Just hours after his arraignment in Manhattan over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, former President Donald Trump notched his own legal victory against her.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Daniels to pay Trump $121,972 in legal fees in relation to a 2018 defamation lawsuit she filed against him that was later dismissed.
Trump took a victory lap on his social media platform, Truth Social, after the ruling.
“Alvin Bragg shut down New York City, brought in 38,000 NYPD officers, and will spend an estimated $200,000,000 of NYC funds, for a totally legal $130,000 NDA.
On top of all that, the 9th Circuit Court just awarded me $122,000 — over the $500,000 already awarded, from Stormy ‘Horseface’ Daniels!” he wrote.
In the suit, Daniels claimed she was approached by an unnamed man who threatened her after she alleged an affair with Trump during a 2011 In Touch Magazine interview.
She claimed the man said, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story” and brought up her young daughter, saying, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
In 2018, Trump accused Daniels of making up the story, calling it “a total con job”. Daniels sued him for defamation after his comments.
He countersued for attorney fees, which the Ninth Circuit ruled “reasonable” according to a court filing.
Those fees are in addition to the roughly $300,000 in legal fees Trump was already awarded when the lawsuit was dismissed.
Harmeet Dhillon, Trump’s former attorney, tweeted her congratulations to Trump on Tuesday.
“Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favor this morning,” Dhillion said.
“Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favor in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels.”
Daniels has said she would “go to jail” before she pays any of the money to Trump.
“I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” she said last year.
