Porn star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, has been ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in attorneys’ fees to former President Donald Trump, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit “said it had no jurisdiction over Daniels’ appeal of the attorneys’ fees issue because she failed to file a notice of appeal within a 30-day deadline of a federal judge granting the fees to Trump,” CNBC reported Tuesday. “The appeals court also said that the same judge had properly included another $1,000 in sanctions against Daniels in the same judgment that awarded Trump attorneys’ fees.”
Trump lawyer Harmeet K. Dhillon responded to the news Monday night. “It was an honor for my team to represent President Trump in this successful 9th circuit ruling,” she tweeted. “Onward!”
It was an honor for my team to represent President Trump in this successful 9th circuit ruling. Onward! https://t.co/MKRfa2lncn
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) March 22, 2022
Dhillon also confirmed to reporter Meghann Cuniff that “Daniels owes Trump $292k in attorney fees,” adding that the lawsuit was “pushed so aggressively by [Michael] Avenatti for purposes that certainly did not benefit his client.”
Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster reacted to the ruling in a statement noting that his client’s former lawyer Michael Avenatti helped botch the case by “not perfecting a timely appeal in January of 2019.”
Donald Trump's lawyer Harmeet Dhillon (@pnjaban) on the 9th Circuit affirming Stormy Daniels owes Trump $292k in attorney fees. She says the lawsuit was "pushed so aggressively by Avenatti for purposes that certainly did not benefit his client." pic.twitter.com/cZO3x6LMC0
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) March 22, 2022
Daniels filed a libel suit against Trump over a tweet he posted back in 2018 concerning a sketch Daniels helped to create of her alleged intimidator alongside a photo of her ex-husband.
Trump captioned the side-by-side photos posted by another Twitter user: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
Daniels argued that Trump smeared her as a liar, hurting her reputation, and denied their alleged 2006 affair via the tweet.
Trump has always denied the alleged affair.
The former president issued a statement Monday night celebrating the victory.
“The 9th Circuit just issued a final ruling in the Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) frivolous lawsuit case against me brought by her disgraced lawyer, Michael Avenatti, upholding the lower court ruling that she owes me nearly $300,000 in attorney fees, costs, and sanctions (not including appeal costs),” the statement said. “As I have stated many times throughout the years, I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I ever have wanted to. The ruling was a total and complete victory and vindication for, and of me.”
“The lawsuit was a purely political stunt that never should have been started, or allowed to happen, and I am pleased that my lawyers were able to bring it to a successful conclusion after the court fully rejected her appeal,” Trump told his supporters. “Now all I have to do is wait for all of the money she owes me.”
“P.S. The Fake News probably won’t report this story!” the former president added.
Daniels said on Twitter that she won’t pay Trump one cent. “I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” she wrote.
I will go to jail before I pay a penny
— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) March 22, 2022
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Source: Dailywire
