Stormy Daniels may seal Trump’s fate. How did a porn star become one of the most powerful people in politics?
One busy weekday night in May 2018, a Pittsburgh strip club dancer named Scarlet went to the bar for fries and ran into something unusual: a young man carrying a political non-fiction book conspicuously under his arm.
The book was Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, about the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, and the man – Isaac – was hoping that one of the other strippers would sign it for him.
“I’m not much of a strip club guy, but I had to come see this,” Isaac told The Pitt News as he waited in line behind a man carrying several bright red Trump hats.
These men were among the hundreds drawn to see porn performer Stormy Daniels as she danced across the country on her “Make America Horny Again” tour, closely followed by a political tempest over her alleged history with the serving president of the United States.
Just 10 minutes after the start of Ms Daniels’ first show in Pittsburgh, Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared to admit on Fox News that the mercurial tycoon had indeed authorised a hush money payment of $130,000 to his alleged ex-lover, contradicting previous denials.
Now Ms Daniels was again at the centre of a national firestorm when New York state prosecutors brought charges against Mr Trump, marking the first criminal prosecution against a former president in US history.
On 4 April 2023, Mr Trump was arrested and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal an alleged scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to suppress stories about his alleged affairs with women – including Ms Daniels. At his arraignment in New York City, Mr Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After another year of legal wrangling, the trial finally began with jury selection on 15 April 2024 and, after several weeks of testimony from such colourful characters as National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and attorney Keith Davidson, Ms Daniels herself is due to take the stand on Tuesday 7 May.
Mr Trump has long denied an affair with Ms Daniels, and his lawyer has accused her of extortion. In a Truth Social post on 18 March last year, he described the allegations as “an old and fully debunked fairy tale” being exploited by “corrupt and highly political” Manhattan prosecutors.
Being convicted would not block Mr Trump from pursuing a second term in 2024, but could damage his chances, and it is certainly making it harder for him to campaign as he must attend court for the trial, four days a week. Things could get worse if he is barred from leaving New York state, or even put in prison during the election campaign.
It is a moment that Ms Daniels, now 45, probably never imagined in 2006, when she allegedly had an affair with the businessman and reality star then best known for hosting The Apprentice and putting his name on everything from skyscrapers to steaks to casinos.
This is the story of how a woman at the crossroads of politics, business, and sex work – never quite as separate as American elites would like to believe – could end up sealing the downfall of the 45th US president.
“We will all get along just fine as soon as you realize that I am queen.” Those were the words printed beneath Stormy Daniels’ yearbook entry when she graduated from Scotlandville Magnet High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1997, according to The New York Times.
Back then she was known as Stephanie Gregory, a serious student with auburn hair from a “really bad neighbourhood” who liked horses and the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Her real name now is Stephanie Clifford, after a previous husband.
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