6 months ago
30
Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the center of former US President Donald Trump's hush-money trial, took the stand in New York on Tuesday.
Daniels, 45, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims to have had sex with Trump in July 2006, while he was married, and said the former US President paid her $130,000 in "hush money" to remain silent about the affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump, 77, is accused of manipulating financial records to conceal the payment, which he denies. Indeed he denies having had any sexual relationship with the adult film star.
Hush-money trial against Trump begins
Stormy Daniels recalls first meeting with Trump
Recounting her first meeting with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Tahoe in 2006, Daniels described an initial "very brief encounter."
After that, she said she met him again in a hotel suite, where she said Trump remembered her "specifically" because "I was the smart one."
Later, she recalls, one of Trump's assistants, bodyguard Keith Schiller, told her that Trump wanted to meet her for dinner and took her phone number.
Daniels said that, after initially declining the invitation, she was eventually convinced to go for dinner by her publicist, who cited Trump's fame.
mf/ab (Reuters, AP)
