Stephen Colbert read the Stormy Daniels account of her alleged tryst with Trump, so you don't have to
After The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a few weeks before the 2016 election, President Trump's personal lawyer paid adult film actress Stephanie "Stormy Daniels" Clifford $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump — which Clifford now denies — In Touch magazine published a 2011 interview with her Wednesday evening in which she detailed her sexual encounter with the man who is now president of the United States.
"Trump can't stop this story because the interview was from 2011, before she signed her nondisclosure, and the magazine also verified Daniels' account with two sources at the time and had the actress take a polygraph," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "Wow, maybe In Touch magazine should lead the Russia investigation." The alleged affair took place four months after Trump's wife, Melania, gave birth to Barron. "That's a classic pickup line," Colbert said: "Hey baby — is what my wife just gave birth to. You want to go to dinner?" Dinner was reportedly in Trump's hotel room, and the dress was casual, he recounted. "Sweatpants, eating in the bedroom — even back then he was preparing for the presidency."
Colbert walked through other details of Clifford's account, some of them kind of disturbing. "Brace yourself, folks, because Stormy also says Trump paid her his highest compliment for a lover: 'He told me ... I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter,'" Colbert said, breathing and heaving into a paper bag. "Quick question: Can child protective services take custody of an adult woman?" You can watch more below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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