STATELINE, Nev. – The guilty verdict in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is dominating headlines as May comes to a close. But in 2006, when the business mogul and television personality was conducting his rendezvous with Stormy Daniels in a Stateline hotel room, he barely made local news. 

Trump was in town for the American Century Championship, held annually at Edgewood Tahoe when the tryst between him and the adult film star occurred. 

Headlines for that tournament focused on the attendance of cycling legend Lance Armstrong, who was still years away from his own scandal. 

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Going through the archives, the Tahoe Daily Tribune found a brief announcement mentioning Trump, along with many other celebrities, would be playing in the tournament, and an article in which one line mentioned that the chef providing food for the golfers one night was also Trump’s personal chef. 

What wasn’t mentioned in any of the articles was the presence of one of the hole sponsors, Wicked Pictures, an adult and parody film company which Daniels wrote, directed and acted for. 

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“So, Wicked sponsors one of the holes on the golf course, which, yes, I know it’s very funny. We are an adult film company sponsoring one of the holes,” said Daniels during her May 7, 2024 testimony.

Daniels, along with the owner of the company and other employees, were there to hand out company swag and pose for pictures. During the testimony, she said they were introduced to all of the players, including Trump. She described the encounter as being “brief,” although he expressed interest in her directing.

“And that’s when he acted like, oh, you actually direct too? You must be the smart one. And there is a picture and they moved on,” said Daniels. 

In the gift room, following the day’s play, Daniels took another picture with Trump, along with other celebrities. Trump’s security then asked Daniels if she’d like to have dinner with him that night, to which she said, “F no.”

However, her publicist convinced her to take the dinner. She met Trump that night for dinner in the penthouse at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, the hotel he was staying at. 

She testified that when she walked into the foyer of the penthouse, she called out to Trump. He walked in. 

“He was wearing silk or satin pajamas, like two-piece pajamas, that I immediately made fun of him for, and said, does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?,” said Daniels, referring to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

Trump, at Daniels’ behest, changed into dress pants and a dress shirt. 

The two sat at the dinner table and Trump asked Daniels many questions about her childhood, life and especially, her work. 

The back and forth continued, all while Daniels was drinking several glasses of water. She eventually went to the bathroom and when she came out, Trump was in his boxers and an undershirt. 

“At first, I was just startled, like jump scare,” testified Daniels. “I wasn’t expecting someone to be there, especially minus a lot of clothing. That’s when I had that moment where I felt the room spin in slow motion. I felt the blood basically leave my hands and my feet and almost like if you stand up too fast, and everything kind of spinned, that happened too.” 

He blocked her way out of the room, although she said it was not in a threatening manner. She said even though she had not been drinking and was not drugged, she blacked out. The next thing she remembers was having sex with him. 

While a year-long platonic relationship continued between Daniels and Trump, she testified, they never had sex again. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Michael Cohen approached Daniels in 2016, with a $130,000 payment to keep the tryst underwraps. In 2018, Daniels came forward with the story. 

Trump came in 62nd out of 80 in the 2006 ACC, scoring -16. That was the last year Trump played in the tournament.