Trump suggests he agrees with Rudy Giuliani that porn stars like Stormy Daniels don't have 'credibility'
- President Donald Trump agreed with his lawyer's assertion that the porn industry isn't respectable and that Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with him, isn't credible.
- "Not going to disagree with that," the president said when asked about the matter on Friday.
- Trump has long associated with industries that profit off of the sexualization of women and even appeared in three softcore porn films in the 1990s and 2000s.
President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he agrees with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani that the porn industry isn't respectable and that Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with the president, isn't credible as a result.
"Not going to disagree with that," the president said when asked by NBC News reporter Peter Alexander whether he agreed with Giuliani's assessment of the adult-film industry.
Giuliani said at a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday that Daniels shouldn't be believed - and deserves little respect - because of her chosen profession.
"I respect all human beings," Giuliani said. "I even have to respect, you know, criminals. But I'm sorry, I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation."
Daniels says she had sex with Trump once in 2006, a few months after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple's son Barron. Trump denies the affair and originally said he didn't know anything about either the $130,000 payment his attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election or the non-disclosure agreement she signed.
Giuliani later disclosed that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, which Trump subsequently confirmed in financial disclosure reports.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is currently suing Trump and Cohen to void the non-disclosure agreement. She's also separately suing Trump for defamation after he dismissed her account of a man who she says threatened her in 2011 to remain silent about the affair. The $130,000 hush payment is currently being investigated for potential campaign finance and bank fraud violations.
Giuliani this week said Daniels doesn't deserve to be awarded damages for alleged defamation because "she has no reputation."
"So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross-examine you. Because the business you're in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight," he said. "And secondly, explain to me how she could be damaged. I mean, she has no reputation. If you're going to sell your body for money, you just don't have a reputation. Maybe old-fashioned, I don't know."
But Trump has long associated himself with porn stars and industries that profit off of the sexualization of women. Other women in the industry have also claimed they have had sexual relationships with Trump. Another porn star, Jessica Drake, alleges that Trump kissed her without permission and offered to pay her for sex at the 2006 golf tournament - allegations that Trump denies.
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal alleges that she carried on a nine-month long affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. McDougal says that Trump flew her around the country and even introduced her to his family at an event for his reality show "The Apprentice."
Trump has even appeared in three softcore porn films produced by Playboy in the 1990s and early 2000s, according to reports by CNN and BuzzFeed. While the scenes featuring Trump do not include nudity, the videos are sexual in nature. One VHS cover read, "From luxuriating in a warm, soapy tub, to reveling at an exclusive night club, Carol and Darlene bare their sex appeal and lead you on a sensual journey of discovery."
MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said on Thursday that she was recently told by someone who spoke with Trump about life as president that Trump resents not being able to watch porn in the White House.