| Advertisement |
April 7 (UPI) -- Stormy Daniels, in her first interview since former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 felonies, told Piers Morgan that she would "absolutely" testify at his trial. Asked how she would feel if she is called to testify at a Trump trial, Daniels -- an adult film actress, born Stephanie Clifford -- said it would be daunting, but she feels being called to testify "legitimizes my story and who I am."
Advertisement
If prosecutors don't call her to testify, she said, "it almost feels like they're hiding me."
"I feel like if they don't, it paints the picture that they know something about me that makes me untrustworthy or unreliable," she said.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges related to hush money schemes including an effort to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep an alleged 2006 affair, which Trump has denied, quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Despite her willingness to testify against Trump, Daniels said the potential jail time Trump could face for the charges is unwarranted.
"I don't think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration," Daniels said.
She added however that if he is found guilty in other pending cases and investigations against him he should "absolutely" face jail time.
"A bigger problem is that if these allegations against him or whatever else that we don't know yet, he is found guilty or evidence suggests that he is ... and he doesn't then it ... basically opens the door to other people to think they can get away with doing that and worse," she said.
Trump is also facing investigations and charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, his efforts to influence Georgia's 2020 election results, allegations that the Trump Organization falsely inflated the value of assets and allegations that he sexually assaulted former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
"I'm not the fire. I was the spark that lit the fuse that blew up the keg," Daniels said.
"On Jan. 6, look how many people got injured, It just seems like that's a bigger thing. But if this is what leads to it I can't help but wonder if there's something we don't know."
She said she watched some of the indictment on TV "because it was on every channel," but said she found it anti-climactic.
"Part of me was like he had to finally go in and be under the rule of someone else. He had to obey the judge. The king has been dethroned. He's no longer untouchable," Daniels said.
Daniels told Morgan that she has voted Republican before, but did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020.
When asked if Trump should be allowed to run again for president, her reaction was, "I'm surprised that the laws allow him to."
She said it's absurd that Trump potentially could be convicted and go to prison and still become president of the United States again.
Daniels said if Trump goes to trial on the New York felonies she would feel vindicated that she has been telling the truth about what happened.
She added that while she has been the target of ramped-up threats now, she is not to blame for the situation Trump finds himself in.
She said she continues to get horrific threats to kill her, her family and burn her house.
"I'm used to getting horrible messages every day. Even before this, just being an adult star," she said.
The threats, Daniels said, are transmitted by phone, text, and emails. In the past, she said the people threatening her hid their identities.
"Now, it's different," she said. "The tone is different. They are way more specific and graphic."
She said many people threatening her are "using their actual phone numbers and actual emails" and are not hiding.
