Stormy Daniels releases sketch of man she says threatened her over Donald Trump affair

Lawyer offers $100,000 for information on the mystery man

Emily Shugerman
New York
Tuesday 17 April 2018 18:23 BST
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Stormy Daniels releases sketch of man she says threatened her

Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress claiming to have had an affair with Donald Trump, has released a sketch of the man she claims threatened her over the relationship years ago.

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims a man approached her and warned her to stay quiet about Mr Trump in 2011 – shortly after she spoke with a celebrity gossip magazine about the alleged affair.

On ABC’s The View this week, Ms Daniels and her media-friendly attorney Michael Avenatti released a sketch of the man they say threatened her life. The man had sandy brown hair and stood 5’9”, Ms Daniels said. He was in his 30s or 40s.

“He looks like an actor, sort of,” one of the hosts remarked.

“That’s why he stood out to me, because I thought honestly that he was sort of handsome,” Ms Daniels replied.

Mr Avenatti then offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who could identify the man, telling potential tipsters to email information to IDthethug@gmail.com.

Stormy Daniels' attorney predicts Michael Cohen to be charged

Ms Daniels claims she and Mr Trump carried on a 10-month affair in 2006, shortly after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son. She says Mr Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid her $130,000 during the presidential campaign to stay silent about the incident. Mr Trump claims the affair never happened.

Ms Daniels is suing both Mr Trump and Mr Cohen in an attempt to invalidate the nondisclosure agreement, and is making the media rounds in the process. She first told the story of the unidentified “thug” to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in March. She told Mr Cooper she never saw the man again, but that she would instantly recognise him if she did.

Days later, Mr Avenatti tweeted a photo of Ms Daniels with a prominent forensic sketch artist.

Revealing the sketch on The View on Tuesday, Ms Daniels divulged more details of the alleged encounter, adding that the man had approached her in the parking lot after a “Mommy and Me” workout class.

The stranger took one look at her baby daughter sitting in her carseat, Ms Daniels said, and told her: “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story. That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said she had "no knowledge" of the alleged incident.

“Obviously we take the safety and security of any person seriously, certainly would condemn anyone threatening any individual,” Ms Sanders said in March.

Asked why she hadn’t reported the incident to police at the time, Ms Daniels said she hadn’t wanted to reveal her affair with Mr Trump to the public.

“I would have had to tell an entire police department – and police reports are public records, I know that for a fact – I had sex with Donald Trump,” she said. “Then the whole world would have known, and I was in the process of trying to quiet that or figure out what to do.”

She added that her husband was unaware of her encounter with Mr Trump at the time, and she didn't want him to find out in this way.

“I didn’t want my life turned upside down,” she said.

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