He was accused of paying the porn star $130,000 for her silence about the night they spent together. The conviction, however, stains the criminal record of the tycoon, who will be the first president of the United States convicted.
“It was the citizens of this nation who decided that you should enjoy protections such as the supremacy clause and presidential immunity,” the judge said, turning to Trump, who at the end wished him “good luck in your second term.” ‘Today’s event was a despicable farce and, now that it’s over, we will appeal against this hoax that I don’t deserve,’ the tycoon commented.
Stormy Daniels, stage name of Stephanie Clifford, is the porn star at the center of Donald Trump’s conviction who, despite not going to prison and without paying any fines, will find himself entering the White House for the second time with a stained criminal record . The president-elect was unanimously convicted on May 30 by a 12-member New York court jury of paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about their affair. Trump was found guilty of all 34 charges brought against him, behind which there was a single purpose: the conspiracy to hide compromising information for his 2016 presidential campaign, thus undermining the integrity of the elections.
Clifford met Trump in 2006, when the tycoon, real estate giant and small screen star with the program The Apprentice, had recently married Melania and became Barron’s father. The two began a relationship that went on for a while.
Trump called her on several occasions as ‘Honeybunch’ and repeatedly promised to have her appear on The Apprentice. After months it was Clifford who cut ties, no longer answering his calls.
In 2016, after Trump’s candidacy for the White House, the porn star tried to sell the story of her relationship to various media, initially without success.
But the publication of Access Hollywood’s off-air stories in which the presidential candidate described his view of sex and women in vulgar language made the story much more attractive to the tabloids. It was then that Trump’s former all-round lawyer, Michael Cohen, offered Clifford $130,000 in exchange for silence, which the woman accepted by signing the agreement on the set of her latest porn star film.
The money was paid by the lawyer and then reimbursed as fictitious legal fees, also violating the campaign finance law and therefore the integrity of the vote. Among the 34 charges there was also having falsified accounting documents of his holding company to hide the 130 thousand dollars paid to the porn star.