(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)XXX star Stormy Daniels is furious. Lawyers for President Donald Trump just delivered a nasty surprise, and it’s right before the Christmas holiday.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, garnered nationwide fame after she alleged that she had a one-night affair with President Donald Trump in 2006, shortly after First Lady Melania Trump gave birth to the couple’s only child, Barron, who is now 12. For his part, the president has strongly denied that the affair took place.
Daniels sued Trump earlier this year seeking to break a non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election about the alleged tryst. Despite the deal to stay quiet, however, Daniels spoke out publicly and claimed that five years after the alleged affair, she was threatened to keep quiet by a man she did not recognize in a Las Vegas parking lot.
She also released a composite sketch of the mystery man, later suing Trump for defamation after he responded to the allegation by tweeting, “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
This didn’t quite work out the way that Daniels planned, though. Judge S. James Otero ruled in October that Trump’s statement was “rhetorical hyperbole” against a political adversary and was protected speech under the First Amendment. Trump is entitled to legal fees, Otero said.
Stormy Daniels’s libel lawsuit over a tweet by Donald Trump accusing her of “a total con job” was thrown out by a judge who said the president was engaging in free speech.
The adult film star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claimed she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 for agreeing to cooperate with a magazine article about a tryst she says she had with Trump in 2006. After her lawyer released a composite sketch of the man, Trump accused Clifford in an April tweet of “a total con job” concerning a “nonexistent man.”
“The court agrees with Mr. Trump’s argument because the tweet in question constitutes ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ normally associated with politics and public discourse in the U.S.,” U.S. District Judge S. James Otero in Los Angeles said in a ruling Monday. “The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement.”
Trump’s lawyers had argued that Clifford — far from being harmed — has benefited financially from her public dispute with the president. [Source: Bloomberg]
On Monday, we learned just how much Daniels’ little stunt is set to cost her as Trump’s lawyers went to court to ask for nearly $800,000 in damages:
Attorneys for President Trump asked a court Monday for nearly $800,000 in lawyers’ fees and penalties from adult-film actress Stormy Daniels for the failed defamation lawsuit against him.
Attorney Charles 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.” [Source: Fox News]
“This action is virtually unprecedented in American legal history,” Harder wrote in court papers. Daniels “not only brought a meritless claim for defamation against the sitting President of the United States, but she also has engaged, along with her attorney, in massive national publicity.”
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, who recently found himself in a bit of trouble of his own after allegedly beating a woman, called the suggested sanctions “absurd and outrageous,” saying, “You can’t just pick a number out of thin air in an effort to put my client under Donald Trump’s thumb and intimidate her.” Of course, the only person trying to use intimidation as a tactic to make a bunch of undeserved cash is Avenatti’s client.
