Stormy Daniels appears on "Kimmel" but refuses to confirm or deny alleged Trump affair
Porn star Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a sexual encounter with President Trump in 2006, appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday night but did not answer any questions about the alleged affair. While a statement was released from Daniels earlier Tuesday denying any affair, she appeared to hint on Kimmel's show that she did not sign it.
Later, Buzzfeed's Anthony Cormier tweeted about it:
NEW: Lawyer for Stormy Daniels tells me she signed the statement today, in front of him and her PR rep. “Stormy did indeed sign both denials. ... I thought stormy did a fantastic job on Jimmy Kimmel tonight. She was having fun on Kimmel and being her normal playful self.”
— Anthony Cormier (@a_cormier_) January 31, 2018
Kimmel asked Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, if she had signed the statement. He compared it to her previous signed statements and even previous autographed photographs, and Daniels responded "that does not look like my signature, does it?"
She then said "I don't know where [the statement] came from." But she then played coy, saying "I also work for the FBI and I'm a man, according to the internet today."
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Mr. Trump's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, allegedly paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to stay quiet. Daniels had given an interview in 2011 to In Touch about the alleged encounter, and although the tabloid opted not to publish it then, it published the full 5,500-word transcript after the Wall Street Journal report.
In the appearance on "Kimmel," Daniels wouldn't confirm or deny any affair. She said the In Touch story was not true "as written," but she said she was too "scared" to read the whole transcript. When Kimmel started to read from the transcript, she said "I thought this was a talk show, not a horror movie."
Daniels wouldn't confirm or deny if she had a signed a nondisclosure agreement either. When Kimmel pointed out that if she didn't have a nondisclosure agreement, she could say it, Daniels said "you're so smart, Jimmy."
Kimmel tried to get her to talk with a puppet while he held a puppet that looked like Mr. Trump and tried to get her to tell details with carrots. But Daniels kept silent on all fronts.
The In Touch story was filled with salacious details, including that the alleged affair happened shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple's son, Barron.
"We had really good banter," Daniels allegedly told the tabloid. "He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter."
Hours after The Wall Street Journal report was published, The Daily Beast reported they had planned to publish the story about Daniels and Mr. Trump before the election, but Daniels backed out. A friend of Daniels said the porn star and Mr. Trump were "more than just friends."
The friend, Alana Evans, told The Daily Beast Daniels told her "'all I'm going to say is: I ended up with Donald in his hotel room' ... I was like, 'Oh I really didn't need to hear that!' Then she said he offered her keys to his condos in Florida, and I was like, 'Wow guess you had a good night,' and that was the last we ever spoke of it."
When Kimmel said he likes to imagine Mr. Trump watching the show in bed after eating cheeseburgers, Daniels said "it's an unpleasant picture you're painting there ... I don't like to imagine him."
Daniels will appear Thursday on ABC's "The View."