As former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in Manhattan — where he stands accused of falsifying business documents in order to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election — Trump’s former campaign strategist Roger Stone shared a letter which appears to have been written and signed by Daniels.
The letter, which is dated January 30, 2018, purports to deny the existence of a sexual affair between Trump and Daniels. It includes the sentence: “I am denying this affair because it never happened.”
Stone shared the photo on the first day of Trump’s trial, and wrote: “I’m interested to know how Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels will explain this…”
It’s your lucky day! There’s actually a whole criminal trial starting today to help explain this for you … pic.twitter.com/5RFvWIFK7e
— Shanlon Wu (@shanlonwu) April 15, 2024
[On January 31, 2018, Daniels said (on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, below) that the letter was “from the internet” and noted that the signature didn’t look like her signature. She also addressed the origins of the letter on 60 Minutes and in her book Full Disclosure.]
Former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu, who represented former Trump political consultant Rick Gates during the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, replied with sarcasm to Stone: “It’s your lucky day! There’s actually a whole criminal trial starting today to help explain this for you…”
Note: Rick Gates, who was charged with conspiracy against the United States for making false statements in the 2017 Special Counsel investigation and agreed to a plea bargain with Mueller, testified in the criminal trial of Roger Stone, who was “found guilty on all seven counts, obstruction of proceedings, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.”
Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years of probation. Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison before Trump commuted his sentence and pardoned Stone in December 2020.