A pornographic actress who claims she had a sexual fling with Donald Trump in 2006 and 2007 passed a polygraph exam in May 2011 on the subject.
Polygraphs, commonly called ‘lie detector’ tests, don’t measure the truth of what a subject says. Instead they track changes in heartbeat, breathing, perspiration, blood pressure and other indicators that proponents describe as evidence of deception.
NBC News reported Tuesday that Stephanie Clifford, who appears in adult films and live strip-club shows under the name Stormy Daniels, was asked by ‘Life & Style’ magazine to submit to the test seven years ago when she offered to sell an exclusive story of her torrid affair with the future president.
The examiner who performed the test concluded that there was a 99 per cent chance she was telling the truth about having unprotected sex with the real estate tycoon.
The White House has said Trump denies every allegation of sexual misconduct against the president, including those lodged by Clifford.
s and the polygraph report
Porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer said Tuesday that this photo shows his client passing a polygraph test in 2011 in which she said she had a sexual affair with Donald Trump
Trump met ‘Daniels’ (real name: Stephanie Clifford) in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament
She says she and Trump carried on their trysts for months just after first lady Melania gave birth to Barron Trump, who is now 12 years old.
The porn star herself at one point appeared to recant her story in a statement whose authenticity she hasn’t directly denied.
She is now suing the president to be released from a nondisclosure agreement she entered into in 2016, just weeks before Election Day, claiming it’s invalid because Trump never signed it.
Clifford, however, did accept a $130,000 payment form Trump attorney Michael Cohen in exchange for her silence.
The porn star accepted $130,000 in hush money just before the 2016 presidential election but now is suing to be released from the nondisclosure agreement she signed
Cohen maintains that the money was his own and originated from a Home Equity Line of Credit, and that the president wasn’t aware of his attempts to silence Clifford.
He has insisted that neither Trump’s real estate company nor his presidential campaign organization reimbursed him, but hasn’t denied that the president did personally.
The American Psychological Association casts doubt on the value of polygraph examinations, saying that ‘[m]ost psychologists and other scientists agree that there is little basis for the validity of polygraph tests.’
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly found them to be unreliable, and ruled in 1998 that states can ban their use in legal proceedings.
Polygraphs are only admissible lower federal courts under limited circumstances, according to the U.S.Department of Justice.
In one scenario, attorneys on both sides of a dispute can agree on ground rules before the test is administered.
Attorney Michael Avenatti says Daniels should be allowed to tell her story
Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is demanding $20 million from Daniels for breaking the 2016 nondisclosure agreement at least 20 times so far
Daniels’ 15 minutes of fame have been extended by a few months because of her emergence and the anti-Trump partisans who are championing her
In another, the opposing party must have the opportunity to have its own expert re-administer the test with the same questions.
Cohen and Trump have turned Daniels’ lawsuit into a federal case and asked a judge to toss it into private arbitration – a condition of the agreement that Clifford wants voided.
She is also the target of a cross-complaint from Cohen, demanding $20 million for speaking about the alleged affair despite signing the nondisclosure agreement – that’s $1 million for each time she’s addressed the subject publicly.
That number is likely to grow on Sunday, when ’60 Minutes is scheduled to air an interview with Clifford.
Cohen argues that in addition to violating the agreement itself, she’s flouting a restraining order he quietly obtained against her form an arbitrator last month.
Clifford attorney Michael Avenatti played up the value of the polygraph test on Tuesday in a statement to NBC.
‘Long before Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency, Ms. Clifford passed a lie detector test confirming her relationship with Mr. Trump,’ Avenatti said.
‘Where are his test results claiming otherwise? Where are Mr. Cohen’s test results claiming otherwise? When this is over, the American people will know the truth about the relationship and the cover-up.’
The test asked her questions about whether she had ‘vaginal intercourse’ with Trump, whether it was ‘unprotected sex’ and whether Trump promised her a role on his show, ‘The Apprentice.’
She answered ‘yes’ to all three.