough to draw a rebuke from the judge.

In fact, Judge Merchan called Trump’s lawyers to the bench and said: “I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. “It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.”

“You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that,” Merchan said as per a transcript of the sidebar released Tuesday evening revealed.

After Daniel’s testimony, Trump’s lawyers asked for a mistrial, arguing that the details were prejudicial and additionally, it had nothing to do with the district attorney’s case about falsifying business records.

“This is the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from, not even talking about the fact that we’re talking about somebody (who) is going to go out and campaign this afternoon,” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said to the media during the lunch break.

“How can we come back from this in a way that’s fair to President Trump?” Blanche challenged.

However, Judge Merchan denied the mistrial motion, but said that Daniels was a difficult witness to handle. “I do think there are something things that would have been better left unsaid. Having said that, I don’t believe we’re at a point where a mistrial is warranted,” he said.

Trump’s attorneys then cross-examined Daniels and challenged her testimony. In fact, Trump’s other attorney, Susan Necheles, accused Daniels of seeking to “extort” money from Trump, a claim the latter termed as “false”.

“You have been making money by claiming to have had sex with Donald Trump? Necheles said. “No,” Daniels responded, “I have made money by telling the story of what happened to me.”

Necheles painted Daniels as a lying opportunist and suggested that her story kept changing with the times.

Will Daniels’ testimony hurt Trump?

While explosive and bordering on lurid, what does Daniels’ testimony mean for Trump? Will it hurt him while he tries to secure a second term in the White House?

Some believe that Stormy Daniels’ testimony raises questions about Trump’s credibility. The former US president keeps denying having an affair with the adult film star. In fact, he said in January 2023, “NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR.” In March 2023, he added, “I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels.”

But the details of the testimony are hard to ignore and it seems America has made up their minds. An April 2018 Quinnipiac University poll showed Americans said 58 per cent believed that they had an affair. Even 32 per cent of Republicans believed it.

This may put a dampener on Trump’s re-election bid. Would voters want to re-elect a man who is believed to be lying?

MSNBC’s columnist Glenn Kirschner argues that by denying that Trump had an affair with Daniels, he is hurting himself. “The jury is put in a position of choosing to believe Daniels or the former president, a person who is known to make false claims,” Kirschner wrote. “It may be wiser for a defence in such a case to concede the dalliance, but fight over the commission of the crime.”

Moreover, Daniels’ testimony refutes Trump’s charge that he paid Daniels to protect his marriage and not his political prospects. This is because the adult film star said in court that Trump had told her not to worry about his wife, Melania, as they don’t “sleep in the same room”. This is likely to cut Trump’s defence.

Norman Eisen, a CNN legal analyst, said that Daniel’s testimony has been a big gain to the prosecutors.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the trial next, especially when Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen takes the stand. However, for now, it doesn’t bode well for Trump and his team.

With inputs from agencies