Former porn star Stormy Daniels has been ordered to pay £98,000 of Donald Trump’s legal fees following her failed defamation case.
She sued the ex-US president after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to keep quiet about their alleged tryst as a “total con job”.
But a judge threw out the case in 2018.
On Tuesday, a commissioner for the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Trump’s attorneys “reasonably spent” more than 183 hours on an appeal of the case but denied a request for another £4,131 in other fees as it wasn’t itemised.
In total, Daniels has been ordered to pay more than £482,000 in Trump’s legal fees, tweeted Harmeet Dhillon, one of his attorneys.
That includes £241,000 in fees that Daniels has previously been ordered to pay.
After a federal appeals court upheld that award last year, defiant Daniels stated: “I will go to jail before I pay a penny.”
Trump’s attorney yesterday said criminal charges against him will never be heard by a jury, calling it a “zombie case”.
The prediction came hours after Trump addressed his supporters in Florida, but wife Melania again failed to appear beside him. His lawyer Joe Tacopina said: “We’re not going to get to a jury.
“I think this case is going to fall on its merits, on legal challenges well before we get to a jury.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, which carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
They relate to a £104,000 payment made to Daniels, to prevent her from speaking about her alleged 2006 affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Trump is the first president to face criminal charges.
