Next Tuesday, the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, will become the first former president of that country to be arrested for allegedly committing criminal acts.
Despite the fact that Trump is under investigation by the courts on other serious suspicions, including whether he incited an insurrection during the attack on the Capitol when he lost the elections in 2021 and if he tried to illegally reverse his electoral defeat in the state of Georgia, the case that will lead him to sit on the accused bench is much more personal, and it has to do with a woman: Stormy Daniels.
That is the stage name of Stephanie Gregory Clifford, a former actress, screenwriter and director of pornographic films, who claims that in 2006 she had a sexual encounter with Trump. By then, the businessman had also been married to Melania, his current wife, for a year.
According to Clifford, in 2016, when the tycoon ran for president, he paid him through his lawyer Michael D. Cohen $130,000 not to reveal his extramarital affair.
That sexual encounter – which Trump has always strongly denied – is not the reason for his current legal accusation. Neither is paying money to supposedly silence Daniels, an arrangement that is not illegal.
The reason Trump is facing charges is that when he reimbursed Cohen — an act the former president does acknowledge — the record of the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors in New York say this amounts to falsifying business records.
Although it is a misdemeanor criminal offense, which would carry only a fine, prosecutors – who have not publicly disclosed the charges they will file against Trump – could also argue that the payment violates election law, if they consider that the alleged attempt of the then presidential candidate to hide his payments from Daniels was motivated by not wanting voters to know that he had an affair with her.
Covering up a crime by falsifying records would be a much more serious crime.
The woman behind the most serious legal process against a former president in US history is a well-known porn star.
Stephanie Gregory Clifford was born in Baton Rouge, in the southern state of Louisiana, in 1979, and was a lover of horses.
As a child, her dream was to be a veterinarian, but after her parents’ divorce, when she was 4 years old, she was raised by her mother, who had a hard time supporting the family financially.
At the age of 17 he began working as a stripper in a club.
When she began to become more recognized, she decided to adopt a stage name. As a fan of the rock band Motley Crue, she decided to pay tribute to the daughter of the band’s bassist, whose name is Storm. The last name is in honor of the Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand.
In 2000, she began her career as an adult film actress with the production company Wicked Pictures, with which she had a prolific career. She also participated in tapes for Sin City Studios.
In 2004 he also began directing pornographic films for Wicked Pictures and would later add a role as a screenwriter.
Adult film expert Kelly Roberts told the BBC that Stormy Daniels was a pioneer in the industry.
“At that time there were no women directors. It was unheard of. They were all men,” he said.
For her work as a director, Daniels garnered several awards from Adult Video News (AVN) magazine, considered the porn industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.
And in 2014 his name was added to the halls of fame of AVN magazine and the X-Rated Critics Organization.
According to filmmaker Judd Apatow, who cast him in two of his films, Daniels is “not someone to underestimate.”
“She is a very serious businesswoman and a filmmaker who has taken the reins of her career,” Apatow told the New York Times in 2018.
That year Stormy Daniels was on everyone’s lips after she gave an interview to the iconic television show “60 minutes” on CBS News, in which she gave details of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Daniels said she had met the mogul – who was then a famous host of the reality show The Apprentice – at a charity golf tournament at a resort in Lake Tahoe, California.
According to the exact actress, Trump invited her to dinner in his hotel suite and showed her a magazine with his photo on the cover. She joked that he would use it to pat her behind.
“He turned around and pulled his pants down a little bit, he had underwear on, and I gave him a couple of pats,” he said.
Daniels said she later had a consensual relationship with Trump, who has been accused of sexual harassment by other women. “I didn’t say no. I’m not a victim,” the woman clarified.
She added that Trump had suggested that she could appear on his television show, and she thought of the meeting “as a business.”
“I’m opening myself up to possible danger,” the exactriz said during the interview, which was viewed by 22 million Americans (and would later be played online by millions more around the world).
Daniels – who that year divorced her third husband, with whom she had her only daughter – said she knew she was facing a million-dollar fine and a legal battle for breaking her confidentiality agreement.
However, he maintained that that agreement was legally invalid since Trump never signed it.
The woman also assured that in 2011 – five years before signing the alleged agreement with Trump – she had been threatened by a man on the street who suggested that he could hurt her daughter if she spoke about that relationship.
His revelation put Stormy Daniels in the eye of the storm and caused a political uproar in the US, something that is now being repeated after a grand jury in New York on March 30 decided to indict Trump.
Daniels, who in 2022 married for the fourth time -once again with a former adult film star- has not denied that the fame that this case brought her has benefited her financially.
During her lengthy legal battle with Trump and her attorney Michael D. Cohen she toured different strip clubs, dancing for much more money than she did before.
“Who would refuse to earn more for the work that they have already been doing?” He answered in the interview when asked what he would say to those who see him as an opportunist.
He also said that the main reason he was speaking was to “set the record straight” and not for publicity.
“It’s very important for me to be able to defend myself,” said the former actress, who in 2009 had considered an invitation to run as a Republican senatorial candidate for her state of Louisiana, before promptly withdrawing.
Thanks to her lucrative career and fame, Daniels has been able to pursue her first love: she owns several horses and is an award-winning jockey.
On Thursday, after the announcement that Trump will be arrested, the woman behind the case gave her reaction through her Twitter account:
“Thank you all for your support and love! I have so many messages I can’t reply to… plus I don’t want to spill my champagne,” she posted, along with a winking, tongue-out emoji.
He added: “#Teamstormy merch/autograph orders are coming in too! Thanks for that too and please note deliveries will take a few more days.”
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