The full transcript of the 2011 In Touch Weekly interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) dropped on Friday morning, which for the most part backs up earlier reports of her evening with then-reality TV star Donald Trump. In the interview, Daniels alleges that she only had one sexual encounter with Trump during the previously reported 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, but that he pursued her over the course of several months and years by calling her on the phone from a blocked number and inviting her to events. Looking back on the relationship at the time of the interview, Daniels believes she was led on under the guise of getting her an appearance of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice.
Among the more interesting revelations from the exclusive (one being that Trump supposedly thinks that he’ll lose his power and wealth if he changes his hair) is that Daniels elaborated on the president’s aforementioned obsession with the Discover channel’s Shark Week — and sharks, in general.
The last time Daniels says she met with Trump in person was when he broke the news that he didn’t get her on Celebrity Apprentice. At the time he was staying at a private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and once again invited her to his room for dinner. When she arrived, she says Trump was glued to the TV, but not watching his usual Fox News.
Stormy: The strangest thing about that night — this was the best thing ever. You could see the television from the little dining room table and he was watching Shark Week and he was watching a special about the U.S.S. something and it sank and it was like the worst shark attack in history. He is obsessed with sharks. Terrified of sharks. He was like, “I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.” He was like riveted. He was like obsessed. It’s so strange, I know.
IT: So it’s just you and him in the bungalow?
Stormy: Yeah. But isn’t that weird? So strange. So we finished dinner and we moved to the sofa so he could get a better view of Shark Week.
Daniels says that she left before that encounter turned sexual, and after that only spoke to Trump on the phone occasionally.
Although she has not commented since the scandal broke, on Thursday evening the Wall Street Journal — which published the initial report that Daniels had been paid $130,000 to keep quiet about the tryst — reported that Trump’s lawyer used a pseudonym and a private company in Delaware established on Oct. 17, 2016 called Essential Consultants LLC to pay off Daniels.
Both Trump and his wife First Lady Melania Trump have yet to comment.