CBS' '60 Minutes' Interview With Stormy Daniels Attracts 22 Million Viewers

5 hours ago

The ratings are in for Stormy Daniels' Sunday night sit down with CBS' '60 Minutes.' The interview topped 22 million viewers with final adjustments.

Transcript

00:00A guy walked up on me and said to me, leave Trump alone, forget the story, and then he

00:05leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, a beautiful little girl, it'd be a shame

00:09if something happened to her mom."

00:10The ratings are in for Stormy Daniels' Sunday night sit-down with CBS's 60 Minutes.

00:15The interview topped 22 million viewers with final adjustments.

00:19It easily ranks as the most watched episode in nearly a decade.

00:23Blowing past the recent high, the post-election chat with Trump himself, which brought in

00:2720 million viewers in 2016.

00:29During the interview, she told Cooper she realized she was breaking a non-disclosure agreement.

00:34She signed in return for a payment of $130,000, which she claims she felt pressured to sign

00:39from Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, just before the 2016 presidential election.

00:44But it was necessary for her to speak out now.

00:47She said,

00:47She also made it clear early in the interview that she was not an unwilling victim, saying,

01:00This is not a hashtag MeToo. I was not a victim. I've never said I was a victim.

01:05The adult film star explained that Trump invited her to his hotel room in July 2006, after they

01:10met at a celebrity golf tournament. She said Trump talked mostly about himself, asking her

01:15if she had seen his latest magazine cover. She claims she then spanked him with that very issue.

01:19He's like, wow. You, you are special. You remind me of my daughter.

01:24She told Cooper that not long after, they had unprotected sex. She also said Trump told her not to worry

01:30about his wife, Melania, who'd just given birth to their son.

01:33He brushed it aside, said, oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even, we have separate rooms.

01:38She also claimed Trump called her often afterward and said he would try and get her on Celebrity

01:43Apprentice. As for any text messages or photos involving Trump she may or may not possess, she said

01:49she could not comment on the advice of her lawyer, Michael Avenatti. She and Avenatti have filed a

01:53lawsuit in an effort to invalidate the NDA, arguing that Trump never signed the document.

01:59Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission appointed by President George H.W.

02:04Bush, said the payment is problematic for the president. Potter told Cooper,

02:08it's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500

02:15above what he's allowed to give. He added, and if he does this on behalf of his client, the

02:20candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose

02:25of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.

02:29On Thursday, Avenatti tweeted an image of what appeared to be a CD or DVD, writing,

02:34if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is this worth?

02:37Avenatti appeared on NBC's Today Monday, and when asked about the ominous picture, he said,

02:42I'm not playing games. There will be more evidence. And for those complaining that the interview

02:47wasn't salacious enough, Avenatti said this.

02:50She can describe his genitalia. She can describe various conversations that they had that leave no doubt

02:56as to whether this woman is telling the truth.

02:58The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Sheck said of the 60 Minutes interview,

03:01It's come to this. In a contest between a porn star and the President of the United States,

03:06as to which one has the most dignity, the porn star wins, hands down.

03:11Sheck also pointed out that Trump has tweeted endlessly about national threats ranging from North Korea

03:16to Alec Baldwin. But he's been strangely silent about Daniels, not tweeting about her at all before the broadcast.

03:22Now, according to the Associated Press, an attorney for Cohen says his client had nothing to do

03:27with the alleged threat made against Daniels. Lawyer Brent Blakely said in a letter late Sunday

03:32that Daniels and Avenatti made false and defamatory statements in the 60 Minutes episode.

03:37As for the threat, Blakely says Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident

03:43and does not even believe that any such person exists or that such incident ever occurred.

03:48He's accusing the pair of libel and demanding they cease and desist from making false and defamatory statements

03:54and apologized to Cohen publicly. For much more on this story, head to THR.com.

03:58Until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.

CBS' '60 Minutes' Interview With Stormy Daniels Attracts 22 Million Viewers | THR News

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