Adult film star Stormy Daniels said in a new documentary she accepted hush money from former President Trump because she was “terrified” for her life.
Daniels, in the film streaming on Peacock, said she was “very relieved” when her former manager Gina Rodriguez reached out and offered her “the chance to keep it quiet.”
“I was f—ing terrified!” Daniels said, highlighted by Mediaite. “I mean, people have been suspiciously killed for political reasons.”
The actress said her friend told her she may be in trouble because she was “the whole Republican Party’s problem” amid Trump’s first bid for the White House. Her friend added that politicians “like to make their problems go away,” according to Daniels.
Daniels claimed she took the money — which was paid to her to avoid speaking about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006 — because she wanted to avoid having the story come out and to protect her husband and daughter.
In the film, she also acknowledged she took the $130,000 payment because “there would be a paper trail and money trail linking me to Donald Trump so that he could not have me killed.”
“All I had to do was sign this piece of paper and collect $130,000,” she added.
Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments he made during his 2016 campaign. Prosecutors maintain that the money was reimbursement for his former fixer Michael Cohen — now an open critic of the former president — who paid Daniels to stay silent over the alleged affair.
The judge overseeing the case ruled Monday that Cohen and Daniels can testify at the upcoming trial over Trump’s objections.
The trial, which was originally set to begin next week, has been delayed at least a few weeks after new documents came to light. Still, it could head to a jury in the spring.