Top 5 Facts About the Stormy Daniels Scandal
There's a storm coming, and it is headed straight for the White House. From the key players, to the hush agreement, to the repercussions, here are 5 things you need to know about the Stormy Daniels scandal.
Top 5 Facts About the Stormy Daniels Scandal
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There’s a storm coming, and it is headed straight for the White House. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we are counting down our picks for The Top 5 Facts About the Stormy Daniels Scandal. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most pertinent facts about the scandal involving porn actress Stormy Daniels and U.S. President Donald Trump.
#5: The Alleged Affair
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In January of 2018, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that porn actress Stormy Daniels had reportedly been paid hush money to conceal a sexual liaison between her and now President Donald Trump. The affair reportedly took place in 2006, just mere months after Trump’s new wife Melania had given birth to their son Barron. After an initial denial, Stormy switched to playing coy about whether or not news of the decade old affair was true. But then a 2011 interview with In Touch magazine surfaced in which Daniels described sex with Trump as "nothing freaky…what you would expect someone his age to do."
#4: There Was a $130,000 Hush Agreement
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In October of 2016, just one month before the Presidential election, Stormy Daniels signed an NDA with Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen and received $130,000 in payment. Apparently, Daniels was found to be shopping the story around, and the loot was meant to stop the affair from coming out. Cohen states that the money was meant the shut down the story for PR reasons. He even claims that he paid the money from his own account, and that Trump knew nothing about it. But Daniels called his bluff and said that because Trump did not sign the agreement himself, she has a right to talk about the affair, hush money or not.
#3: The Scandal Could Impact the Russian Investigation
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Trump is also in the middle of a Russia investigation being lead by Robert Mueller. Although paying off a porn star won’t send Trump or Cohen to jail, it could get Cohen mixed up in Mueller's ongoing investigation. Due to the broad scope given to the special counsel, Mueller could seek more information about Cohen’s role regarding finances. According to CNN legal analysts, there is “…a reasonable basis to investigate whether the payment by Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels violated federal election laws.” This opens the door for subpoenas for bank statements, legal docs and more, which would put Cohen and Trump in a very precarious situation.
#2: There are Two Witnesses
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Even though this situation raises broader ethical questions, at its heart, it’s still a sex scandal. Trump continues to deny having an affair with Daniels, but two witnesses have spoken out. Daniels’ photographer friend Keith Munyan told the Daily Beast that Trump “…would call all the time”… to entice Daniels to spend more time with him. Additionally, Daniels’ fellow adult film star, Alana Evans, said in an interview that the affair did happen, and that Daniels even once tried to invite her over to “party” with Trump.
#1: It Could Potentially Bring Down Donald Trump
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The real scandal here comes down to the $130,000 that Daniels received to keep quiet. While a rich man using money to get rid of problems isn’t new, in this case it may have breached campaign finance law. If that is the case, indictments may rain down on Cohen, and possibly Donald Trump himself. The continued denial from the White House prompts the possibility that they are aware they broke the law, and if that’s true, then what started out as a political sex scandal could become the beginning of the end for the Trump administration.
