Yesterday, in a great piece of theatrical timing, the 9th Circuit awarded Donald Trump $121,962.56 in attorney fees from Stormy Daniels, the now infamous porn star. The money is in addition to the roughly $500,000 that she was ordered to pay him last year. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling is separate from the Manhattan case. As you can see our favorite attorney, Harriet Dhillon (she should be Chair of the GOP, btw) clawed back the money spent in this suit.
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
CNN:
Daniels had sued Trump in 2018 after he called an allegation by Daniels that an unknown man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump a “total con job” in a tweet.
Dismissing the lawsuit in October 2018, District Judge S. James Otero said Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment.
“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 United States. The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement,” Otero wrote at the time.
Otero later ordered Daniels to pay roughly $293,000 in legal fees. She was also ordered to pay $245,000 in fees after losing another appeal.
