Stormy Daniels says that she felt “sad” to see Donald Trump make history as the first president to be arrested and arraigned in court on criminal charges linked to hush money payments he made to her.
The adult film actress told Piers Morgan that she had expected to be “excited” to see the former president appear before a New York judge but instead admitted she found her actual emotions on the day “shocking.”
“At first I thought I would be really excited when that day finally came as I did not think it would, and then I really didn’t think it would. I thought he was going to get away with not being held accountable. When I found out it was coming, or potentially coming I thought I would feel excited or vindicated but it was kind of anticlimactic,” she told Morgan on TalkTV.
Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told Morgan she had watched Mr Trump’s arraignment on television.
“Part of me was like, he finally had to go in and be under the rule of someone else. He had to obey the judge, the king has been dethroned, he is no longer untouchable and no one should be untouchable, it doesn’t matter what your job is, it doesn’t matter if you are the president, you should l be held accountable for your actions,” she said.
“But this is someone our country elected and chose, was there no better option? There was a range of emotions but sad was the most impactful and shocking for me.”
Ms Daniels, who lives in Florida, told Morgan she was “not responsible for his bad behaviour or the charges against him.”
“I was not the fire, I was the spark that lit the fuse that blew up the keg,” she told him.
And the 44-year-old actress insisted she was ready to testify in court if and when the case goes to trial.
“It is daunting but I look forward to it, I have nothing to hide, I am the only one who has been telling the truth, they can’t shame me any more,” she said.
“Having them call me in and put me on the stand legitimises my story and who I am and if they don’t it almost feels like they are hiding me and people will assume that she is not a good witness or is not credible.”
She told Morgan she did not want to see Mr Trump jailed in her particular case but was open to it in other investigations.
“Specific to my case, I do not think his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration. The other things he has done, if found guilty, absolutely.”
Ms Daniels told Morgan that she was still a registered Republican, but had never voted for Donald Trump.
“That’s my favourite, you just made a whole bunch of people watching this pee their pants,” she said of her political affiliation. “That just blows their whole thing away... It’s an easy thing to look up.”
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and his next court date is scheduled for December.
Prosecutors say that Mr Trump paid Ms Daniels hush money to keep a sexual encounter she alleges took place in 2006 in Nevada from becoming public knowledge in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Morgan also asked Ms Daniels if she wished she had never met the former president back in 2006.
“Of course not,” she told him.
Morgan then asked her about someone tweeting her “and said why did you sleep with him even though you knew he had a wife?
“And you replied, why did he invite me to his room, take off his clothes, and corner me when I came out of the bathroom even though he knew he had a wife?”
Ms Daniels replied: “Exactly. I mean that sums it up. Why is anyone responsible for somebody else’s behaviour in their marriage? I didn’t take a vow to anybody.
“It’s this whole thing where you blame the other woman but in the other scenario, you really blame the other guy, you know what I mean?”
