Daniels says Trump should be jailed if guilty in other cases, but not hers

Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits with his attorneys Joe Tacopina (2nd R) and Boris Epshteyn (R) inside the courtroom during his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court April 4, 2023, in New York City. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts stemming from hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. With his indictment, Trump will become the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense. (Photo by Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty Images)

Adult film star Stormy Daniels said former President Trump should be sent to prison if he is convicted in the other cases in which he is being investigated but not for the case involving her. 

Daniels told broadcaster Piers Morgan in an interview that Trump should “absolutely” be incarcerated if he is found guilty in the other legal cases he is facing, arguing that him not going to prison would open “the door for other people to think they can get away with doing that and worse.” 

“Specific to my case, I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration,” she said. 

Trump was arraigned on Tuesday in the case related to Daniels and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who brought the case, alleges that the records were falsified to cover up reimbursements that Trump made to his former attorney Michael Cohen. 

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an affair that she alleges she had with Trump years prior. Bragg said upon announcing the charges that the payments Trump made to Cohen were declared to be legal expenses, but they were not. 

Trump is also facing several other investigations. 

Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) is investigating the efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia in 2020, while special counsel Jack Smith is probing Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and broader efforts to overturn the election nationally. Smith is also investigating the classified and sensitive documents that were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla., last year. 

In the Daniels case, Trump could receive up to four years in prison per count if he is convicted, but some legal experts said they do not expect Trump to go to prison even if found guilty in this case, given that he has no previous arrest record. 

Daniels also said she looks forward to having an opportunity to testify in the case about her experiences.

Trump said in a statement that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Daniels to pay him more than $120,000 in attorney fees over a defamation lawsuit she filed that was dismissed in 2018.

He repeated his past denials that he ever had an affair with Daniels and said she is “out yet again for her moment of fame.”

Daniels has said she would “go to jail” before paying Trump any money.

Tags Donald Trump Donald Trump Donald Trump indictment hush money payment hush money payments Piers Morgan Stormy Daniels Stormy Daniels Stormy Daniels Trump indictment

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