Adult film actress Stormy Daniels must pay more than $290,000 to reimburse President Donald Trump for legal fees he spent defending himself in a defamation lawsuit she brought against him over a tweet, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, lost her defamation lawsuit in October, with a federal judge in Los Angeles saying the president’s tweet was protected by the freedom of speech clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Following that ruling, Trump’s attorneys at a hearing last week requested nearly $800,000 in legal fees and sanctions, but U.S. District Judge James Otero in his latest ruling awarded a fraction of the sum.
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Otero’s ruling awarded Trump most of the legal costs his attorneys had sought, but only $1,000 in sanctions.
“The court’s order, along with the court’s prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels‘ defamation case against the president, together constitute a total victory for the president, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case,” Charles Harder, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement.
Daniels‘ attorney, Michael Avenatti, in a statement suggested the attorneys’ fees in the defamation case were of small importance in Daniels‘ broader litigation battle with Trump.
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Daniels, who has written a “tell-all” book about Trump called “Full Disclosure,” has separate from the defamation lawsuit gone to court to challenge the validity of a $130,000 hush money agreement over a tryst she claimed she and Trump had more than a decade ago.
Trump has denied he had an affair with Daniels, saying she was paid to stop “false and extortionist accusations.”
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Daniels sued Trump for defamation after he denied her assertion that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006 and disputed her account that she was threatened in 2011 for agreeing to a press interview about the alleged encounter.