"The US District Court today ordered Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) to pay President Trump $293,052.33 to reimburse his attorneys' fees (75 percent of his total legal bill), plus an additional $1,000 in sanctions to punish Daniels for having filed a meritless lawsuit against the President designed to chill his free speech rights," Charles J. Harder, the president's legal counsel, said in a Tuesday statement.
"The court's order, along with the court's prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels' defamation case against the president, together constitute a total victory for the president, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case," Harder added.
Trump's attorneys had asked a US court earlier this month for almost $800,000 in lawyers' fees and penalties from Daniels. Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, quickly reacted, declaring the ruling wouldn't survive an appeal.
Following the court ruling, Avenatti tweeted that "Harder and Trump deserve each other," and are "both dishonest.'
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) December 11, 2018
"They received less than one half what they asked for because the request was gross and excessive," Avenatti said in an email to Yahoo News after the ruling.
Daniels made headlines earlier this year after news broke that she'd had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 (long before he ran for office) and was given a $130,000 payment to keep quiet on the matter just prior to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
In November, Daniels said that Avenatti filed a defamation suit against Trump without her permission.
"Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client. He has spoken on my behalf without my approval. He filed a defamation case against Donald Trump against my wishes. He repeatedly refused to tell me how my legal defense fund was being spent," she wrote in a statement to Daily Beast at the time.
She also said that Avenatti started a crowdfunding campaign for her legal case without getting her permission to use her name or face, saying she learned about the fund through Twitter, Sputnik previously reported.
However, Daniels and Avenatti were back on good terms after their dispute by early December.
— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) December 2, 2018
Trump has adamantly denied he has ever had relations with Daniels.
