On Sunday evening, CNN released extensive coverage of the Stormy Daniels’ interview with CBS ‘ 60 Minutes . A portion of this interview included a shocking revelation in which Daniels claims that she and her daughter were threatened in 2011 when she initially planned to come forward about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T– taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out.” Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford continued, saying, “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
Daniels explains that at that time, she was preparing to share the story of her alleged affair with Trump with In Touch for a whopping $15,000. According to 60 Minutes , two credible sources claimed that the deal was derailed when Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, made threats to sue the magazine if they printed the story.
The entire debacle ended with the magazine pulling out of the agreement, and Daniels claims that she never received any payment for the story at that time. She says that the incident “rattled” her and that she experienced ongoing fear for a long time after her initial encounter with the man.
“I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna– drop (my daughter),” she explained.
Daniels never saw that man again, but she still recalls the terror that she felt that day. She said that she never reported the incident to authorities because she was “scared.”
The interview for 60 Minutes comes on the heels of one of the biggest political scandals of our time. Daniels is alleging that she had a sexual affair with Donald Trump over a decade ago and was paid $130,000 in “hush money” to keep the details of the affair secret in 2016 just before the presidential election.
She claims that the contract she signed agreeing to her silence is null and void because Trump didn’t sign it. There has been a huge amount of controversy surrounding the nature of her relationship with Trump throughout the years due to a number of contradicting statements made by Daniels herself.
According to the Washington Post , the adult film actress has been at the center of accusations that have surfaced in murky snippets over the last decade. Daniels said that she and Trump first met on a golf course in 2006. She was working at a booth promoting some of her products in the adult film industry, and he was competing in a golfing tournament.
Trump invited Daniels to ride around in his golf cart, and she accepted.
“That was actually my first time on a golf course, and when you’re riding around with Donald Trump in an Escalade golf cart during your first time out on a course, I’d say I was doing all right,” Daniels told Adult Video News .
She told In Touch that she and Trump had their first sexual encounter at that very golf tournament. The relationship continued behind closed doors through phone calls and clandestine meetings over the next year.
Allegedly, his interest was piqued again in 2016—but was quickly sidelined as the presidential election loomed on the horizon. It was then that Cohen, Trump’s attorney, offered Daniels the $130,000 to “keep quiet” about the details of the affair.
In Touch still had the transcripts from the initial interview with Daniels, including the results of a polygraph in which she detailed the affair and passed with flying colors. These transcripts were released after another publication this year.
Daniels has done a bevy of interviews denying the affair, lending even more confusion to the entire incident. Prior to an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’ representative, confirmed the authenticity of a statement indicating that there was no affair once again.
“The fact of the matter is that each party to this alleged affair denied its existence in 2006, 2011, 2016, 2017 and now again in 2018,” the statement said. “I am not denying this affair because I was paid ‘hush money’ as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying it because it never happened.”
The White House has denied any wrongdoing and points to the inconsistencies in the allegations. Cohen has released a statement saying that all claims of any payout are entirely fictitious and calling the settlement report “completely false.”