Stormy Daniels who claimed to have had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, has suffered another legal setback in her defamation lawsuit against the former president. On Tuesday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to award Trump’s attorneys just over $120,000 in legal fees, adding to the more than $500,000 that Daniels has already been ordered to pay.
Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favor this morning. Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels. https://t.co/ld7SVvZOp6 pic.twitter.com/1b5P3flxFb
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) April 4, 2023
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the defamation suit in 2018 after Trump tweeted that her allegation of being threatened by an unknown man in a parking lot to keep silent about their alleged affair was a “total con job”. The district judge dismissed the suit, ruling that Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment as “rhetorical hyperbole” normally associated with politics and public discourse. Daniels appealed the dismissal and the fee award, but both were affirmed by the 9th Circuit.
The appeals court rejected Daniels’ argument that the fee request was unreasonable and excessive, finding that Trump’s attorneys reasonably spent 183.35 hours preparing various motions and briefs. The court also noted that Daniels did not challenge the reasonableness of the hourly rates charged by Trump’s attorneys, which ranged from $307 to $841.
This is not the first time that Daniels has been ordered to pay Trump’s legal expenses. In 2019, she was ordered to pay roughly $293,000 in legal fees after losing another defamation suit against Trump over his denial of their alleged affair. She was also ordered to pay $245,000 in fees after losing another appeal in 2020.
BREAKING!!! the 9th Circuit just awarded Trump $121,962.56 in attorney fees from Stormy Daniels. Order just released. This in addition to the roughly $500k she already owes him.
LOL glad she’s out there saying her T-shirt sales are booming she’ll be able to afford to pay Trump!
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 4, 2023
Daniels’ legal troubles are not over yet. She is still involved in a separate lawsuit over the $130,000 hush money payment she received from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen during the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for arranging the payment and was sentenced to three years in prison. Trump was also indicted by a New York grand jury for his role in the scheme and faces multiple charges of fraud and tax evasion.
Daniels has maintained that she had a consensual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe resort in 2006 and that she was paid to keep quiet about it. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and accused her of lying and even produced a signed statement from Daniels stating the same.