A judge has ordered Stormy Daniels to pay President Trump over $290 thousand as reimbursement for his attorneys’ fees for a meritless lawsuit filed against the president.
According to Fox News:
Adult film star Stormy Daniels must pay President Trump $293,000 in legal fees, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
“The U.S. District Court today ordered Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) to pay President Trump $293,052.33 to reimburse his attorneys’ fees (75% of his total legal bill), plus an additional $1,000 in sanctions to punish Daniels for having filed a meritless lawsuit against the President designed to chill his free speech rights,” Charles J. Harder, the president’s legal counsel, said in a statement.
“The court’s order,” Harder said, “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.”
Attorneys for President Trump had asked a court earlier this month for nearly $800,000 in lawyers’ fees and penalties from Daniels for the failed defamation lawsuit against him. Harder defended more than 500 hours his firm spent that rang up a nearly $390,000 legal bill for the president and asked for an equal amount in sanctions as a deterrent against a “repeat filer or frivolous defamation cases.”
It remains unclear if Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti will help her pay any of the amount owed as he continues to battle his own financial woes.