Stormy Daniels Goes On '60 Minutes,' Describes Alleged Affair With Donald Trump
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The adult film star in a firestorm of controversy for her alleged affair with President Donald Trump broke her silence Sunday night.
Appearing on "60 Minutes," Stormy Daniels discussed her relationship with the now-commander-in-chief and how she said she was threatened to stay silent, CBS2's Jessica Moore reported.
"I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I'm not okay with being made out to be a liar," said Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Clifford sat down with Anderson Cooper and explained why she was opening up and risking what she calls the threat of a $1 million fine for telling her story.
"People are like, 'Oh, you're an opportunist. You're taking advantage of this.' Yes, I'm getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they've been making, doing the same thing that they've always done," Daniels said.
The 39-year-old adult film star said she was introduced to Trump at a golf tournament in 2006.
"It started off all about him just talking about himself. And he's like, 'have you seen my new magazine?'" Daniels said.
Cooper: "He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine?"
Daniels: "Right, right. And I was like, 'someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.'"
Daniels said after that exchange, Trump softened his disposition to the point that she felt he was a "completely different person."
Daniels: "He quit talking about himself and he asked me things and I asked him things and it just became like more appropriate."
Cooper: "It became more comfortable."
Daniels: "Yeah. He was like, "Wow, you-- you are special. You remind me of my daughter." You know-- he was like, "You're smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you."
Cooper: "Melania Trump had recently given birth to a son, just a few months before. Did that ... did he mention his wife or child at all in this?"
Daniels: "I asked and he brushed it aside, said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even ... we have separate rooms' and stuff."
Daniels said she sold her story to In Touch Weekly for $15,000. She never got paid, but she said she did get threatened a few weeks later while with her infant daughter in a Las Vegas parking lot.
"A guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.' And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom,'" Daniels said.
A week and a half before the 2016 election, Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 of what he says was his own money to keep her quiet. Cohen denies the money was a campaign contribution, but a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission told Cooper it certainly was.
"It's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he's allowed to give," Tervor Potter said. "And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen."
The White House has repeatedly denied President Trump was ever involved in an intimate relationship with Daniels.