Who is Stormy Daniels and why is she key to Donald Trump's hush money trial?

Donald Trump is now on trial for charges which could land him in prison, a first for any US president.

The charges centre on a sex scandal payout involving a former adult film star who claims to have had a brief – and, by her account, disappointing – encounter with the former president in 2006.

Stormy Daniels – real name Stephanie Clifford – could be asked to testify as a witness against Trump, who claims the trial is a ‘political witch hunt’.

Keep reading to find out what she’s said about the affair and why her story could help decide whether Trump could go to jail.

Ms Daniels is a 44-year-old Louisiana native who starred in or produced 180 adult films.

Born Stephanie Clifford, she chose her stage name to reflect her love of American rock band Mötley Crüe, whose bassist, Nikki Sixx, named his daughter Storm.

Her estimated net worth is $4 million, most of which was earned through her adult film career.

In 2018, it was widely speculated that Daniels would appear on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, however she reportedly pulled out of the show at the last minute.

What has Stormy Daniels alleged happened between her and Donald Trump?

In a 2018 interview with 60 Minutes, Daniels said she had sex once with Trump in a hotel room in Lake Tahoe in 2006.

She was at the height of her adult film career and 27 years old at the time, while Trump was 60 and only a year into his marriage with current wife Melania.

According to her account of the encounter, one of the things he said to woo her was: ‘You are special. You remind me of my daughter.’

She said she asked him about his wife Melania and son Barron, who was just a few months old.

He is said to have replied: ‘Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don’t worry about that. We don’t even– we have separate rooms and stuff.’

In response to an interviewer asking her if Trump told her to keep quiet at the time, Daniels added: ‘He didn’t seem worried about it. He was kind of arrogant.’

When Trump was running for election in 2016, Stormy Daniels offered to sell her story to the press.

Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, after being notified of her plans, allegedly gave her $130,000 (£105,000) in ‘hush money’ to keep quiet.

Daniels said she took the money because she feared for the safety of her family and claims she was legally and physically threatened to keep quiet.

After Trump was elected President, he reportedly reimbursed Mr Cohen by paying him double the original amount. However, he continued to deny the affair.

Will Stormy Daniels appear in court during Trump’s trial?

While Daniels’ allegations are at the heart of the trial, it’s not immediately clear whether she will be asked to testify.

This is because the question of whether Trump committed any crimes or not revolves around the payment and the timing of it.

Hush money payments are not illegal in and of themselves, but improperly recording them is.

Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records by disguising hush money reimbursements as legal payments to Mr Cohen.

But Daniels’ timeline of events could be key to deciding how aggravated any of the alleged crimes were.

Some prosecutors say the cover-up also amounted to an electoral crime, because of how it took place shortly before the 2016 presidential vote.

According to court filings, Daniels has said that Cohen – under Trump’s instructions- tried to delay the payment until after the election ‘because at that point it would not matter if the story became public’.

If true, this would suggest he was aiming to influence the election, rather than simply avoid personal embarassment.

While Trump’s charges do not include campaign finance crimes, this aspect of the cover-up is key to the prosecution’s argument that the allegations amount to ‘felony’ crimes’ rather than less serious ‘misdemeanour’.

In the American legal system, that is often the difference between hard jail time and lighter sentences such as probation.

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