From ABCNews:
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels testified in the hush money trial of former president Donald Trump Tuesday. During her testimony, Daniels mentioned former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, according to ABC News.
Really now.
And:
ABC News quotes Daniels saying Trump was sitting at a booth when she arrived at the nightclub restaurant downstairs from her hotel.
She went on to say Trump was next to Roethlisberger, whom he referred to as "Big Ben." Daniels testified she tried on his Super Bowl ring during this interaction.
And that's all ABC had to say about that.
NBCSports has more:
Via Tyler McBrien of LawFare.com, the witness said that Trump introduced her to Roethlisberger at a club in Nevada, where an annual celebrity golf tournament is held. Per the testimony, Trump described her as “his little friend Stormy.”
It’s not the first time Roethlisberger and Daniels were connected. In her 2018 book, she wrote that, on the evening after her alleged encounter with Trump, “he asked Roethlisberger to walk Clifford to her hotel room” and that Roethlisberger requested a “good night kiss.” Roethlisberger, per the book, stayed outside her room and knocked on the door for several minutes before leaving.
“I was terrified,” Clifford wrote. “I am rarely terrified.”
“Come on,” Roethlisberger allegedly said.
Uh-oh.
The part I haven't yet seen in the current reporting was why Roethlisberger was there in Nevada in the first place.
Luckily, we have this blog - the one you're reading right now - to rely on.
And this is what I wrote wa-a-a-ay back when Daniels' book came out - January 2018. I was then looking for more detail on the date of that golf tournament:
But can we find a more specific date for this tournament?
Yes, we can - it's the American Century Celebrity Championship tornament and it's held in the second full week of July every year at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Nevada.
That's when I discovered this picture:
I'm pretty sure that's Ben. So he played that tournament as well. And look at the board behind him. This Steeler Blog had the details:
Today is the final round of the American Century Championship (televised on NBC). Ben Roethlisberger will be paired with Paul O'Neill and Donald Trump, while former Steelers QB Tommy Maddox will be playing with Marshall Faulk and Vince Coleman. As of Sunday morning, Maddox is on the leaderboard and has a legitimate chance of winning the event. [Bolding in Original.]
So not only was Ben playing that tournament, he was paired with Donald Trump on its final day.
Any other days? Well, The Smoking Gun had the goods on that:
Trump was among an 80-player field stocked with athletes like Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Mario Lemieux, as well as entertainers including Ray Romano and Cheech Marin. During one round, Trump’s threesome included NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and skier Bode Miller.
So Ben was "paired" (can you be "paired" in a threesome?) with Trump twice.
I realize I am speculating here but I simply can not imagine someone like Donald Trump not bragging to anyone he could about sleeping with a porn star. Can you?
Did he say anything to Ben Roethlisberger about it that weekend? During the two rounds of golf they played together?
As far as I know, no one in the local Pittsburgh sports/news media even bothered to ask him. Then, now or since.
Go Steelers!