Stormy Daniels says she will testify if asked to give evidence against Donald Trump at trial. Photo / AP
Stormy Daniels says she will testify if asked to give evidence against Donald Trump at trial. Photo / AP
Stormy Daniels has revealed that she does not believe Donald Trump should be sentenced to prison if found guilty of falsifying records to allegedly hide affairs and a secret love child in the lead up to the 2016 US presidential election.
The 44-year-old porn star sat down with the TalkTV host Piers Morgan as the former US President pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies in the New York Criminal court on Tuesday.
He is accused of falsifying business records after allegedly paying Daniels US$130,000 ($208,000) to keep quiet over claims they had an affair in 2006. Each charge has a maximum penalty of four years in prison, if found guilty.
In an astonishing interview with Morgan, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, vowed she will testify if asked to give evidence against Trump at trial.
However, Daniels added that she does not believe Trump should be locked up if found guilty of the alleged crimes.
“Specific to my case, I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration,” she continued.
Trump is currently also under investigation for mishandling government documents, over allegations of fraud, and for attempting to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump with adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2006. Photo / MySpace/ Stormy Daniels
“I feel like the other things that he has done, if he is found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels said of whether she believes Trump deserves to be sent to prison.
Trump has decried the case against him as a witch hunt – claiming it is politically motivated and led by the Democrats.
The 76-year-old is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination and will likely take on his nemesis Joe Biden in 2024.
Daniels’ 90 minute chat with Morgan marks her first TV interview since Trump’s arrest on Tuesday.
Morgan described the interview “about the fling that may send President Trump to prison” as “astonishing”.
Trump denies the claim by Daniels that they had sex in 2006.
The alleged affair came a year after he had married Melania – and four months after she gave birth to their son Barron.
He also denies wrongdoing in relation to the US$130,000 “hush” payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has acknowledged that reimbursed the money to Cohen but claimed it was for legal fees.
Former President Trump leaves Trump Tower in New York for Manhattan Criminal Court. Photo / AP
Prosecutors argue this amounts to falsifying business records, with each cheque Trump wrote counted as a separate charge.
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he cannot allow “businesses to cover up criminal conduct”.
After returning home to his Mar-a-Lago resort from his arraignment in New York on Tuesday, Trump delivered an impassioned speech.
Walking out to God Bless the USA, Trump lashed out at the judge presiding over his case – calling him “the real criminal”.
He accused Juan Merchan of being a “Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family” – and said the case against him was “an insult to our country”.
“The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he said.
Trump called for the “ridiculous” case to be “dropped immediately”.
And he suggested he lost the 2020 US election unfairly “because our country is going to hell”.
The historic case marks the first time a former president has been criminally charged.
The indictment focused on Trump’s reimbursement checks to Cohen.
But a separate filing by prosecutors detailed similar schemes Trump allegedly orchestrated to silence two other people who said they had damaging information about him.
