Trump must pay Stormy Daniels back, says the court

Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the center of an historic criminal indictment against Donald Trump, has been ordered to pay an additional $122,000 in legal fees that the then-president incurred when she sued him unsuccessfully for defamation in 2018. A federal appellate court in California ruled on the fee dispute on Tuesday, right around the same time that Trump was pleading not guilty in New York City to criminal charges stemming from an alleged $130,000 hush-money payment that was made to Daniels while he was running for president in 2016. Trump’s lawyers sought reimbursement for his legal fees in 2018, arguing that sanctions were needed to deter a “repeat filer of frivolous defamation cases.” Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has vowed that she will go to jail before she pays a penny to Trump. Her then-lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is now serving a 14-year prison term for defrauding clients and obstructing collection of taxes from his coffee business. Donald Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Prosecutors allege that Trump falsely reported the hush-money payment to Daniels as a legal expense to cover up his violation of election laws. The Federal Election Commission and US Department of Justice have found the matter unworthy of pursuing, likely because Trump would have other reasons to keep allegations of an affair with Daniels from becoming public.