Adult film star Stormy Daniels said in an interview Thursday that former President Trump should not be punished with prison over his concealment of hush money payments to her—but maybe for other alleged crimes.
“I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration. I feel like the other things that he has done, if he is found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels said in an interview with Fox Nation.
Trump pleaded not guilty in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy related to his role in hush money payments—including a $130,000 payment to Daniels—during the 2016 election season.
According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump made those payments “to cover up other crimes.”
Bragg added that Trump had paid his former attorney Michael Cohen for legal services performed in 2017. However, “This simply was not true,” said Bragg. “And it was a false statement the defendant made month after month in 2017. April, May, June, and so on through the rest of the year,” leading to the 34 individual counts.
Cohen had pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal crimes and served prison time for his role in the payoff to Daniels to keep her quiet at the end of the 2016 campaign season, a campaign contribution violation since it was made in service of the Trump campaign and $130,000 exceeded the federal limit.
The former Trump attorney has asserted that he paid the hush money out of his own personal funds, then was reimbursed by the Trump Organization and also paid extra bonuses for a total that eventually rose to $420,000.
According to Bragg, the payment to Daniels was one of several made amid a “catch and kill” scheme hatched with National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to buy stories, then not publish them nor allow the payment recipients to sell them to any other media outlet.
The criminal arraignment of a former U.S. President is unprecedented in U.S. history. The arraignment in Manhattan could potentially open the door for other prosecutors, to which Daniels alluded in her Thursday interview.
Trump is under criminal investigation not just in New York, but also in Georgia and the federal government for his role in attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House.
The next hearing in the hush money case is set for December 4. Daniels, who met at least once with Manhattan prosecutors before Trump was indicted, said in her interview that she would like to testify.
“I have nothing to hide. I’m the only one that has been telling the truth,” she asserted.
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