NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Porn actress Stormy Daniels sues Trump, says hush agreement is null because he didn't sign it

By Beth Reinhard, Frances Stead Sellers and Emma Brown
Washington Post·
7 Mar, 2018 02:20 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Stormy Daniels. Photo / AP

Stormy Daniels. Photo / AP

Stormy Daniels, the porn star who was paid to keep quiet about her affair with Donald Trump, sued the president, alleging that her nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 election is void because Trump failed to sign it.

In the lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - said she wanted to go public with the story of her affair with Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Stormy Daniels. Photo / AP
Stormy Daniels. Photo / AP

Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Daniels's attorney, Keith Davidson, negotiated what the lawsuit calls a "hush agreement" in which she would be paid US$130,000. After delays and even a wholesale cancellation of the contract by Daniels on Octover, 17, the payment arrived on October 27, 12 days before the election, according to e-mails reviewed by The Washington Post.

Cohen said recently that he used his own money to "facilitate" the payment.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP

The lawsuit suggests Trump was aware of the agreement and that the money was intended to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, bolstering two complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission that say the payment violated election law because it was not reported as an in-kind campaign donation.

Porn star details secret 'hush agreement' with Donald Trump

The steamy details of the agreement have been revealed after Stormy — real name Stephanie Clifford — announced she was suing the President overnight, alleging he never signed the "hush agreement" his lawyer had put together just days before he was to become the most powerful man in the world.

The real names on the agreement were so sordid that even the nondisclosure agreement needed codenames; porn star Stormy Daniels was known as "Peggy Peterson" or "PP".

Court documents filed by porn star Stormy Daniels.
Court documents filed by porn star Stormy Daniels.

The other name, though, was slightly more sordid. If this got out, it could mean very troubled waters.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For Donald Trump, the agreement, which was signed by Stormy on October 28, 2016, came just days before the Presidential election — and he had a mess to clean up.

In the agreement, Trump was instead referred as "David Dennison" or "DD".

The hush agreement directed US$130,000 be paid to Stormy and in return, she would keep her silence, not disclosing any confidential information about Trump, the couple's affair, or his sexual partners, to anyone beyond a shortlist she had already told about the relationship.

She was also not to share any photos or texts from the then Presidential-hopeful.

Discover more

World

Why it's not inappropriate to ask Ivanka about father's affairs

26 Feb 08:04 PM
World

Stormy Daniels threatened to cancel deal

03 Mar 02:57 AM
World

Stormy Daniels' lawyer drops bombshell about Trump

08 Mar 04:43 AM
World

Stormy Daniels uncertain about fate of '60 Mins' segment

12 Mar 01:27 AM

"[The sex] was textbook generic," Stormy told InTouch magazine in 2011.

It "was nothing crazy. It was one position, what you would expect someone his age to do."

Stormy alleges she had an affair with Trump after meeting him at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

According to court documents seen by news.com.au, the relationship continued "well into the year 2007" and included at least one "meeting" with Trump in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The alleged tryst happened one year after he married Melania Trump and just months after his son Barron was born.

Daniels posted a photo of herself smiling next to a beaming Trump on her MySpace page in mid-July 2006.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She agreed to go back to his hotel room, where she said she teased him about his hair and he evaded her questions about Melania.

"He goes, 'Oh, don't worry about her'," she told the magazine.

"He was sitting on the bed, and he was like, 'Come here.' And I was like, 'Ugh, here we go,' and we started kissing," Daniels said.

Afterwards, he asked her to sign a copy of her X-rated film, 3 Wishes.

Trump then became "smitten" and started calling her every 10 days, promising to get her on The Apprentice and referring to her as "honeybunch," she said

For the agreement to work Stormy's lawyers claim both parties needed to sign the agreement — and the initials "DD" — or "Dennis Dennison" — fail to appear on the agreement.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The civil suit alleges though Trump's lawyer signed the agreement, Trump himself never signed, therefore allowing Stormy to disclose all the juicy details of her "intimate" relationship with Trump.

- additional reporting news.com.au

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Israel strikes dozens of Tehran targets in aggressive overnight raids

20 Jun 08:29 AM
World

Trump to decide on Iran invasion within two weeks

World

Tensions rise: Hospital, nuclear sites targeted in Iran-Israel conflict

20 Jun 06:49 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Israel strikes dozens of Tehran targets in aggressive overnight raids

Israel strikes dozens of Tehran targets in aggressive overnight raids

20 Jun 08:29 AM

More than 60 fighter jets hit alleged missile production sites in Tehran.

Trump to decide on Iran invasion within two weeks

Trump to decide on Iran invasion within two weeks

Tensions rise: Hospital, nuclear sites targeted in Iran-Israel conflict

Tensions rise: Hospital, nuclear sites targeted in Iran-Israel conflict

20 Jun 06:49 AM
Teacher sacked after sending 35,000 messages to ex-student before relationship

Teacher sacked after sending 35,000 messages to ex-student before relationship

20 Jun 05:55 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP