Former US President Donald Trump received approximately $121,972 in attorney fees from adult film star Stormy Daniels just hours after appearing in court for the first time Tuesday, April 4, in connection with hush money payments made to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Daniels was ordered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to pay Trump for attorney fees incurred during a defamation lawsuit she filed against him in 2018.
The lawsuit, which was later dismissed, was based on a tweet by Trump in which he claimed Daniels lied about being threatened by an unknown man in 2011 in connection with an alleged affair she had with the former president.
According to court documents, the court ruled that Trump’s fees were “reasonable,” despite Daniels’ legal team arguing that they were “unreasonable.”
When the case was dismissed, Daniels, whose real name is Stephane Clifford, was ordered to pay Trump’s legal fees. Daniels then took her case to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it last year.
Daniels has previously stated that she would “go to jail” before paying the former president any money.
“I will go to jail before I pay a penny,” Daniels said after a federal appeals court last year upheld the decision that ordered her to pay Trump $300,000 in attorneys’ fees.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted in celebration of the news on Tuesday, claiming this payment is “in addition to the roughly $500k she already owes him”.
Attorney Harmeet Dhillion, who leads one of the law firms that represented Trump during the defamation case, tweeted her congratulations to Trump about the awarded sum.
“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.”
Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felony counts, including falsifying business records in connection with payments made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump.