--- title: Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Affair Will Hurt Trump description: Former President Jimmy Carter said voter outrage for Melania Trump will hurt Donald Trump at the polls. canonical: https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-27T13:48:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:47:04.345Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Scandal Will Hurt Trump Because of Outrage for Melania og:description: "It will have a deleterious effect on his political standing" og:url: https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd313f6db9d1deea7/6988d590bc6cfc64553e239c/jimmy-carter-hospitalized-canada-dehydration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council Presents A Converation With Jimmy Carter and Joe Clark og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Scandal Will Hurt Trump Because of Outrage for Melania twitter:description: "It will have a deleterious effect on his political standing" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd313f6db9d1deea7/6988d590bc6cfc64553e239c/jimmy-carter-hospitalized-canada-dehydration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Scandal Will Hurt President Trump Because of Outrage for Melania > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times 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.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 27, 2018 1:48 PM UTC  Former United States President Jimmy Carter speaks at 'The Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council Presents A Converation With Jimmy Carter and Joe Clark' at The Carter Center on June 15, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. Former United States President Jimmy Carter speaks at 'The Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council Presents A Converation With Jimmy Carter and Joe Clark' at The Carter Center on June 15, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. Rick Diamond— Canadian American Business Council/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 27, 2018 1:48 PM UTC Former President Jimmy Carter is speaking out about President Donald Trump’s thorny legal battle with porn star Stormy Daniels – which he believes will have both personal and political repercussions. Speaking with [CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jimmy-carter-talks-faith-north-korea-russia/) – who said she was “almost embarrassed to ask the questions” – Carter, 93, said that, legal and political ramifications aside, the perception that Trump was unfaithful to wife Melania would hurt him. “I think most people want a president who they trust to tell the truth always, and who has some basic moral values, including loyalty to his own wife,” said Carter, although he noted that the allegations would have been significantly more damaging two decades ago. > [](https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/978617113073070081) Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges that [she had an affair with Trump in 2006](http://time.com/5215078/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-threat/) – a year after he married Melania – which continued into 2007\. She said she signed a non-disclosure agreement before the 2016 election to remain silent about the relationship, and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 through a bank account linked to company called Essential Consultants LLC, which the attorney had set up in Delaware a month before the presidential election. That action is now under scrutiny for possible campaign finance violations. Daniels sued the president earlier this month alleging that the non-disclosure agreement was void because he never signed it, and expanded her suit on March 26 to include Cohen, who she said defamed her by questioning the veracity of her claims about her affair with Trump. Trump and the White House have repeatedly denied the affair. A [fresh denial](http://time.com/5215948/white-house-denies-stormy-daniels-affair/) came Monday, a day after CBS’ 60 _Minutes_ broadcast an interview with Daniels in which she detailed her allegations. Carter, who is on a publicity tour for his 32nd book, _Faith: A Journey for All_, also told [_USA Today_](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/26/jimmy-carter-decries-donald-trump-decision-hire-john-bolton-disaster-our-country/459458002/)that he think voters’ moral outrage, especially regarding Trump’s poor treatment of Melania, now the first lady, will translate at the polls. “I think in the long term it will have a deleterious effect on his political standing,” Carter said. “We’ll see the adverse impact of the revelation of immorality and his violation of his sacred oath before God to be loyal to his wife.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Scandal Will Hurt President Trump Because of Outrage for Melania","datePublished":"2018-03-27T13:48:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:47:04.345Z","description":"\"It will have a deleterious effect on his political standing\"","url":"https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd313f6db9d1deea7/6988d590bc6cfc64553e239c/jimmy-carter-hospitalized-canada-dehydration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd313f6db9d1deea7/6988d590bc6cfc64553e239c/jimmy-carter-hospitalized-canada-dehydration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council Presents A Converation With Jimmy Carter and Joe Clark","caption":"The Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council Presents A Converation With Jimmy Carter and Joe Clark","creditText":"Rick Diamond— Canadian American Business Council/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5216747/jimmy-carter-stormy-daniels-donald-trump/","name":"Jimmy Carter Says Stormy Daniels Scandal Will Hurt President Trump Because of Outrage for Melania"}}]}] ```