--- title: Stormy Daniels, Ben Stiller Star in Saturday Night Live Cold Open description: Stormy Daniels stars as herself in the "Saturday Night Live" cold open this weekend, which followed Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen. canonical: https://time.com/5267129/stormy-daniels-saturday-night-live/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-06T14:17:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:08:48.300Z og:title: Stormy Daniels Stars As Herself in Star-Studded 'SNL' Cold Open og:description: "I know you don't believe in climate change, but a storm's a-comin', baby" og:url: https://time.com/5267129/stormy-daniels-saturday-night-live/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f310536561c0a2d/69892faaab6d77e5fd6b294b/stormy-daniels-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Stormy Daniels Saturday Night Live og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stormy Daniels Stars As Herself in Star-Studded 'SNL' Cold Open twitter:description: "I know you don't believe in climate change, but a storm's a-comin', baby" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f310536561c0a2d/69892faaab6d77e5fd6b294b/stormy-daniels-snl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 00:43 video:published: 2018-05-04 section: politics topics: legal team, Rudy Giuliani, witch hunt, congressional subpoena, deleted emails, legal defense, presidential statements genre: interview, press remarks tones: defensive, confident, dismissive, assertive emotions: defiance (high), confidence (medium), frustration (medium) sentiment: negative audience: political news readers, US voters, legal and political analysts, general news audiences people: Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani organizations: Congress content_suitability: politics [00:00-00:43] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Stormy Daniels Stars As Herself in Star-Studded _SNL_ Cold Open > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=972523e8-3ace-4d91-8c95-fab7c2e406f9&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Is Now Saying Rudy Giuliani Was Wrong About the Payment to Stormy Daniels [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Is Now Saying Rudy Giuliani Was Wrong About the Payment to Stormy Daniels](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jLL9CaX0.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2018-05-04. President Donald Trump says the new addition to his legal team, Rudy Giuliani, will “get his facts straight.”_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary President Donald Trump discusses Rudy Giuliani, who has just joined his legal team, saying Giuliani is learning the subject matter and will issue a statement. Trump characterizes the investigation as a witch hunt and cites the deletion of 33,000 emails requested by Congress as an example. He says Giuliani will get his facts straight and believes the matter is bad for the country. ## Key points - Trump says Giuliani is a great guy who only started a day earlier but has his heart into the work. (00:04) - Trump says Giuliani is working hard and learning the subject matter. (00:12) - Trump says Giuliani will be issuing a statement. (00:15) - Trump says Giuliani knows the matter is a witch hunt and has seen many of them. (00:23) - Trump says Giuliani said he has never seen something so horrible. (00:25) - Trump cites 33,000 emails requested by Congress with a subpoena that were burned or deleted, with no one saying anything. (00:33) - Trump says Giuliani feels the matter is a very bad thing for the country and that he happens to be right. (00:50) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:43] Trump on Giuliani joining legal team. Trump describes Rudy Giuliani's new role, calls the matter a witch hunt, and cites deleted congressional emails as an example. ## Key quotes - [00:12] Donald Trump: "he really has his heart into it." - [00:23] Donald Trump: "he knows it's a witch- hunt, that's what he knows, he's seen a lot of them." - [00:33] Donald Trump: "33, 000 emails requested by congress with a subpoena, and they get burned, they get deleted." - [00:45] Donald Trump: "He'll get his facts straight." ## Questions this video answers - How is Rudy Giuliani doing in his new role on Trump's legal team? [00:00] - Will Rudy Giuliani be issuing a statement? [00:15] - Does Trump consider the investigation a witch hunt? [00:23] - What example does Trump give of congressionally requested emails being deleted? [00:33] - Does Trump believe Giuliani will get his facts straight? [00:45] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-00:43]: Discussion of a presidential legal team and an investigation framed as a witch hunt. by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas May 6, 2018 2:17 PM UTC President Donald Trump says the new addition to his legal team, Rudy Giuliani, will “get his facts straight.” by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas May 6, 2018 2:17 PM UTC This week’s _Saturday Night Live_ cold open was another celebrity-filled skit with Ben Stiller reprising his role as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen — and Stormy Daniels appearing as herself. The porn star caught at the center of the president and his lawyers’ changing story over his $130,000 hush payment to keep her quiet about an alleged affair entered _SNL_‘s growing Trump world Saturday night during an episode hosted by Donald Glover. The cold open followed Stiller’s Cohen as he called the president (played by Alec Baldwin), Rudy Giuliani (played, of course, by Kate McKinnon) and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner (played by Scarlett Johansson and Jimmy Fallon, respectively), among many others, as the F.B.I. listened in. After a chaotic series of calls, Stiller got Daniels on the phone with Baldwin. Baldwin, as Trump, told Daniels: “Stop making such a big deal about this. Everyone knows it’s just an act.” Then he asked: “What do you need for this to all go away?” “A resignation,” she responded. “I know you don’t believe in climate change, but a storm’s a-comin’, baby,” she added. Daniels’ appearance on _Saturday Night Live_ comes after a similarly chaotic week in the White House after Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and newest member of the president’s legal team, [told Fox News’ Sean Hannity](http://time.com/5264555/donald-trump-statements-stormy-daniels-payoff/) that Trump repaid Cohen for the $130,000 hush payment to Daniels — a transaction Trump has denied. _Saturday Night Live_ used the complicated situation as the basis for its cold open, as Stiller, playing Cohen, called the president and a number of characters in Trump’s orbit. Speaking with McKinnon’s Giuliani and Baldwin’s Trump, Stiller pleaded: “Guys, can we please just decide on one line and stick to it? ‘Cause our stories are all over the place.” The sketch then launched into a series of appearances of Trump associates played by comedians. Martin Short appeared as Dr. Harold Bornstein, Trump’s personal physician. “I have zero commitments, personally or professionally,” Short said. “But if you ever want to do drugs, I can get you all the drugs.” Aidy Bryant appeared as White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to try to gain clarification of the whole ordeal. “Mr. President, I have lost all credibility,” Bryant told Baldwin over the phone. “Did you lie to me about the Stormy Daniels affair?” He responded: “Yeah, that sounds like something I would do.” “O.K., good, just as long as we’re on the same page,” Bryant said, smiling. Cecily Strong as First Lady Melania Trump — donning her [much-talked-about all-white suit and hat](http://time.com/5252421/melania-trump-hat-reactions-memes/) — also appeared in the sketch, and Leslie Jones and Beck Bennett reprised their roles as Omarosa and Vice President Mike Pence, respectively. So did Johansson as Ivanka Trump, who stood alongside Fallon, who got laughs speaking as a flustered Jared Kushner with a high-pitched voice. Watch the skit below. ## Transcript [00:00] Mr. President, how's Rudi doing? Mr. [00:04] President. I'll tell you what Rudi [00:08] is a great guy but he just started a day ago. But he [00:12] really has his heart into it. He's working hard, he's [00:15] learning the subject matter. And he's gonna be issuing [00:19] a statement too. But he is a great guy, he knows it's a [00:23] witch- hunt, that's what he knows, he's seen a lot of [00:25] them. And he said he's never seen something so [00:29] horrible. As an example, 33, 000 emails [00:33] requested by congress with a subpoena, and they get [00:37] burned, they get deleted. And nobody says anything. [00:40] Give me a break. So Rudy knows it's a witch hunt. [00:45] He started yesterday. He'll get his facts straight. He's [00:50] a great guy, but what he does is he feels it's a very [00:54] bad thing for our country and he happens to be right. 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