Stormy Daniels has said that she doesn’t believe Donald Trump deserves to spend time in jail over the $130,000 hush money paid to her in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
The adult film star spoke out about the former president’s arrest and arraignment on a staggering 34 felony counts in Manhattan in a new interview with Piers Morgan.
In a clip of the interview, due to air in full on TalkTV later on Thursday, she said that she thinks Mr Trump should potentially face prison time over the other investigations encircling him – just not for the case involving her.
“Specific to my case I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration,” she said.
“I feel like the other things that he has done if he is found guilty, absolutely, because our bigger problem is that if these allegations against him – or whatever else that we don’t know – if he is found guilty or the evidence suggests that he is and he doesn’t [go to jail] that is going to basically, it opens the door to other people to think they can get away with doing that and worse.”
Ms Daniels also said that she will “absolutely” testify against the former president if she is asked to do so – saying that it is something she wants to do.
“It’s daunting, but I look forward to it because I have nothing to hide,” she said.
“I am the only one that has been telling the truth.”
Ms Daniels added that “they can’t shame me even more” by her taking the stand as she suggested that, if prosecutors don’t ask her to testify, she will be offended as to why.
“I feel like if they don’t it paints a picture that they know something about me that makes me untrustworthy or not reliable,” she said.
“Having them call me in and putting me on the stand legitimises my story and who I am – and if they don’t it almost looks like they’re hiding me and people will automatically assume – I would – ‘oh she must not be a good witness.”
Ms Daniels first spoke out in 2018 about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Mr Trump at a hotel room in Nevada.
Since then, she has found herself at the centre of Mr Trump’s legal challenges.
In a historic day for America on Tuesday, the one-term president was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal illegal activity connected to his 2016 presidential campaign.
The “catch and kill” campaign allegedly involved Mr Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen making hush money payments during the 2016 run to suppress negative information about him by silencing individuals over alleged affairs he had with women .
Three specific alleged affairs and hush money payments were mentioned in the charging documents – the $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels, a $150,000 to former playboy model Karen McDougal and a $30,000 payment to a doorman at Trump Tower who claimed he had information that Mr Trump had fathered a child with a woman while married to Melania Trump.
Mr Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” the charging documents read.
Each of the 34 criminal charges relates to an individual entry in the Trump Organization’s business records. Mr Trump surrendered to Manhattan authorities on Tuesday afternoon and was officially arrested on criminal charges.
He then appeared in court for his arraignment before Judge Juan Merchan – the same judge who sentenced the Trump Organization and its CFO last year.
Cutting a glum figure, he defiantly pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
After flying back to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the former president launched into a speech railing against the criminal charges, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge – in a move that could risk him being placed under a gag order.
