On Sunday, CBS finally aired its much-hyped interview with porn star Stormy Daniels, who has become a household name after signing a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement with Donald Trump’s lawyer over an alleged affair with the reality TV host back in 2006, when she was 27 and he was 60. Speaking with Anderson Cooper for “60 Minutes,” who repeatedly pressed her for more dirty details, Daniels did exactly what she’d agreed in her NDA not to do: told all. Here are the highlights (video below):
She’s only trying to “defend” herself.
Cooper asked Daniels why she’d agreed to sit down and tell him and the world what she’d agreed not to tell under threat of a lawsuit worth millions of dollars. Her response: She wants to “defend” herself.
When Cooper asked her if she’s “taking a big risk” by talking, she said, “I am.” Cooper responded by saying “he’s not 100% sure” why she’s coming forward, to which she replied, “Because it was very important to me to be able to defend myself.”
Cooper then gave her a better response: that she wants “to set the record straight,” to which she said, “100%.”
Daniels: Because people are just saying whatever they wanted to say about me, I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I’m not okay with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, “Oh, you’re an opportunist. You’re taking advantage of this.” Yes, I’m getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they’ve been making, doing the same thing that they’ve always done?
This isn’t a #MeToo thing.
When Cooper told Daniels that “a lotta people are using you for a lotta different agendas,” she responded by underscoring that this is not a #MeToo issue.
Daniels: They’re trying to. Like, oh, you know, Stormy Daniels comes out #MeToo. This is not a “Me Too.” I was not a victim. I’ve never said I was a victim. I think trying to use me to– to further someone else’s agenda, does horrible damage to people who are true victims.
She allegedly mocked Trump for his come-on line — and he liked it.
Cooper made sure to draw out anything that could possibly humiliate Trump, so he got some mileage out of Daniels’ alleged mocking of Trump to his face about his come-on line. Here’s the full exchange (transcript via CBS, formatting adjusted):
Cooper: How was the conversation?
Daniels: Ummm (LAUGH) it started off– all about him just talking about himself. And he’s like– “Have you seen my new magazine?”
Cooper: He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine.
Daniels: Right, right. And so I was like, “Does this– does this normally work for you?” And he looked very taken– taken back, like, he didn’t really understand what I was saying. Like, I was, “does, just, you know, talking about yourself normally work?” And I was like, “Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.” (LAUGH) And I’ll never forget the look on his face. He was like–
Cooper: What– what was his look?
Daniels: Just, I don’t think anyone’s ever spoken to him like that, especially, you know, a young woman who looked like me. And I said, you know, “Give me that,” and I just remember him going, “You wouldn’t.” “Hand it over.”
She told him to “drop ’em.”
Daniels emphasized a few times that it was a “consensual” affair; in fact, she claims she told him to drop his pants. After telling him to put the magazine with his face on it away, she said, “And– so he did, and I was like, ‘turn around, drop ’em.'”
Cooper made sure he heard that right, saying, “You– you told Donald Trump to turn around and take off his pants.”
“Yes,” she said, and he did, at which point she “gave him a couple swats.”
“So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little — you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats,” she said. Cooper of course wanted to hear more, so he asked if it was done in a “joking manner,” and she said “yes.” At this point, she said he became “a completely different person” and the whole situation became more comfortable.
“He quit talking about himself and he asked me things and I asked him things and it just became like more appropriate,” she said. “He was like, ‘Wow, you– you are special. You remind me of my daughter.’ You know– he was like, ‘You’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you.'”
He said he wanted to get her on “The Apprentice.”
Daniels told Cooper that Trump asked her, “Would you ever consider going on [The Apprentice] and– and being a contestant?”
“And I laughed and– and said, ‘NBC’s never gonna let, you know, an adult film star be on,'” she said. “It’s, you know, he goes, ‘No, no,’ he goes, ‘That’s why I want you. You’re gonna shock a lotta people, you’re smart and they won’t know what to expect.'”
She said that he continued to bring that up for awhile, including another meeting they had, in which they watched a documentary but never had any sexual contact, though he signaled he would’ve been interested.
She says she felt threatened after agreeing to tell her story for $15,000.
Daniels said that after she agreed in May 2011 to tell all to In Touch magazine, a guy approached her in the parking lot while she was holding her infant daughter and threatened her. Here’s the transcript:
Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T– taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.” And then he was gone.
Cooper: You took it as a direct threat?
Daniels: Absolutely.
Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna– drop her.
She said she didn’t go to the police because she was “scared.”
She “lied” when she signed the statement denying the affair.
She told Cooper that she only signed the $130,000 NDA because she was afraid and “didn’t wanna kiss and tell and be labeled all the things that I’m being labeled now.” Referencing her porn career, she said she “didn’t wanna take away from the legitimate and legal, I’d like to point out, career that I’ve worked very hard to establish.”
“So you signed and released– a statement that said I am not denying this affair because I was paid in hush money I’m denying it because it never happened. That’s a lie?” asked Cooper.
“Yes,” she said. Asked why she would sign it if it’s “untruthtful,” she said, “Because they made it sound like I had no choice,” which she clarified she meant legally not physically.
Video below via CBS:
Related: Porn Star’s Lawyer: Stormy Can Describe Trump’s Genitalia