Trump verdict shines light on tryst at Tahoe hotel

STATELINE, Nev. - The guilty verdict in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is dominating headlines as May comes to a close.

Trump was found guilty of 34 felony state counts in a New York trial on Thursday. The inciting incident in that case occurred in 2006, when the business mogul and television personality allegedly conducted 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 actress occurred.

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

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, a porn and parody film company which Daniels wrote, directed and acted for.

“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.

Daniels testified that the pair had sex during the encounter, something Trump has denied.

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

The rest is history. Michael Cohen approached Daniels in 2016, with a $130,000 payment to keep the tryst under wraps. 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.