President Donald Trump is expecting Stormy Daniels to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees that he incurred defending himself against a failed defamation suit launched by the porn star. A judge dismissed the lawsuit this month and ruled that the president should be awarded attorney fees.
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 08: Stormy Daniels Signs Copies Of Her New Book “Full Disclosure” at Museum of Sex on October 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
In a Monday court filing obtained by the Washington Examiner, the president’s lawyers are asking for $341,559.50 from the high-profile adult film actress and sometime author. Daniels alleged she had a steamy affair with Trump, which the president denied. (RELATED: Judge Dismisses Stormy Daniels’ Suit Against Trump)
The lawsuit alleges that Daniels “filed this action, not because it had any merit, but instead for the ulterior purposes of raising her media profile, engaging in political attacks against the president by herself and her attorney, who has appeared on more than 150 national television news interviews attacking the President and now is exploring a run for the presidency himself in 2020.” (RELATED: Stormy Daniels Arrested For Letting Customers Touch Her)
Michael Avenatti, the attorney of adult-film star Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 30, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, reacted to Trump’s filing with outrage, telling the Washington Examiner, “This is a number created out of whole cloth. And it is nothing compared to what he will owe my client from the main NDA case.”
U.S. District Judge James Otero threw out Daniels’ defamation lawsuit that was all based on a Twitter statement from Trump that called a drawing of an assailant alleged to have attacked Daniels, a “total con job.”