Adult film star Stormy Daniels said she would “absolutely” testify against former President Donald Trump if the criminal charges related to his alleged role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign go to trial.
In an interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” that aired Thursday on Fox Nation, Daniels said she would “look forward” to testifying if the case goes to trial.
“I mean, any time you’re up in the public eye, it’s scary. I used to get scared giving an oral book report in school. So I mean, it’s daunting, but I look forward to it,” she said.
“You know what I mean? Because I have nothing to hide. I’m the only one that has been telling the truth,” she added. “And, you know, you can’t shame me anymore. So I feel like if they don’t, it paints the picture that they know something about me that makes me, you know, untrustworthy or not reliable.”
Daniels said she “absolutely” would testify, arguing that if she’s not called in to do so, she would feel like prosecutors are “hiding” her story.
“I think having them call me in and put me on the stand legitimizes my story and who I am,” she said. “And if they don’t, it almost feels like they’re hiding me. And people automatically assume — I would — that, oh, that she must not be a good witness, she’s not credible.”
Pressed about her credibility, particularly with regard to a letter she signed in 2018 denying a sexual relationship with Trump, Daniels said she was bound at the time by a non-disclosure agreement.
"Michael Cohen wrote that and had me sign it, and I didn't want to," Daniels said. "If I hadn't signed that I would've broken the NDA."
Daniels also said she was prepared to be held in contempt and potentially go to jail rather than pay hefty legal fees to Trump stemming from a failed defamation suit against him.
“I didn't come this far to back down and to give him money,” Daniels said. “I did nothing wrong but stand up to him and prove that I wasn’t lying.”
Daniels also said that while she got death threats when news about her alleged affair with Trump first broke in 2018, they have intensified and become "more serious" since Trump was indicted.
“They are way more specific and graphic," Daniels said. She added that people making the threats, by phone, text, email and social media, are "not hiding, and they genuinely feel that they are doing something right.”
Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday before a judge in Manhattan to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to Daniels and another woman toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign to prevent them from speaking about their allegations of affairs with him. Trump’s indictment marked the first time a former president has been charged with a crime. Trump has denied the alleged affairs.
Trump was arraigned before Judge Juan Merchan as a result of an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The legal process could take months or longer to unfold. It is unclear whether the case will reach a trial. Former prosecutors familiar with trying criminal cases in New York said they predict that the case could take much longer than the six months typically given for prosecutors in New York to try felony cases under the state’s “speedy trial” rule.
Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said he doesn’t believe the case will make it to a jury.
“This case is going to fall on its merits, on legal challenges, well before we get to a jury, if we get to a jury,” he said in an interview Wednesday on NBC’s “TODAY” show.