The husband of adult film actress Stormy Daniels said on Tuesday that thereâs a âgood chanceâ the couple will leave the country if former U.S president Donald Trump is acquitted in his Manhattan criminal trial.
Barrett Blade spoke to CNNâs Erin Burnett about the vitriol his wife, who is a key figure in the controversy over a 2016 hush money payment allegedly made to Daniels on Trumpâs behalf, has faced.
âââEither way, I donât think it gets better for her. I think if itâs not guilty, we got to decide what to do. Good chance weâll probably vacate this country,â Blade said on âOutFront,â adding that if Trump is found guilty, he believed Daniels would still face hate from the presumptive Republican presidential nomineeâs supporters.
âI donât see it as a win situation either way,â he said. âI know that we would like to get on with our lives. I know that she wants to move past this. We just want to do what I guess youâd say normal people get to do in some aspects but I donât know if that ever will be, you know, and it breaks my heart.
Daniels claims she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006 and was paid off in 2016 to keep silent about the affair. Prosecutors allege that Trump broke the law by falsifying business records to reimburse his former lawyer Michael Cohen and conceal a âhush moneyâ payment made to Daniels on Trumpâs behalf. The controversy dates back to January 2018, when the Wall Street Journal reported on the US$130,000 payment. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.
On the witness stand last week, Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament, in addition to salacious details of her alleged sexual encounter with him. She also testified about the interest that Trump and Cohen seemed to have had in buying her story after the âAccess Hollywoodâ tape came out just before the 2016 election.
During cross examination, Trumpâs lawyers attacked Danielsâ credibility. Attorney Susan Necheles accused her of fabricating the alleged sexual encounter in order to make money. Daniels pushed back and insisted that she was telling the truth.
âIf that story was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better,â Daniels said of her encounter with Trump.
When asked by Burnett about the defenseâs claim that Daniels made up her story, Blade echoed his wifeâs comments, describing her as âa brilliant writer,â and adding that she would have written something âway better than what she said about the Trump story.â
Blade also noted that Daniels just wants âto get on with her life.â
âAs much as itâs boring for the media to keep hearing it over and over again, it sucks for her to have to keep saying the same thing over and over and over again,â Blade said. âIt wears on her, but sheâs a warrior.â
Blade also said that the hate his wife receives doesnât really matter to him because Daniels âis used to all of thisâ and that she was prepared because she continues to receive a lot of vitriol and negative comments on social media.
âThis is all her fighting for what she believes is right and telling the truth, and I donât think a lot of people realize that,â he continued.
CNNâs Shania Shelton, Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.