Stormy Daniels Responds to Criticism Over New Documentary

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Stormy Daniels has hit back at a host of detractors over her new documentary, which charts the whirlwind surrounding her life since alleging she had an affair with former President Donald Trump.

Daniels has alleged she had an affair with the former president back in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump. The allegations have had significant ramifications for the real estate mogul, including his pending hush money trial.

Trump has been accused of arranging for his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to give Daniels $130,000 as hush money during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg say the payments were part of a scheme to stop potentially damaging stories about the Republican from becoming public.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, has denied any wrongdoing and has said the trial is part of a political witch hunt aimed at derailing his White House bid.

Stormy Daniels is pictured on May 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Daniels has hit back at a number of detractors over her new documentary, “Stormy.”

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

In her documentary Stormy, which debuted on Peacock on Monday, Daniels is shown speaking about how she feared for her life as Trump campaigned to become president back in 2016. She alleged that, at one point, a stranger threatened her when she was with her daughter in a parking lot and ordered her not to sell her claims about Trump to media outlets.

“My friend was like, ‘You might actually have a problem. I don’t want to scare you, but based on the things you’ve told me, now you’re the whole Republican Party’s problem. And they like to make their problems go away,'” Daniels said in the documentary. “I was f****** terrified.”

Daniels said that concerns about her safety made a hush money deal attractive, particularly as she could shield her family from harm by ensuring her name was not in the news. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, also said that she accepted the payment so as to create a paper trail should anything happen to her.

“All I had to do was sign this piece of paper and collect $130,000,” she said in the documentary.

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Donald Trump via email for comment.

Donald Trump was one year into his presidency in January 2018, when TheWall Street Journal published its report alleging that Cohen had arranged a hush money payment to Daniels weeks before the end of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The sudden spotlight saw a surge in media attention for Daniels. She also became the target of attacks but was not in a position to defend herself due to her non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Eventually, she risked a $1 million fine by sitting down for an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes to tell her side of the story in 2018.

On Monday, Daniels took to X, formerly Twitter, to promote a screening of her documentary in New York City that she was scheduled to attend that evening.

While she received support, Daniels was also met with an influx of disparaging comments, a number of which she responded to.

“Way to let yourself be used by Democrats to destroy our country you f****** traitor,” wrote one detractor, prompting Daniels to shoot back: “I’m a Republican. Idiot.”

Taking aim at the black-and-white photo used to promote Stormy, another X user commented: “Is that picture 20 years old or Photoshop?”

“It’s actually my mugshot from my false arrest in Ohio,” Daniels responded, adding a winking face with tongue emoji.

Another X user responded to another of Daniels’ promotional posts, saying: “Wow, can’t contain my excitement! A screening of STORMY on your birthday? What a treat! Can’t wait to see the hubby’s reaction when he realizes who the moral compass is. Better bring some tissues for his inevitable meltdown!”

“My hubby was one of the Cinematographers on the film,” Daniels wrote back. “He (along with my family) have seen it and think it’s incredible. Thank you for your concern though.”

“You’re a prostitute that broke her NDA after committing extortion,” read another post aimed at Daniels. “No idea how you’re not in prison.”

“Perhaps you should watch the documentary and find out but I have a feeling that the truth doesn’t matter to you,” Daniels clapped back.

Amid Trump’s plethora of legal woes, a criminal trial surrounding the payment given to Daniels was scheduled to begin on March 25, but the judge, Juan Merchan, postponed it to at least mid-April after a belated evidence dump.

While the payment of hush money for a non-disclosure agreement is not illegal per se, the case against Trump has focused on the way the former president recorded the expense—allegedly falsifying business records.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in the case; Daniels said in January that she was “set to testify” in the trial.