Stormy Daniels’ lawyer will not reveal evidence of alleged Trump affair

A lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels has declined to specify additional evidence he claims he has of his client’s alleged affair with US president Donald Trump in 2006.

Michael Avenatti added: “It makes no sense for us to play our hand.”

The lawyer, speaking after Ms Daniels’ interview was broadcast on 60 Minutes, insisted there is more evidence to come, but that he and Ms Daniels are withholding certain details, including the contents of a CD or DVD he tweeted a picture of last week.

“We understand the American people want all the information right now, immediately. It would make no sense for us to play our hand as to this issue and we’re not going to do it right now.”

In the 60 Minutes interview, Ms Daniels said that she had been threatened by an unidentified man in Las Vegas to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with Mr Trump, an incident that she said happened while she was with her young daughter. She said in the interview that she had one encounter of consensual sex with the future president.

“He knows I’m telling the truth,” said Ms Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She does not allege that she was coerced in her encounter with Mr Trump, saying: “This is not a ‘Me too.’ I was not a victim.”

Mr Avenatti said he is still working to verify the man in Las Vegas’s identity, and that he has no direct evidence tying the threat to Mr Trump or his lawyer “other than common sense”.

“It had to have come from someone associated with Mr Trump,” Mr Avenatti told ABC, “there is no other place for it to have come from. It didn’t come from the magazine, it makes no sense. It certainly didn’t come from my client.”

He also taunted Mr Trump for failing to tweet about the allegations, suggesting that meant they were true.

In the interview, the adult film actress provided little new evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with Mr Trump, but said she faced intimidation tactics aimed at ensuring her silence in 2011.

Ms Daniels said that during the incident, in a car park, the man told her: “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” She said he then looked at her daughter and said: “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”

The actress received a 130,000-dollar (£91,000) payment days before the 2016 presidential election for her silence and has sought to invalidate a non-disclosure agreement.

In the interview, Ms Daniels described a sexual encounter with Mr Trump that began with him talking about himself and showing her an issue of a magazine with his picture on the cover.

She said she asked: “Does this … does this normally work for you?” He was taken aback, she says. “And I was like, ‘Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.'” She says she then ordered him to drop his trousers and, in a playful manner, “I just gave him a couple swats.”

Ms Daniels said of their conversation: “He was like, ‘Wow, you — you are special. You remind me of my daughter.’ You know — he was like, ‘You’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you.'”

She said after dinner in Mr Trump’s room, they had sex. He did not use a condom, she said, and she did not ask him to. Afterwards, he asked to see her again, she said.