Washington: Adult film star Stormy Daniels has been ordered by a federal appeals court in California to pay more than USD 120,000 in legal fees to former US President Donald Trump’s lawyers. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday (local time) ordered Daniels to pay more than US$120,000 in legal fees to Trump’s lawyers. This is on top of the US$500,000 in court-ordered payments to Trump’s lawyers that he has to pay.
Stormy Daniels loses defamation lawsuit
As CNN reports, Daniels filed a defamation lawsuit against the former president and lost. The order was handed down the same day a Manhattan court indicted Trump on 34 counts related to allegedly secretly paying money to Daniels to cover up an alleged affair between the two.
Trump was charged with 34 allegations of misappropriation of business
Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the alleged payments. This is the first time a former US President has faced criminal charges. The civil litigation is not officially related to Trump’s arrest and the charges filed against him in New York – but both involve Daniels, who was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair during the 2016 presidential campaign Was. Trump denies the affair, reported CNN.
Daniels sued Trump in 2018 after Trump in a tweet alleged by Daniels that an unidentified man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, “Total Thief job.” Dismissing the lawsuit in October 2018, federal judge S. James Otero said that Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment, CNN reported.
Otero wrote at the time, “The Court agrees with Mr. Trump’s argument that the tweet in question constitutes ‘rhetorical exaggeration’ commonly associated with politics and public discourse in the United States. The First Amendment protects this type of liberal statement.” does.”
Daniels ordered to pay legal fees to Trump’s lawyers
Otero later ordered Daniels to pay approximately US$293,000 in legal fees. According to a CNN report, Daniels was also ordered to pay US$245,000 in fees after losing another appeal. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, asked the appeals court to set aside another award. The court refused his request. “Clifford argues that the fee request is unreasonable and not overly well founded,” the 9th Circuit filing states.
It added, “Trump’s attorneys reasonably spent the requested 183.35 hours preparing the motion to dismiss, the response to the motion in opposition, the two extension motions, the reply brief and the fee application.” In March 2022, Daniels said she would “go to jail” before giving Trump a dime, following an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit filed by Daniels’ former attorney, Michael Avenatti.