Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Clark Brewster, told USA Today on Friday that his client is “pleased” with the outcome of Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Brewster said Daniels won’t give interviews or make any statements about Trump’s conviction, at least “until the dust settles,” but he shared his longtime client’s reaction to the first-ever conviction of a former president: She believes justice has finally been served for Donald Trump.
“Twelve of the 18 people ultimately deliberated as jurors and dedicated more than a month of their lives to hearing the evidence,” Brewster said. “After going to court, testifying, looking the jury in the eye, and seeing how the evidence was presented and cross-examination was conducted, Stormy left with not only a great sense of satisfaction but also faith and admiration for how the system worked.”
He also said, “Frankly, she’s happy that it’s over.”
Daniels, an adult film actress, is the central figure in the hush-money lawsuit that saw a jury unanimously find Trump guilty on all 34 charges late Thursday afternoon.
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Brewster said the porn star gave him permission to speak on his behalf after the pair had a long and “emotional” discussion upon hearing the news.
Daniels’ first thoughts?
Brewster said Daniels “clearly this is a historic moment. No president or former president has ever been convicted before, so it’s pretty significant in that respect. … And she played a part in this.”
Daniels was pleased that the jury found her “integral and consistent.”
Trump was convicted Thursday of falsifying business records to hide $130,000 in hush money he paid to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He has long denied doing anything wrong in connection with the affair and even having sex with her, as Daniels testified.
“One of the things that’s unique about Stormy is that it’s really important to her that people understand that what she’s saying is true and consistent,” Brewster said on the witness stand.
And he said they both agreed that the jurors spoke in a resounding affirmative on that issue.
Daniels gave a lengthy and detailed account of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, including allegations that he greeted her in silk pyjamas, that there were gold tweezers in the bathroom, that she silently consented to sex and that she lost consciousness during the act.
“She was really shocked.”
When Brewster told Daniels that “this is a total denial by the defense,” she became emotional. “She was absolutely shocked,” Brewster said.
So did Brewster.
“She and I have been through a lot as attorneys, not just the details of this trial but everything she’s been through since 2019 when I began representing her, so the conversation that we had in that moment was kind of poignant,” Brewster said.
Brewster told Daniels how much he admired her for facing off against Trump in court, with the whole world watching, and enduring tough cross-examination by her lawyers, which included accusations that she had fabricated the affair to extort money from Trump.
“I told her how proud I was of her efforts in going out (to Manhattan), taking the time to meet with the prosecutors, trying to refresh her memory on certain details, and exposing herself to all the charges,” Brewster said.
“It’s been a really tough year for her. It’s just been nerve-wracking in terms of ultimately having to stand in court and be cross-examined,” Brewster said.
In the end, perhaps the most important lesson for Daniels and her lawyers was that despite all the chaos surrounding the trial, including Trump’s daily claims that the justice system was rigged against him, the criminal justice system was working as it should.
Daniels ‘devastated’ by historic verdict
Brewster said he and his world-famous client discussed how impressed they were with the care and dedication that had been put into the case and the facts presented by prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the 12 jurors and six alternate jurors.
They also spoke of how appalled they were by what Brewster described as Trump and his legal team’s unprecedented disregard for the court process and their “attempt to denigrate the court, to humiliate the court, the jury and the entire court process.”
Outside the courtroom, Trump frequently attacked the judge, district attorney and witnesses, including Daniels and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, while inside the courtroom, Trump and his defense witnesses were reprimanded by Judge Juan Marchan for speaking out of turn.
Brewster said Daniels and her lawyers were on edge as the jury deliberated for more than 10 hours.
“We all knew in any case a jury could look back at previous cases and see one or more pieces of evidence very differently than we perceive them, so we didn’t know what the verdict would be,” Brewster said, listing a range of possibilities based on the evidence presented and testimony from 20 prosecution witnesses, including a mismatched verdict, a complete acquittal or some sort of partial guilty verdict.
“The best system in the world”
After the verdict, Trump called the outcome a “disgrace” and vowed to fight the conviction.
In post-sentencing discussions, Daniels and her lawyers said the opposite is true.
“I mean, it’s the best system in the world,” Brewster agreed.
