Sunday’s “60 Minutes” featuring an interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels was the most-watched episode of the show in a decade, bringing in more than 21 million views.
But the biggest takeaway for former prosecutor Jonna Spilbor was that Daniels poses no real legal threat to the president.
“There’s nothing that Donald Trump has done that’s been illegal in terms of his dealings with her...This is really [just] an embarrassment, and it’s a way for Stormy Daniels to profit off a consensual encounter,” said Spilbor.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Cliffords, claims she had a consensual affair with the president back in 2006.
In the interview, she said she was threatened into silence in 2011 after she initially sold her story to Bauer Publishing.
“[She] cannot back up any of her claims,” said Spilbor. “If she was truly threatened, she should have gone to the police.”
She also provided the salacious details of their time together, including spanking Trump with a Forbes magazine.
During the 2016 presidential election Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer at the time, paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money and made her sign a non-disclosure agreement.
She’s now suing to invalidate the NDA, since Trump himself never signed on the dotted line.
Daniels interview aired days after CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper caught up with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-former-prosecutor-jonna-spilbor-says-stormy-daniels-doesnt-have-a-case-against-president-trump).
Harley Rouda says he was a Republican and an independent before he sought to oust Congressman Dana Rohrabacher in Orange County, Calif., and win back control of Congress for Democrats. "There are a lot of people out there who would like to see this seat flipped," says Rouda, including many Republicans.
President Trump has proposed rolling back his predecessor's fuel efficiency standards. The move is effectively
an attack on states like California that set their own standards, says Dan Becker, director at Safe Climate Campaign.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi is stepping down after 12 years with the company. She helped push the soda giant into exploring healthier food and beverage options in light of changing preferences. Longtime Pepsi veteran Ramon Laguarta will replace Nooyi.
Disney, Fox, Snap, Dropbox, and others report earnings this week as earnings season winds down. Kristen Scholer and Nora Ali discuss what to expect from these quarterly results.
The trade war between the U.S. and China escalated even further after Chinese state media called out President Trump specifically, accusing him of extortion. Andrew Egger, reporter at The Weekly Standard, joins Cheddar to discuss.
The tech giants' decisions to block content by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones may encourage other platforms to crackdown on his incendiary rhetoric, says Mashable's Heather Dockray. "The claims he's making have always been dangerous," Dockray says. "But they seem particularly paranoid as of late."
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped to 3.9 percent and 157,000 new jobs were added in July. But while average hourly earnings rose 2.7 percent, Bankrate's Mark Hamrick points out that when inflation's factored in, workers are taking home less than a percent more in earnings.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Congressional candidate and former NFL linebacker Colin Allred says he received former President Barack Obama's endorsement in his bid to unseat the Republican incumbent Pete Sessions because he has run an inclusive campaign worthy of the Obama brand.
Mark Kaufman, science reporter at Mashable, discusses President Trump's surprising pick to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, atmospheric scientist Kelvin Droegemeier.
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday.
