Rudy Giuliani had some harsh words for Stormy Daniels Wednesday, telling a crowd at a Tel Aviv conference that Daniels is not credible because she’s a porn star.
But that argument went limp after CNN reminded the former New York City mayor that his own client, the president himself, appeared in three different Playboy films between 1994 and 2001.
“I respect all human beings,” Giuliani said, referring to Daniels. “I even have to respect, you know, criminals. But I’m sorry, I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn’t going to sell her body for sexual exploitation.”
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had an affair with Trump in 2006. She’s suing the president for defamation after he called a sketch of a man — who Daniels says threatened her — a “total con job.”
“Explain to me how she could be damaged,” Giuliani said. “I mean, she has no reputation. If you’re going to sell your body for money, you just don’t have a reputation. Maybe old-fashioned, I don’t know.”
But Giuliani neglected to mention that CNN and BuzzFeed reported in 2016 that Trump had made three cameos in Playboy videos years ago.
One of the films, from the year 2000, shows Trump — fully clothed — breaking a bottle of champagne on a Playboy limo, while several Playmates gather around him.
“Beauty is beauty, and let’s see what happens with New York,” Trump says.
In another appearance, Trump is seen photographing models with a Polaroid camera and, in a third, he shows up backstage at a fashion show with two Playmates and Melania Knauss, his girlfriend at the time and the future first lady.
While Trump’s scenes are rather tame, the films include sexually explicit scenes of women posing in sexual positions and touching themselves.
Another Playboy Playmate, Karen McDougal, said that she had an affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007, around the same time as Daniels. Trump has also denied McDougal’s claims.
Giuliani did not discuss McDougal’s case during the Tel Aviv conference. But on Thursday he told CNN Thursday: “If you’re involved in a sort of slimy business, (that) says something about you — says something about how far you’ll go to make money.”