Donald Trump Trial: «Put Him in Jail,» Says Former Porn Actress Stormy Daniels
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, the former porn actress at the center of the scandal that led to ex-President Donald Trump being criminally convicted last week by the New York court, called on Saturday, June 1, for the American justice system to incarcerate the former White House occupant.
«Put him in jail,» the 45-year-old woman told the British newspaper Daily Mirror in her first interview since the judicial decision. «I believe he should be sentenced to prison and community service for the underprivileged, or serve as a volunteer punching bag at a women’s shelter,» she added.
To recall, Stormy Daniels claims to have had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump in 2006, which he denies. To keep her silent, she was paid $130,000 just before the 2016 presidential election. This payment, disguised as legal fees, led to the business magnate being found guilty by a New York jury on Thursday, a historic conviction for a former president.
Laden with crude details that embarrassed the court, the testimony of former actress Stormy Daniels was one of the highlights of the debates. She recounted in detail this sexual encounter, which she said was consensual but where the «power dynamic» was «unbalanced.» «It will never be over for me,» she stated. Despite Donald Trump being found guilty, «I still have to live with this legacy,» the former actress said. «I don’t know what the sentence will be or what Trump will even understand,» she added in an analogy to how a child is punished.
Two days after his criminal conviction, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced his arrival on TikTok, the short video social media platform he had tried to ban during his presidency. To launch his new account, Donald Trump posted a 13-second video late Saturday night (see below), showing the billionaire, seemingly unfazed by his conviction, greeting fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in Newark, New Jersey. «It’s my honor,» he told UFC President Dan White, chosen to announce Trump’s arrival on TikTok.
Seven hours after its posting, the video had already been viewed nearly four million times. His account @realDonaldTrump had, to date, more than 630,000 followers, twice as many as the TikTok page of his rival Joe Biden, the current President of the United States.
In 2020, Donald Trump, then President of the United States, sought to ban TikTok. However, his attempt was blocked by the courts.
Last March, the American billionaire declared that the platform posed a national security threat but backtracked after realizing that a ban would harm some young users. Donald Trump subsequently declared he wanted to protect TikTok in the United States against Facebook. According to the AP news agency, one-third of Americans under 30 get their news from the platform, which has 170 million users across the United States. A former Trump minister, Steven Mnuchin, even declared in March his desire to buy TikTok.
Meanwhile, President Biden has enacted a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sever all ties with China or face a ban in the United States. The law gives the company 170 days to find new non-Chinese investors. However, its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, who deems the law unconstitutional and has filed a lawsuit against the United States, refuses to sell.
Donald Trump’s campaign team announced on Friday that they had raised more than 50 million dollars in online donations within 24 hours of his criminal conviction, highlighting that the verdict had galvanized his support «like never before.» «That’s more than 2 million dollars per hour,» his campaign team proudly stated in a release.
«A few minutes after the announcement of the verdict, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed by the support, and despite temporary delays due to online traffic, President Trump raised 34.8 million dollars through small donations,» campaign advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles stated in a Friday morning release. By Friday evening, the figure had risen to 52.8 million dollars, an astonishing sum.
The morning’s figure alone represents nearly double the best fundraising day for the campaign on WinRed, the Republican Party’s official donation platform. And 30% of these donations were reportedly made by new donors. «Crooked Joe and the Democrats, with their witch hunt, have awakened the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement like never before,» the campaign advisors celebrated again.
Donald Trump was found guilty on Thursday in New York of all charges against him in a criminal trial, the first for a former American president, for falsifying documents to hide payments intended to buy the silence of a former porn star. Judge Juan Merchan has set the sentencing for July 11.
Donald Trump has a habit of turning scandals to his advantage. Moments after the announcement of his guilt, his campaign website began redirecting visitors to a fundraising page declaring he was a «political prisoner.» The page was blocked for nearly an hour due to heavy traffic.
On Friday, Donald Trump denounced a «very unfair» and rigged trial and announced he would «appeal this scam.»
The Republican candidate regularly portrays his legal troubles as a battle against the evil forces of the «Deep State» – a nebulous entity that, according to conspiracy theory adherents, operates behind the scenes of the government – and the Biden administration. The Republican likes to depict himself as a martyr for the cause, ready to sacrifice his freedom for the good of his supporters. In April, he likened his situation to that of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid activist who remained imprisoned for 27 years.
Donald Trump is «confused, desperate, and defeated,» added a Biden spokesperson after the Republican’s speech, who called his New York criminal trial «very unfair,» following which he was found guilty.
Joe Biden accused Donald Trump on Friday, May 31, of «threatening our democracy,» in a message on X (formerly Twitter). «First, he questioned our electoral system. Then, he questioned our judicial system. And now, you can stop him,» added the American president, who will face his Republican predecessor for a second term in November, directing followers to a donation site.
It is «dangerous» for Trump to claim his trial was rigged, he also asserted. «It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say that (this trial) was rigged simply because they don’t like the verdict,» the American president declared at the White House before a speech on the situation in the Middle East.
Donald Trump is «confused, desperate, and defeated,» added a Joe Biden spokesperson. «Anyone who watched (Donald Trump’s televised speech this Friday, ed.) draws an obvious conclusion: this man cannot be President of the United States. Unhinged since his defeat in the 2020 election, spiraling due to his convictions, Trump is consumed by his thirst for revenge,» stated Michael Tyler in a release.
On Friday, Donald Trump called his New York criminal trial «very unfair,» following which he was found guilty on Thursday of falsifying records to conceal payments to a porn actress. In a rambling statement to the press from the lobby of his Trump Tower in Manhattan, the Republican presidential candidate for the November 5 election also accused Democratic President Joe Biden and his «gang» of being «sick» and «fascist.»
