A judge in California ordered President Trump to pay the legal fees involved with a lawsuit brought by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with the longtime businessman in 2006.
California Superior Court Judge Robert Broadbelt III determined on Monday that Daniels, who filed the lawsuit in 2018 under her real name, Stephanie Clifford, was the “prevailing party” under state law in a case where she sought to be released from a nondisclosure agreement arranged by then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen just before the 2016 election. Daniels’s lawyers made the decision public on Friday.
Daniels’s lawsuit, part of an effort to be released from the agreement, was dismissed, and her claims were deemed moot after Trump’s attorneys agreed not to enforce the NDA or sue for violations, thus rendering the agreement unenforceable. The latest decision was a response to Daniels’s demands that she be reimbursed for the fees associated with the case.
“Yup. Another win! #teamstormy,” Daniels tweeted. As part of the decision, Trump was ordered to pay $44,100 in Daniel’s legal fees.
Yup. Another win! #teamstormy https://t.co/1sBUWsA5tc
— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) August 21, 2020
Trump’s lawyers argued that the president was never a part of the lawsuit, but Broadbelt asserted that there was sufficient evidence to establish that “David Dennison,” the name on the nondisclosure agreement, was a pseudonym for Trump.
Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels under the conditions of the NDA, preventing her from discussing the substance of the agreement. The president has denied the allegation the two had an affair and denied knowledge of the arranged nondisclosure agreement. However, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News host Sean Hannity in 2018 that Trump repaid Cohen for the agreement.
“They funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said, noting the payments were made “over the period of several months.”
Daniels also filed a defamation lawsuit against the president in 2018, but it was dismissed. Daniels was then ordered to pay approximately $293,000 to Trump to cover his fees associated with that case and $1,000 in sanctions. Daniels is appealing that decision.
