Deflects

Stormy Daniels deflects Kimmel's questions on alleged Trump affair

By LOUIS NELSON

Adult film star Stormy Daniels dodged questions Tuesday night about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump, playing coy about the relationship that she has recently denied but previously had talked about in great detail.

Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, hedged and shrugged Thursday as ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel read a summary of her 2011 interview with In Touch magazine in which she detailed her alleged relationship with the president. That relationship came to light earlier this month when The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s private attorney paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement one month before the 2016 election.

As Kimmel recalled Daniels saying in her 2011 interview that Trump had asked for her autograph on one of her DVDs, the actress said “I guess he does have good taste then.” When the late night host recalled a meeting between Daniels and Trump where the president was engrossed in Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” programming and declared his fear of sharks, Daniels interjected “aren’t we all?”

Once Kimmel finished his summary of Daniels’ interview, he asked “is any of that true?” To which Daniels replied, “define true.” Kimmel also handed Daniels a puppet version of herself, asking the puppet Daniels about the reported relationship with Trump.

Asked by Kimmel if she had a nondisclosure agreement related to her reported relationship with Trump, Daniels replied “do I?” But when Kimmel responded that “if you didn’t have an non-disclosure agreement you most certainly could say you don’t have an non-disclosure agreement, yes?” Daniels replied “you’re so smart, Jimmy.”

Daniels was relatively clear in disputing her signature on a statement that purportedly came from her in the hours leading up to her appearance on Kimmel’s show. The statement, attributed to Daniels, reads in part: "I am not denying this affair because I was paid 'hush money' as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened.”

But the signature on the Thursday statement does not appear to match other examples of Daniels’s signature, something Kimmel pointed out during his interview with the actress. “That doesn’t look like my signature, does it?” she said.