This case was separate from the 34 charges that were filed against Mr. Trump in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday, but both cases involve Ms. Daniels.
The defamation lawsuit was filed by Ms. Daniels after Mr. Trump referred to her allegations about an affair with him as a “total con job” in a tweet in 2018. Mr. Trump dismissed her claim that she was threatened in a parking lot to keep quiet about the affair. The case was eventually dismissed after a judge ruled that Mr. Trump’s statement was protected by the First Amendment.
Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was then ordered to pay Mr. Trump’s legal fees, which amounted to $293,000. She lost an appeal against the ruling and was ordered to pay an additional $245,000 in legal fees. And now, the recent development ordering her to pay $121,972 seems to have brought the issue to a close.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer Harmeet Dhillon hailed the judgement as a victory for the former president. In a tweet, she said, “Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favour in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels.”
While the defamation case is formally unrelated to the charges filed against Mr. Trump in Manhattan, the two cases demonstrate the complicated legal battles and moral issues surrounding this scandal. The indictment in New York relates to a payment made to Ms. Daniels during the 2016 presidential election, which was alleged to be “hush money” to keep her quiet but not properly recorded.
