Police release body-camera video of Stormy Daniels arrest
Police in Columbus, Ohio, released body-camera video showing Stephanie Clifford, the adult film star known as Stormy Daniels who claims to have had an affair with President Donald Trump, being handcuffed and arrested outside a strip club where she performed.
Clifford, 39, was arrested July 11 on suspicion of sexually touching a patron while on stage at the Sirens Gentlemen's Club in Columbus, but the charges were quickly dismissed after City Attorney Zach Klein reviewed the case.
Clifford and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, slammed the arrest a "politically motivated" setup.
The police body-camera video released Wednesday shows officers handcuffing Clifford outside the strip club near her parked tour bus.
In the video, Clifford is seen calmly cooperating with officers as they frisked and handcuffed her. She is then seen being led to a waiting van and put inside.
Her bodyguards can be seen being kept at bay by police who arrested her. One of the bodyguards asked officers if he could ride with Clifford in the van to the police station, but his request was denied.
Additional video shows Clifford inside the rear of the van and being booked at the police station.
Two other women arrested that night with Clifford, Brittany Walters and Miranda Panda, also had charges against them dropped, Kline said in a statement released Wednesday.
"After reviewing the charges for each of these cases closely, I've determined that the facts of these cases do not meet the elements required to prosecute under this law," Klein said. "The charges have been dismissed."
As was the case in Clifford's arrest, Klein said "similar defects" were found in the arrests of Walters and Panda.
None of the three cases properly allege that the women made "regular appearances" at the club, a requirement of the law to prosecute the cases, Klein said.
Undercover detectives at the club alleged that while "topless and wearing a G-string," Clifford touched a patron, a female undercover detective, in a "specified anatomical area."
Clifford was booked on a charge of illegal sexual oriented activity in a sexually oriented business. The charge was dismissed a day after her arrest.
Klein said detectives failed to produce evidence that Walters and Panda, who is a server at the club, performed nude or semi-nude at Sirens.
Clifford has said she had sex with Trump once in 2006 and was later paid off to keep quiet about it. Trump, who was married to his current wife, Melania, at the time, has repeatedly denied the affair occurred.
Trump's then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had Clifford sign a non-disclosure agreement about the alleged affair just weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Clifford filed a lawsuit against Trump and Cohen late last year, seeking to be released from the hush agreement.
Cohen has admitted paying Clifford $130,000 shortly before the election. In a statement emailed to ABC News in February, Cohen said it was a "private transaction" using his "own personal funds" that were paid to Clifford in 2016.
Clifford filed a new lawsuit in June against Cohen and her former lawyer, Keith Davidson, who represented her when she signed the non-disclosure agreement. The suit alleges that Davidson betrayed Clifford while still representing her by communicating and coordinating with Cohen for Trump's benefit.
