Stormy Daniels: Who is the porn star at the centre of Donald Trump's ...

Donald Trump in currently on trial for charges relating to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Daniels' name has been linked with Trump's for years after rumours surfaced the pair had an affair in 2006.

The former president's trial has begun in New York after he was accused of criminally altering business records to cover up a $130,000 (£104,200) payment he made to her in 2016 - the year he first ran for president.

Here's a look at Daniels, why she says the former president paid her and what else she has said about Trump.

Who is Stormy Daniels?

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has been in the adult entertainment business for more than two decades, appearing in and directing numerous videos.

The 45-year-old, who was born in Louisiana, has also appeared in several mainstream comedy films, including Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

What does she say happened between her and Trump?

She claims she had an affair with Trump at a hotel in Lake Tahoe in 2006 - which Trump denies - and that his lawyers made the $130,000 payment to her in 2016 in exchange for her silence.

She alleges the affair happened shortly after Mr Trump's wife Melania gave birth to the couple's son Barron.

Trump denies the affair ever took place.

In an interview for CBS's 60 Minutes programme in 2018, she claimed she was introduced to Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006, and that he invited her to dinner. She said she met him at his hotel suite, where he showed her a copy of a golf magazine with his picture on the cover.

"And I was like, 'Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it'," she said on 60 Minutes.

"So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little... and I just gave him a couple of swats," she said.

She said Trump asked her whether she would like to appear on his TV show, Celebrity Apprentice.

Daniels said she excused herself to use the bathroom and when she returned they had unprotected, consensual sex.

She claimed Trump made repeated telephone calls to her over the following year and she met him again at his request in July 2007 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss her possible appearance on his programme.

Daniels alleged he wanted to have sex again at the hotel but she declined. She said Trump called her a month later to tell her he had not been able to get her booked on Celebrity Apprentice.

Trying to sell her story

Ms Daniels claimed she was threatened when she later agreed to tell her story to a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000 (£12,000) in 2011.

"A guy walked up on me and said to me: 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story'," she claimed.

"And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom'."

She told 60 Minutes she had people "reaching out to me again" when Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2016 offering her money to tell her story.

She said Trump's then-attorney Michael Cohen subsequently offered her the $130,000 not to say anything.

She signed a non-disclosure agreement in which she pledged not to discuss publicly her relationship with him in exchange for the payment, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.

The pact was signed by Keith Davidson, her lawyer at the time, and Cohen, and it included a spot for Trump's signature, but he never signed it.

In 2018, after the Wall Street Journal reported on the payment to Daniels, Cohen stated publicly that he paid her using his own money and was not directed to do so by Trump - though he later testified in court that Trump directed him to make the payment.

Daniels sued Trump and Cohen seeking to have the non-disclosure agreement invalidated. Trump's lawyers subsequently acknowledged he did not sign the agreement and would not seek to enforce it, leading a judge to dismiss her lawsuit because the matter was resolved.

Why is there a trial?

77-year-old Trump is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up the payment he made to Daniels.

He is also accused of being behind a payment of $150,000 (£120,000) to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep her from going public with an allegation she had sex with him.

A third allegation centres around an alleged $30,000 (£24,000) payment to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock, according to prosecutors.

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Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment to Daniels, with the Trump Organization logging the reimbursement as legal expenses.

But he has denied having sexual relationships with either of the two women and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.

He is accused of using a "catch and kill" scheme to identify, buy, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects.

But Trump's lawyers say the payments were meant to spare him and his family embarrassment and to stop Daniels and Ms DcDougal making "false and extortionist accusations".

What has Daniels said about the trial?

In a strongly-worded interview with The Times last year, Daniels said: "Trump is no longer untouchable. A person in power is not exempt from the law. And no matter what your job is, or what your bank account says, you're held accountable for the things you've said and done, and justice is served."

She added that she is unafraid of facing Donald Trump in court. "I've seen him naked. There's no way he could be scarier with his clothes on," she said.

She also revealed she had been dealing with threats from Trump supporters.

"The number and the intensity is the same as it was the first time around, but this time it's straight-up violent," she said.