Stormy Daniels testified she and Donald Trump had an encounter that was brief and she left “just as fast as I could.”
Adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual tryst with Donald Trump, took to the stand in the former president’s criminal hush money trial Tuesday.
Daniels, one of the most anticipated witnesses in the former president’s case, testified in explicit detail that she had a sexual encounter with Trump. It was reportedly the first time Trump has come face to face with the porn star since their alleged tryst 17 years ago.
“She walked into the room and she had a long stride she had lots of confidence. She walked right by Donald Trump and went straight to the witness stand,” Law and Crime legal analyst and host Terri Austin tells Inside Edition.
Trump said he learned Daniels would be testifying just hours before she took the stand.
“This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare,” Trump posted to social media. He deleted the post seconds later.
Daniels began her testimony by describing how she first met Trump in 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Later that day, she says Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, invited her to have dinner with Trump in his suite at the hotel.
Daniels said Trump was waiting for her dressed in “satin pajamas.” She told the jury she asked him to change. “He came back with a shirt and pants on,” Daniels said.
She testified that they talked about Melania.
“He showed me a few pictures and things and I said your wife is very beautiful,” Daniels said. “He said… ‘We don’t even sleep in the same room.’”
Daniels testified they also talked about Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
“He said, ‘You remind me of my daughter because she’s smart, blonde, and beautiful and people underestimate her,’” Daniels said.
Court observers say Trump looked uncomfortable as Daniels spoke about Melania and Ivanka and was shaking his head.
The porn star told the court that she picked up a magazine and “swatted” him on the butt with it. Several jurors giggled but Trump could be seen turning to his lawyers in disgust and claiming the story was not true.
“He did not turn his head to the right to look straight at her. He turned his head straight and looked straight at the judge’s stand,” Austin says. “I think he didn’t want to engage in any way, shape, or form. I don’t think that he wants anyone to believe what she’s saying so he’s not giving her any air.”
Daniels proceeded to describe the alleged sexual encounter, testifying that she went to the bathroom and when she returned, Trump had taken his clothes off.
“He was seated on the bed between me and the exit … dressed in boxer shorts and a T-shirt,” Daniels said. “I tried to leave but he blocked my path. He was bigger and blocked the way, but I was not threatened.”
Trump’s attorney repeatedly objected as Daniels described the alleged tryst, which Trump has denied.
Daniels said the encounter was brief and she left “just as fast as I could.” She said Trump called her the next day and around once a week for the next year, inviting her to the Miss America beauty pageant and to a meeting at this office in Trump Tower. Daniels says Trump called her “Honey Bunch.”
The prosecution said it needed about two more weeks to present its case.
