NEW YORK—AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels opened up about her encounters with former President Donald J. Trump in an hour-long interview with MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow aired Tuesday evening on Maddow's show.
This was Daniels' first interview since a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up an affair he had with Daniels and in turn unlawfully interfere in the 2016 election.
AVN reported extensively on the case in April and May. Yesterday, presiding Judge Juan Merchan cautiously delayed sentencing in Trump's trial from next week to September. Merchan said he did this after the U.S. Supreme Court handed Trump a landmark win in his federal criminal case that expanded presidential immunity to broadly cover "official acts." Attorneys for Trump submitted a letter to the court arguing that their client's verdict should be set aside. Prosecutors at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office agreed to delay sentencing. But it is very unlikely that Trump will succeed in claiming that he was acting in his official capacity as president committing acts that are otherwise classified "unofficial"—namely, covering up an affair.
In her interview with Maddow, Daniels divulged new details about how she fears for her life and the privacy and safety of her teenage daughter. She said, "The biggest thing is that they're not hiding like they used to. It used to be bots, you know, now they're using their real stuff." During the interview, Maddow and Daniels read through the trial transcripts, recollecting when she took the stand as a central witness for the Manhattan District Attorney's case against Trump, pointing to criminal record falsification.
"Trump is trying to make, I believe, trying to make an example out of me," Daniels said after Maddow pressed her on concerns about Trump's effort to appeal the verdict. Daniels also drew a comparison of the way Trump has ridiculed her and defamed her for years in a manner similar to legendary advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Carroll was able to successfully put Trump on the hook for a multi-million-dollar verdict after a civil court jury determined that Trump defamed Carroll through sexual assault and denied the sexual assault ever took place.
While Daniels praised Carroll for her success in beating Trump in court, she reminded Maddow and her viewers that she was not awarded millions but rather saw her attorney fees "racked up to over half a million." On that front, she also told Maddow that she faces a seemingly never-ending pipeline of legal documents and actions. Notably, Daniels explained that she continues to defy court documents requesting personally identifiable information for her daughter in the waning resolution of Daniels' civil complaint filed against Trump.
She lost that action due to, in part, being defrauded by disgraced attorney and convicted felon Michael Avenatti. The court, in that case, found for Trump and ordered Daniels to pay for legal and court fees, which were in the high six figures. Reportedly, one of the documents requests details about her daughter, as mentioned.
Daniels said she would rather be held in contempt of court, which has a potential criminal penalty, than expose information about her daughter that could lead to doxing on the internet.
"I could be held in contempt with sanctions and that I have to pay this money," she said. "It's not fair."
Maddow plugged a GoFundMe page for Daniels seeking to raise at least $1 million to cover fees and expenses, including personal matters like keeping her partner's house. At the time of this writing, the page had raised over $700,000 of her goal.
Maddow's full interview with Stormy Daniels is available to view here.
