Former Porn Star Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) Wants to Testify Against Donald Trump

Stephanie Clifford | Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Stormy Daniels, the former adult film actress and key figure in the hush money scandal involving former President Donald Trump, has expressed her desire to testify against him and hopes that he will be sentenced to jail upon the end of his Manhattan trial. In a recently aired 90-minute interview with TV personality Piers Morgan, Daniels spoke out about her feelings on the landmark case against the former Commander-in-Chief.

Trump was arrested on Tuesday on 34 felony counts of fraud and other charges related to his alleged hush money payments to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, making him the first former president to be charged with a crime. Daniels claimed that she had a consensual sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, an accusation that the ex-president has consistently denied.

“It’s daunting, but I look forward to it,” Daniels said, referring to her upcoming grand jury testimony when asked about it during the interview. “I have nothing to hide. I’m the only one that has been telling the truth, and you can’t shame me any more. Having them call me in and put me on the stand legitimizes my story and who I am, and if they don’t, it almost feels like they’re hiding me.”

Aside from her willingness to testify, Daniels also expressed her desire to see Trump face serious consequences if found guilty. “I feel like the other things that he has done, if he is found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels said. “If he doesn’t, it opens the door for other people to think they can get away with that, and worse.”

Trump, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty to all charges of falsifying business records brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In a speech at Mar-a-Lago following his arraignment, Trump lashed out against Bragg and called the judge assigned to the case a “Trump-hating judge.”

Following the unsealing of the indictment, critics accused Bragg of putting together a weak case against Trump to score political points. However, legal experts have noted that proving a felony conviction against Trump will be challenging as prosecutors must prove that his alleged falsifying of business records took place during the commission of another crime. The indictment provides little to no explanation of what the other crime is, which has been criticized by lawyers like Robert Kelner, an election lawyer with Covington & Burling LLP. “If that’s the violation [former Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen admitted to in the federal case, as appears to be so, it’s an awfully thin reed to rely upon because the Cohen case itself was weak, in my view,” Kelner said.