Stormy Daniels in Iowa: Inside the Des Moines strip club where the porn star performed

Kevin Hardy | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Stormy Daniels says she can now talk about alleged affair with Trump Stormy Daniels is back in the spotlight, and now she's saying President Donald Trump's personal lawyer broke their nondisclosure agreement. Veuer's Sam Berman has the full story.

Elizabeth Leonard drove nine hours to see porn star Stormy Daniels in the flesh.

Leonard arrived at Big Earl’s Goldmine just after Daniels wrapped up the first of two Friday night performances at the all-nude strip club just north of the Des Moines city limits. She is fascinated by Daniels public feud with the White House and her surprising emergence as a champion of women among many supporters.

"I just want to see what happens," said the 37-year-old from Detroit. "And I want to see where she goes with her activism."

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Daniels, a successful adult film actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, catapulted to mainstream fame after revealing she was paid $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged sexual affair with President Donald Trump before his time in office. Across the country, stops on her national “Making America Horny Again” tour have recruited a mix of enthusiastic Trump supporters and fiery Trump opponents praising her for standing up to the president.

Leonard fell somewhere in the middle: She's no Trump hater, but she does think the billionaire president used Daniels. And she admires the adult film star for standing up for herself since. Daniels has contested a nondisclosure agreement, arguing that Trump's team invalidated the pact by discussing it in public.

Leonard barely missed the first show Friday, but planned on staying around for the encore and hoped to at least snag a photo with the star.

"My husband was working and I just thought, 'Why not?'" she said. "I’ve never been to Des Moines before, so I thought I could check it off the list."

After her Friday performances, Daniels is scheduled to take the stage again Saturday at 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. at Big Earl's. Tickets cost $50 at the door with an extra charge for autographs and photos.

Big Earl’s owner Melvin Bryson said Daniels is the most famous person to ever perform at the club. Few regulars filled the red velvet chairs inside the venue. But people were there to watch a strip show, not attend some political lecture, he said.

"I definitely see her as a porn star. That’s not going to change," Bryson said.

'The bigger the bill, the bigger the thrill'

A blaring storm siren warned the regular dancers it was time to move off the stage to make way for the headliner.

The loudspeakers played a pre-recorded introduction that went over Daniels’ resume: She has appeared in more than 150 adult films. She’s the top-rated performer on pornography site Pornhub. And hers was the most-watched "60 Minutes" interview in the last decade.

A crush of security guards and handlers rushed the star to the stage while “American Woman" played in the background. She smiled broadly as she comfortably marched around the stage in sparkling high heels.

She wore a red, white and blue cape over lingerie of the same colors. Long, blue sequined gloves covered her forearms.

The DJ urged those in the crowd to open their wallets: “If you want her attention, hold up some money,” he said.

She lost the cape and gloves and swung around the center brass pole. With encouragement from the announcer and the crowd, she tore off a bustier emblazoned with two stars. And soon, she wore only heels and a thin, blue garter.

She pressed her chest into men and women in the front row and knelt on her knees leaning out across the crowd as her entourage swept up the ones, fives and 10s that flew across the stage.

"Remember, the bigger the bill, the bigger the thrill," the deejay instructed.

A handler passed her a blue fleece blanket, which she spread out on the dance floor. Daniels sprawled out, posing on her stomach and back. She squirted a water bottle out into the crowd, then turned the nozzle to herself, spraying her chest and backside.

The DJ encouraged fans to come up and stick a bill on her wet body.

Daniels finds an enthusiastic crowd

The 50 or so people who filled the first show Friday night hooted and hollered during Daniels' short appearance. Many stood up during the performance to get a better look.

One of the club’s regular dancers grumbled that the show was only “decent.” Her poses were tantalizing, she acknowledged, but she hardly worked the pole.

A husband and wife in the front row enthusiastically handed over singles during Daniels’ performance. The woman, who declined to give her name, said she didn’t care much about the star’s conflict with the president. She was just there for the show.

"I don’t know if I have an opinion either way," she said. "It’s Des Moines. We have no entertainment here."

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Cases of Busch Light and Bud Light covered the tables at Big Earl's, a bring-your-own-beverage establishment. The local dancers sipped boxed white wine out of QuickTrip cups as they waited to get back on stage.

"I thought it was a great show," said Brent Bialas, a Windsor Heights resident who mows lawns for a living.

The 42-year-old hadn't heard much about Daniels' feud with the president before Friday. He only came after winning a raffle for a free ticket to the show. She was a natural on stage, he said, and he planned to get an autograph afterward.

"If it doesn't cost too much," he said.

Daniels charged $20 for photos and autographs before taking a break in her giant black tour bus out front.

She later returned for a second strip show, this time wearing a spandex leopard print suit, complete with a black tail and ears. "Cat Scratch Fever" played over the P.A. as she peeled off her outfit.

"How'd you like to wake up Christmas morning with that under your tree?" the DJ said.

'At least she's got the courage to stand up'

Jaime Bernal sat at a small table near the front row. He wore a sky blue Raygun shirt that read: "America Needs Nasty Women," a reference to an insult Trump slung at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during a 2016 debate.

Bernal, a 38-year-old who works in sales in Des Moines, described himself as a "lifelong Chicago Democrat." He's no fan of the current president and admires Daniels.

"At least she’s got the courage to stand up," he said.

While there, he paid up for a photo with the star. He had posted it on Facebook before he even left the building. And the show wasn't bad either, he said.

"I figured, why not?" he said. "Might as well come out on a Friday night and have a good time."

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Lobbyist Nate Gavronsky folded wings into single dollar bills and wrote "Air Force One" on them.

Gavronsky, dressed in a black suit, wore a checkered pink tie, which he flipped around to reveal a Trump label.

"She caught the tie," he said. "She thought that was kind of funny."

Gavronsky was impressed with the performance. He said she should write a book — not about her escapades with Trump, but about making it big in the adult entertainment industry.

"She's actually been successful in this industry," he said. "There are a lot of women who go into it... Write a book about how to do it right."

A registered Republican, he said he didn't have any strong feelings on the porn star. He just likes to meet famous politicians and celebrities. He said he's met every American president since Richard Nixon.

"People don't believe you can just go do that. But you can," he said. "Forty years from now people will be like 'That was crazy.' And I'll be like, 'Yeah, I was there.'"