Stormy Daniels Denied Sexual Relationship with Trump in 2018 Letter?

On April 14, 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump's erstwhile campaign adviser Roger Stone shared on X an image of a letter supposedly signed by adult film actress Stormy Daniels in which she denied having an affair with Trump.

Trump is currently on criminal trial over charges he falsified business records in order to pay Daniels hush money ahead of the 2016 elections. Daniels claimed she had an affair with Trump after they met in 2006.

The letter appeared to be a signed "official" statement from Daniels, dated Jan. 30, 2018, in which she apparently confirmed: "I am denying this affair [with Trump] because it never happened."

A number of conservative voices on X shared the letter as proof that Trump and Daniels did not have an affair. Trump's verified Truth Social account shared the letter in April 2024, with the caption, "LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND! WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT?"

Stone wrote in a caption on X, "I am interested to know how Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels will explain this.…"

The letter above is not newly released. All of the above posts disregard that this letter was reported on and addressed in 2018, and Daniels has discussed it in depth since. While the letter is indeed a signed statement from Daniels — by her own admission — she maintains she signed it under pressure and its contents were false.

The full text of the letter reads:

Over the past few weeks I have been asked countless times to comment on reports of an alleged sexual relationship I had with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago. The fact of the matter is that each party to this alleged affair denied its existence in 2006, 20011 [sic], 2016, 2017 and now again in 2018. I am not denying this affair because I was paid "hush money" as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened. I will have no further comment on this matter. Please feel free to check me out on Instagram at @thestormydaniels.

First, some context: On April 15, 2024, Trump's criminal trial began over charges that he falsified records to pay Daniels to stay quiet about their alleged 2006 affair. According to Reuters, Trump is accused of paying $130,000 to Daniels in order to buy her silence during the later days of his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, testified that he made the payments to buy Daniels' silence. In 2018, Cohen pled guilty to violating campaign finance law. Trump has called Cohen a "serial liar."

Photographs of the letter also went viral in 2023, when they were shared by a number of conservative accounts on X. The Washington Post reported on the letter when it first came out in 2018, and received confirmation from Daniels' representative that the signed document was authentic.

However, Daniels addressed the letter in a post on X, and in a number of subsequent television interviews, first sidestepping the issue, and then saying she was pressured into signing it. In January 2018, Daniels appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," denying that she knew the origin of the letter, and not directly answering questions on whether she signed it. Kimmel shared photographs of two different statements purportedly signed by Daniels — both denying the affair — in which her signatures did not match. Their exchange takes place around 30 seconds into the video:

During an August 2018 interview with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes," Daniels claimed she had been pressured into signing the letter:

Anderson Cooper: So you signed and released— a statement that said I am not denying this affair because I was paid in hush money I'm denying it because it never happened. That's a lie? Anderson Cooper: If it was untruthful, why did you sign it? Stormy Daniels: Because they made it sound like I had no choice. Anderson Cooper: I mean, no one was putting a gun to your head? Anderson Cooper: You thought that there would be some sort of legal repercussion if you didn't sign it? Stormy Daniels: Correct. As a matter of fact, the exact sentence used was, "They can make your life hell in many different ways." Stormy Daniels: I'm not exactly sure who they were. I believe it to be Michael Cohen.

In March 2023, in response to the letter resurfacing, Daniels took to X, saying Cohen wrote the statement: "It is old news from early 2018 before I came forward. I think it's HYSTERICAL that tiny is trying to spin this as some kind of new information.There's a clip of this from the @jimmykimmel show & I discuss it in my book "Full Disclosure." ("Tiny" in her post referred to Trump.)

Daniels' book "Full Disclosure," which was released in October 2018, addressed the 2006 affair as well as the signed statement. Daniels released a photograph of the exact page of her book in which she discusses the letter. The book read:

The letter is indeed a real document that Daniels admitted to signing with an incorrect signature. However, she maintained that the contents of the letter were false and she stood by her story that she had an affair with Trump.