Summary: Porn star Stormy Daniels is suing Donald Trump for calling her a liar.
Stormy Daniels is continuing to be a tempest for President Donald Trump. This week, she sued her alleged ex-lover for defamation, stating that he tried to tarnish her reputation by dismissing her story about their affair.
On Monday, Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a lawsuit in New York on the adult film star’s behalf, according to CNN.
In January, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016 so that she would sign a non-disclosure agreement. The porn star had been shopping around a story about her almost decade-ago affair with Trump, and the payment was allegedly made to stop her from talking.
However, after the Wall Street Journal story broke, Cohen said that it was he and he alone who had made the deal with Daniels and that Trump had nothing to do with it. This opened him up to a lawsuit filed by Daniels, who stated that her NDA was not valid because Trump had not signed her document.
That lawsuit is pending, and now Daniels is adding more fuel to the fire by suing Trump for defamation. Her latest filing focuses on a Trump tweet from April 18 where he dismissed her claims that she had been threatened in 2011 by a Trump supporter for wanting to come forward about her affair.
In the tweet, Trump said that Daniel’s account was a “total con job,” and Daniels said that was akin to calling her a liar.
“By calling the incident a ‘con job,’ Mr. Trump’s statement would be understood to state that Ms. Clifford was fabricating the crime and the existence of the assailant, both of which are prohibited under New York law, as well as the law of numerous other states,” the lawsuit said.
“It was apparent that Mr. Trump meant to convey that Ms. Clifford is a liar, someone who should not be trusted, that her claims about the threatening encounter are false, and that she was falsely accusing the individual depicted in the sketch of committing a crime, where no crime had been committed. … Mr. Trump made his statement either knowing it was false, had serious doubts about the truth of his statement, or made the statement with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.”
Daniels had provided an interview to InTouch Magazine in 2011 about her affair with Trump, which allegedly occurred in 2006. The story was not published, but Daniels said that a few weeks after her talk, she was approached by a man who told her, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.”
Daniels said she was in a parking lot with her daughter when the man approached and that the man had threatened her daughter as well.
Additionally, Trump has denied Daniels’ claim that they had an affair while he was married to Melania Trump.
In Monday’s lawsuit, Daniels is asking for $75,000 in damages. The plaintiff is also suing Cohen for defamation.
- Stormy Daniels’ New Motion Uses Donald Trump’s Words Against Him
- Stormy Daniels’ 60 Minutes Interview Transcript
- Stormy Daniels Sues Michael Cohen for Defamation